CINEMA REBORN - WEEKEND PREVIEW (1) - McCABE & MRS MILLER, SHADOWS OF FORGOTTEN ANCESTORS, HOW THE WEST WAS LOST and more.

 

Thanks to Jason Di Rosso of the ABC Radio National Screen Show for a splendid interview with David Noakes on yesterday’s program. The discussion about the birth and rebirth of David’s magnificent  documentary HOW THE WEST WAS LOST, screening at the Ritz on Tuesday 6 May at 6.00 pm and at the Lido on Friday 8 May at 5.30 pm, was warm, enlightening and hugely enthusiastic about the prospects for this film to once again influence the ongoing debate in Australia about the history of our relations with the Indigenous community. It's now available on ABCI-view. The segment with David starts at about the 24” mark and runs for close to half an hour. Great radio. Saturday and Sunday are densely packed days for Cinema Reborn. Six films each day from eight different countries, ranging from the silent masterpiece STELLA DALLAS restored by New York’s Museum of Modern Art through to two programs of autobiographical documentaries by Australian women film-makers Rivka Hartman & Lee Whitmore and Anna Kannava. Likely to attract the biggest crowds are our two Saturday evening presentations so here’s a little more information to help you decide to join the throngs. McCABE & MRS MILLER is Robert Altman’s remarkable western starring Warren Beatty and Julie Christie. Critic Roger Ebert laid it out "(It) is like no other Western ever made, and with it, Robert Altman earns his place as one of the best contemporary directors…Robert Altman has made a dozen films that can be called great in one way or another, but one of them is perfect, and that one is McCabe and Mrs Miller” – Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times In the Program Notes published on the website and the printed catalogue critic Adrian Martin recalls his first youthful encounter with the film and in particular the music of Leonard Cohen which threads its way through the soundtrack. “Like many teenage cinephiles in the 1970s, I realised that the quickest, easiest, cheapest way to possess a piece of a beloved film was to run an audio cable from my TV set into a humble tape recorder – which is not such a simple procedure today. That’s how, at any rate, I came, once upon a time, to listen so obsessively to the soundtrack (not the soundtrack album – there wasn’t one) of McCabe& Mrs. Miller (1971). Even more than the sheer presence of Leonard Cohen’s haunting songs, I was bowled over by the strange dialogue between the lyrics and other elements in the sound mix: Cohen’s ‘I told you …’ echoed, moments later, by Warren Beatty as McCabe mumbling to himself: ‘I told you …’. Was that planned, or a serendipitous collision discovered in editing? Ladies and Gentlemen and others, welcome to the cinema of Robert Altman.” Full notes and links to bookings SHADOWS OF FORGOTTEN ANCESTORS is Sergei Parajanov’s masterpiece of folk art: Here’s a paragraph from Laleen Jayamanne’s program notes. “The film is based on a tale of legendary star-crossed lovers, and their lost love sets the tone and framework for presenting the everyday life and key rituals of the tribe, such as a wedding, a funeral and Christmas with pagan overtones in the use of grotesque masks. These events are performed in unusual ways presented in disjunct non-chronological sequencing, an aspect of Parajanov’s poetic idiom. Later, this fascination with masks and the idea ofthe puppet (in popular folk theatre and in the Soviet avant-garde), influenced how he directed his actors who also danced in his major films. It’s best to relax into the rhythms of the film and ritualised gestures, instead of trying to “grasp” at meaning, and in that relaxed state the film may speak to you in unexpected ways, as Parajanov’s films are wont to do.” Full notes and links to bookings CINEMA REBORN View

CINEMA REBORN - Seven newly-restored Australian films in the 2025 program.

 AUSTRALIAN FILM-MAKERS AT CINEMA REBORN 2025

Cinema Reborn 2025 will present seven films by Australian film-makers. All will be presented in the presence of the directors or in the case of the films of the late Anna Kannava, the producer. All have been restored by the film-makers themselves working in conjunction with renowned Australian director and director of photography Ray Argall and his company Piccolo Films. For information about session times, bookings and credits CLICK HERE

WHAT I HAVE WRITTEN (John Hughes, (1996) Cast: Martin Jacobs,Gillian Jones, Jacek Koman, Angie Milliken “In the hands of director John Hughes this material is transformed into a fragmented, cool film that utilises many techniques, associated with art cinema….an impressive film that provides many entry points for the viewer by supplying just enough character development and narrative motivation to engage on an emotional level.” Geoff Mayer, The Oxford Companion to Australian Film There are very few Australian films which draw their style and inspiration from European art cinema and the work of such masters as Alain Resnais and Chris Marker. What I Have Written, based on a novel by John Scott, is however such a film. It draws on those sources to present a twisting and complex narrative, intertwining two love stories – the first an erotic drama set in Australian academia, the second a story which draws on, using black and white photography and the Parisian setting, from Marker’s legendary La Jetée. John Hughes, otherwise a master documentary maker for close to fifty years, took a detour into fictional drama that resembles the literary work of Marguerite Duras and  Alain Robbe-Grillet. As such it stands almost alone in the Australian cinema. The world premiere of this 4K restoration will be both a unique experience and a reminder that the Australian cinema has occasionally been more than echoes of BBC drama, broad comedy and American genre re-treads. John Hughes will introduce his film at its Sydney and Melbourne screenings and take part in a post-film conversation HOW THE WEST WAS LOST (David Noakes, 1987) "will always be the best, most honest and most entertaining record of the 1946 Strike... It is an exhilarating, inspirational documentary that shows what people can achieve when they have vision, courage and solidarity." - Jerry Roberts, Pearls and Irritations On 1 May 1946, 800 Aboriginal station workers walked off sheep stations in the north-west of Western Australia, marking the beginning of a carefully organised strike that was to last for at least three years, but never officially ended. The strike was more than a demand for better wages and conditions. It was, in the words of Keith Connolly in the Melbourne Herald, 'a well-considered statement by a grievously exploited people, standing up for their rights and dignity'. How The West Was Lost tells the story of a shameful yet still largely unknown piece of Australia’s tangled history… David Noakes and Rose Murray will introduce this film at its Sydney and Melbourne screenings and take part in a post-film conversation. Rose Murray is a Nyangumarta woman whose family were part of the 1946 Pilbara Strike.  THE MINISKIRTED DYNAMO (Rivka Hartman, 1996) “Dora emerges as afascinating character… a very personal piece of film-making” – David Stratton “The Miniskirted Dynamo  is a lively, often hilarious, film as well asa moving personal document…This is not a film for those who believe in the mythof happy families – or perhaps it is the perfect film.” - Barbara Creed, The Age Rivka Hartman’s The Miniskirted Dynamo focuses on her mother, Dr Dora Bialestock, an extraordinary figure inMelbourne’s medical community. Dora studied Medicine at the University of Melbourne and published widely on her specialist research subjects . She became a figure of some controversy when she attacked the state government’s management of children in care. She was a public thorn in many sides of government. Hartman’s film is a remarkable autobiographical and biographical documentary about the intense and tangled relationship between the film-maker and her mother, both of whom had ambitions and goals that did not mix well. Rivka Hartman will introduce her film at its Sydney and Melbournescreenings THE BUTLER (Anna Kannava, 1997) + TEN YEARS AFTER…TEN YEARS OLDER (Anna Kannava, 1986) “I was very moved by The Butler, a portrait of Anna's brother, Nino. This film has one of those unexpected moments of grace that totally won me over – it brought tears to my eyes (not of sadness, but of happiness and liberation).” – Cristina Álvarez López “I was struck by the absolute coherence of her relatively small but impressive and enduring output.” – Adrian Martin Celebrating the filmmaking of Anna Kannava (1959-2011) with two remarkable autobiographical documentaries, recently restored in 4K. Born in Cyprus, Kannava migrated to Melbourne with her family in 1974. In the meditative Ten Years After…Ten Years Older, the director tenderly reflects on returning to her homeland after a decade away. In the deftly comedic and deeply affecting The Butler, Kannava impressionistically portrays the life she shared with her devoted younger brother Nino. These two key works reveal a gifted filmmaker deserving of widespread recognition. Anna Kannava’s films were produced by John Cruthers who has supervised their restoration. The films will be introduced by John Cruthers in Sydney.  BREAD AND DRIPPING (Vic Smith, Margot Nash, Elizabeth Schaffer,Wendy Brady and Donna Foster, 1981) Four women recount their lives during the bleak years ofthe Depression of the 1930s. Tibby Whalan, Eileen Pittman, Beryl Armstrong andMary Wright describe their struggles to survive and maintain families whenfaced with widespread unemployment, evictions and hardship. Bread and Dripping screens with How the West was Lost in Sydney and Melbourne. It will be introduced by Vic Smith and Elizabeth Schaffer in Sydney ON A FULL MOON (Lee Whitmore, 1997) This "poem to my mother", features memories of childhood and family lovingly animated frame by frame by pencil and pastel on paper.  On a Full Moon screens with The Miniskirted Dynamo  and will be introduced by Lee Whitmore in Sydney.