CINEMA REBORN UPDATE - WHAT'S HOT, TRAILERS, BOOKINGS, KOREAN FOCUS ON THE FILMS OF IM KWON-TAEK, CHARITABLE DONATIONS

The Dupes (Tewfik Saleh, Syria, 1972)

WHAT'S HOT

Just to bring you up to date as we begin the countdown of four weeks to go before Cinema Reborn 2024 in Sydney and five weeks in Melbourne. As we anticipated when we programmed them into the key Saturday night times  there are already a lot of seats sold for DAYS OF HEAVEN and for LE SAMOURAI but we’ve delighted as well at the interest in the 1972 Syrian film about Palestinian refugees THE DUPES  a film which resonates right off the front pages of today’s news media.

 

TRAILERS

Thanks once again to James Vaughan who has done another superb trailer for this season which you can watch  IF YOU CLICK HERE. Thanks also to Ben Cho, a long time supporter who has badged up and cut together four wonderful trailers from among our film highlights (Actually they are all highlights) so you can get a sample of  DAYS OF HEAVEN, Tilda Swinton’s favourite film   I KNOW WHERE I'M GOING!, our tribute to Anna Magnani in THE GOLDEN COACH and to Alain Delon, making his fourth appearance at Cinema Reborn in LE SAMOURAI

 

KOREAN FOCUS

Thanks to generous support from the Australia-Korea Foundation, The Korean Film Archive in Seoul and the Korean Cultural Centre in Sydney there will be special emphasis on Korean Cinema at Cinema Reborn 2024. 

 

Korean director Im Kwon-taek (b. 1936) made over 100 features in a career made resonant with local box office hits, yet he still broke through local censorship taboos, gained break-out international film festival invitations and received western critical attention for Korean cinema, inspiring South Korea’s current generation of international arthouse film making superstars. 

Our 2024 festival screenings of Sopyonje in Sydney and Melbourne begin a short, follow-up season (in Sydney only) showcasing some of Im’s other key films, Jagko/Mismatched Nose (1980), Ticket (1986) and Festival (1996), as well as the dynamic cinema restoration program of the Korean national film archive KOFA (see Webinar below).   

Full details about Cinema Reborn’s Im Kwon-taek season, screening at Ritz Cinemas, Randwick throughout May coming soon.

IM KWON-TAEK AND KOREAN FILM RESTORATION: WEBINAR
Friday 3 May from 2:00 PM AET

Join with the Korean Cultural Centre Sydney for a webinar exploring Im Kwon-taek’s career and the Korean Film Archive (KOFA)’s acclaimed program to restore and give global access to Korean filmmaking heritage. Join us online via https://koreanculture.org.au/, with guests including film critic, academic and Korean cinema expert Russell Edwards, and from Seoul, critic and Oscar-winning Parasite subtitler Darcy Paquet. 

Webinar free, but bookings required. See www.cinemareborn.com.au For more details Webinar presented by the Korean Cultural Centre Sydney. 

 

BOOKINGS

For the Ritz bookings for the Sydney season from 1-7 May CLICK HERE

For the Lido for the Melbourne season from 9-15 May CLICK HERE

 

Charitable Donations

And as always… The Cinema Reborn 2024 page on the website of the Australian Cultural Fund enables our supporters to make a tax-deductible donation. All donations great and small are very welcome. The Australian Cultural Fund page can be found If You Click Here

CINEMA REBORN - COUNTDOWN TO 27 APRIL AT 7.00 PM

A few quick reminders

All Cinema Reborn screenings including our Opening are at regular Ritz prices ranging from $8 for Senior Ritz Card Members, $10 for Members (join on the website if you click here) through to $21.

 

OPENING NIGHT

 

CINEMA REBORN gets underway with a screening of BEAU TRAVAIL Claire Denis’ take on Herman Melville’s “Billy Budd” “…a masterpiece (most fans regard it as Denis’ best so far) a film whose rich inner life only becomes more absorbing and intricate with repeated viewings” (Adrian Martin).  

 

If you want to book tickets to enable you to go straight to the cinema and avoid the line-up at the box office JUST CLICK HERE

 

THE CINEMA REBORN CATALOGUE

 

This splendid publication is a key feature of Cinema Reborn and this year it’s being given away right now and FREE. You can read it online if  you just  CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE 2022 CATALOGUE.

 

For our 2022 edition the book has 76 pages of almost entirely newly written  material by eminent, scholars, critics, educators, festival programmers and enthusiasts including international contributors John Baxter, Adrian Martin, Annouchka De Andrade, David Hare, Tony Rayns, Pamela Hutchinson, Ehsan Khoshbakht, Noel Vera and Marshall Deutelbaum. This is on top of contributions from local critics, scholars and film-makers Jane Mills, Margot Nash, Janice Tong, Rod Bishop, Mark Pierce, Adrian Danks, and Helen Goritsas

 

THE CINEMA REBORN WEBSITE AND THE FESTIVAL SCHEDULE

 

The information in the catalogue is drawn from our own website www.cinemareborn.org.au  and if you want to start at the start just click on that link or head straight to the FESTIVAL SCHEDULE to map out viewing plans.

 

DISCOUNT PARKING and PUBLIC TRANSPORT

 

If you park in the multi-story carpark about twenty metres along from the Ritz Cinema on St Pauls Street you can do so at a discount if you ask for a voucher at the box office. Maximum discounted price is $7.00

 

There are buses from the city and Bondi Junction and the L2 tram from Circular Quay ends near the Randwick shops. Full details of Parking and Public Transport are on the Ritz website https://www.ritzcinemas.com.au/getting-here

 

PHILIPPA HAWKER IN ‘THE SATURDAY PAPER” ON SAMBIZANGA

 

Our first film from Africa has been given some special attention by Philippa Hawker in The Saturday Paper. It’s in a two page spread which says some very nice things about Cinema Reborn and what we are trying to achieve. Pick up a copy before it sells out….

CHARITABLE DONATIONS

There is only a week left before the Australian Cultural Fund will close off our charitable donations page for 2022. If you are minded to make a tax deductible donation, large or small, to support the work of our all-volunteer group and bring more film classics back to the screen in Sydney click here for  THE AUSTRALIAN CULTURAL FUND

Remembering Nino Manfredi - C'EREVAMO TANTO AMATI/WE ALL LOVED EACH OTHER (Ettore Scola, Italy, 1974) at the Randwick Ritz 6.30 pm on 29 November

2021 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of an undisputed icon of Italian cinema: Nino Manfredi.

The Italian Cultural Institute of Sydney in collaboration with Ritz Cinema in Randwick and Cinema Reborn, pays tribute to Manfredi by presenting a restored version of C’eravamo tanto amati (directed by Ettore Scola, 1974), obtained from the Cineteca Nazionale in Rome. 

Nino Manfredi  co-stars with Vittorio Gassman, Stefania Sandrelli, Stefano Satta Flores and Aldo Fabrizi. In the movie three partisans bound by a strong friendship return home at the end of the war, but the clash with everyday reality puts a strain on their bond. The film won a César Award for Best Foreign Film in 1977. It also won two Silver Ribbons (Italian cinema critics awards) and the Golden Prize at the 9th Moscow International Film Festival in 1975.

And it's a film which reflects on the history of the cinema itself alongside the modern history of Italy with cameo appearances by Federico Fellini, Marcello Mastroianni and Vittorio De Sica.

Stefania Sandrelli, Manfredi, C’eravamo tanto amati 

The movie, subtitled in English, will be introduced by well-known film critic and screenplay teacher C.J. Johnson. CJ  is the President of the Film Critics Circle of Australia, the film and television critic for Nightlife - the flagship ABC national night-time radio program - and Head Lecturer in Screen Storytelling at Sydney Film School. He also lectures on cinema at Clubs and Societies around Australia.

NINO MANFREDI

Born in Castro dei Volsci (FR) on March 3, 1921, after having graduated in Law to please his parents, Manfredi began attending the Academy of Dramatic Art in Rome. His first steps as an actor are on the stage of the Piccolo Teatro in Milan where he played Shakespeare and Pirandello. He reached the height of his popularity in the late 1950s thanks to a series of films where he played the crafty Italian  who reflected Italy's economic boom.  On television he ranged from the Saturday night variety like "Canzonissima", to great TV series such as Pinocchio (1971) by Luigi Comencini, in which he played a memorable Geppetto (Pinocchio’s dad). In the same period he had important roles in cinema, working with Lina Wertmüller, Damiano Damiani, Nanni Loy, Ettore Scola, Luigi Magni and Franco Brusati. As a director he made L’amore difficile, Per grazia ricevuta and Nudo di donna. With nearly 150 parts in various roles in film and television productions, he remains one of the most awarded Italian actors both at home and abroad

To book for this once only screening head to The Ritz Cinema Website by clicking here

Patrons are asked to respect the Covid-related rules established by the NSW Health authorities.

ETTORE SCOLA

One of the major post-war directors in the Italian cinema, Scola died in 2016 after a lifetime of writing and directing some of the finest movies of his era. Among his most highly regarded work as a director were Passione d'Amore, Le Bal, Splendor, A Special Day, That Night in Varennes and We All Loved Each Other so Much. His films won awards at Moscow, Cannes and Berlin among many other Festival prizes and were nominated for a Foreign-Language Oscar on four occasions.

CINEMA REBORN 2021 - 29 April - 2 May - The all info leaflet is now in the racks at the Randwick Ritz

Here's the leaflet with all info about films, dates, times, bookings plus links to the comprehensive program notes on the Cinema Reborn website  There you'll find some splendid reviews and essays by Russell Edwards, Mark Thomas, Bruce Hodsdon, Adrian Danks, David Hare, Philip Batty, Susan Potter, Jane Mills, Helen Goritsas, Margot Nash, Rod Bishop and Graham Shirley. 

Pick up a copy of the leaflet at the Randwick Ritz. (Or Click to enlarge and print it out yourself. REMEMBER IT FOLDS TWICE, if you want to get the full effect.)

CINEMA REBORN 29 April - 2 May - WHO WILL BE DOING THE INTRODUCTIONS TO EACH PROGRAM?

So folks….time to let you know who is doing the honours introducing each of the programs at this year’s Cinema Reborn,  29 April – 2 May at the splendid Art Deco Randwick Ritz.

 

DESTRY RIDES AGAIN (Thursday 29 April at 6.30 pm)

Directed by George Marshall with James Stewart and Marlene Dietrich, USA, 1939

For full program notes by David Hare and Adrian Danks click here

For tickets click here 

 

Introduced by C J Johnson- President of the Film Critics Circle of Australia. He is the film and TV critic for Nightlifeon ABC Radio, a contributor to FilmInk and Metro Magazine among others, and Head Lecturer in Screen Storytelling at Sydney Film School.

 

LE AMICHE (Friday 30 April at 6.30 pm)

Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, with Eleonora Rossi Drago and Valentina Cortese, Italy, 1955

For full program notes by Jane Mills click here

For tickets click here

 

John McDonald and Jane Mills

Introduced by Jane Mills- Honorary Associate Professor at UNSW, Associate Editor of the Cultural and Film Studies journals, Metro; Screen Education and Metro, Series Editor of Australian Screen Classics, a member of the Sydney Film Festival Advisory Panel and a guest programmer for the Antenna Documentary Festival.

 

AIMLESS BULLET (Saturday 1 May at 11.00 am)

Directed by Yu Hyun-mok, with Kim Jin-Kyu and Choi Mu-Ryong, South Korea, 1961

For full  program notes by Russell Edwards click here

For tickets click here  

 

Introduced by Russell Edwards - Film critic and teacher of Asian Cinemas at RMIT University in Melbourne. Russell was the founding Reviews Editor at Empire (Australia) (2001-2003); covered film festivals for international trade publication Variety (2003-2012); was President of the Film Critics Circle of Australia (2004-2006) and acted as an advisor to the Busan International Film Festival (2012-2020). Russell has also made short films, notably THE AGREEMENT (2007), which played at several international film festivals including Sydney, Edinburgh and Vladivostok. 

 

THREE IN ONE (Saturday 1 May at 1.00 pm)

Directed by Cecil Holmes with Jock Levy and Leonard Teale, Australia, 1955)

For full program notes by Graham Shirley and Adrian Danks click here

For tickets click here

 

Introduced by Graham Shirley- Australian film director, scriptwriter, interviewer, archival researcher, curatorauthor best known for his work in the area of Australian film history. He was one of the original class of the Australian Film Television and Radio School and is the co-author of Australian Cinema: The First Eighty Years, a classic history of the Australian film industry. He has also made a number of documentaries.

LE CORBEAU (Saturday 1 May at 3.30 pm)

Directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, with Pierre Fresnay and Ginette Leclerc, France, 1943)

For full  program notes by Mark Thomas click here

For tickets click here

 

Introduced by John McDonald– Art critic for the Sydney Morning Herald, and film critic for the Australian Financial Review. A former Head of Australian Art at the National Gallery of Australia, he is the author of The Art of Australia: Exploration to Federation (2006), among other publications. His most recent piece is an essay for Klaus Littmann’s book, Tree Connections(Hatje Cantz, forthcoming). John writes for magazines and journals both at home and abroad. He has lectured widely on art and cinema, and acted as curator for a range of exhibitions, the most significant being Federation: Australian Art & Society, 1901-2000 at the NGA.

 

THE LEOPARD (Saturday 1 May at 5.45 pm)

Directed by Luchino Visconti, With Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale Italy, 1955

For full program notes by Rod Bishop click here

For tickets click here

 

Introduced by David Stratton– Director of the Sydney Film Festival 1966-1983. In 1980, his first book, “The Last New Wave”, about the New Australian Cinema, was published. Feature Film Consultant to SBS (Special Broadcasting Service. Presented The Movie Show,  in partnership with film critic Margaret Pomeranz first on SBS and later on the ABC with the final broadcast going to air in December 2014. In 1990, a second book, The Avocado Plantation, was published about Australian cinema in the 1980s, and in 2008 Stratton’s autobiography, I Peed on Fellini, was published.  In 2018, 101 Marvellous Movies You May Have Missed, was published. My Favourite Movies will be published in November 2021. Since 1988, Stratton has lectured on film history as part of the Continuing Education programme at the University of Sydney.  In 2017 a documentary, DAVID STRATTON: A CINEMATIC LIFE was released in selected cinemas.  It also screened at the Cannes Film Festival and at film festivals in the U.K., Greece, Israel – and on NZ television.  The TV version of the documentary, DAVID STRATTON’S STORIES OF AUSTRALIAN CINEMA, was later aired on ABC TV and on the BBC.

 

THE JUNIPER TREE + SHADOW PANIC  (Sunday 2 May at 11.00 am)

The Juniper Tree directed by Nietzchka Keene, with Björk Guðmundsdóttir and Bryndis Petra Bragadóttir, USA, 1989

Shadow Panic  directed by Margot Nash with Robin Laurie, Rose Wanganeen and Kaarin Fairfax, Australia, 1989

For full program notes by Helen Goritsas and Margot Nash click here

For tickets click here

 

Introduced by Margot Nash– Filmmaker and a Visiting Fellow in Communications at the University of Technology Sydney. Her credits include the experimental shorts We Aim To Please (1976) and Shadow Panic (1989), the feature dramas Vacant Possession (1994) and Call Me Mum (2005)and the personal essay documentary The Silences (2015).https://www.margotnash.com

 

FILIBUS  (Sunday 2 May at 2.00 pm)

Directed by Mario Roncoroni, With Valeria Creti and Cristina Ruspoli,Italy, 1915

For full program notes by Susan Potter click here

For tickets click here

 

Introduced by Susan Potter- Senior Lecturer in Film Studies in the Department of Art History at the University of Sydney. She's the author of the award-winning book Queer Timing: The Emergence of Lesbian Sexuality in Early Cinema, and General Secretary of the Screen Studies Association of Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand (SSAAANZ)

 

FOUR FILMS FROM THE CENTRAL AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL MEDIA ASSOCIATION  (Sunday 2 May at 4.00pm)

Directed by Danielle MacLean, David Tranter, Dena Curtis and Warwick Thornton Australia 1988, 2007, 2010 and 2005

For full program notes by Philip Batty click here

For tickets click here

 

Introduced by Anusha Duray- Acquisitions Manager for National Indigenous Television (NITV), as well as a skilled producer. She was the Executive Producer for the new series The Whole Table that premiered this year and Producer of The Wake an interactive film installation which is due to premiere later this year. She is a recipient of the Chief Executive Women in Leadership Scholarship. Anusha is a current member of Screen Australia’s Gender Matters Taskforce, The Oceanian TV Symposium and The Aboriginal Women’s Consultation Network. 

 

CRISS CROSS  (Sunday 2 May at 4.00pm)

Directed by Robert Siodmak,  With Burt Lancaster and Yvonne De Carlo, USA, 1949 

For full program notes by Bruce Hodsdon click here

For tickets click here

 

Introduced by Kiki Fung- Programme Consultant for Hong Kong International Film Festival and Advisor for The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts’ School of Film & Television. She was former Head Programmer for Brisbane International Film Festival and Brisbane Asia Pacific Film Festival, and has guest-curated for the Brisbane Festival and Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art. Before moving to Australia in 2010, she served at the Hong Kong Film Archive for seven years in areas of publication editing, venue management and program co-ordination during which she also assisted in editing a number of publications on Hong Kong Cinema. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seven Beauties:The Films of Lina Wertmüller - The Ritz at Randwick. Sunday 28 March – Sunday 9 May, 4:00 pm.

In collaboration with  the Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Sydney, the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Cinema Reborn

 

Wertmüller was the first woman to be nominated for a Best Director Oscar. 

“Her films were funny and frighteningly harrowing and big and emotional and over-the-top and popular…. 

she was able to do things that nobody else was doing… 

This was a very special artistic vision.”

Martin Scorsese.

Book tickets here: https://www.ritzcinemas.com.au/events/seven-beauties-by-lina-wertmller

 

Sunday 28 March. The Lizards (I basilischi), 1963. With a wicked eye, Wertmüller’s first film follows three young male loafers who constantly hatch half-hearted plans but are hopelessly trapped in their own small-town lethargy. 

Introduced byA/Professor Jane Millswho teaches film at UNSW, isa member of the Sydney Film Festival’s Advisory Panel, and Associate Programmer for the Antenna Documentary Festival.

Sunday 4 April. The Seduction of Mimi(Mimi’ metallurgico ferito nell’onore), 1972.The devilishly handsome Giancarlo Giannini plays a Sicilian dockworker who fights Mafia corruption and the wiles of a beautiful Communist organiser. Aferocious farce that won Wertmuller best-director award at Cannes.  

Introduced by Dr Blythe Worthy, researcher and adjunct academic at the University of Sydney and Film Reviews Editor, Australian Journal of American Studies.

Sunday 11 April. Love and Anarchy(Film d'amore e d'anarchia, ovvero: stamattina alle 10, in via dei Fiori, nella nota casa di tolleranza…) 1973. Fascist Italy before the outbreak of World War II: Giannini plays a farmer turned anarchist who stays in a brothel while planning to kill Mussolini and, inevitably, falls in love with one of the whores. As you do. The director’s unique brand of feminism and Marxism is played to the hilt. .

Introduced by A/Professor Bruce Isaacswho teaches Film Studies at the University of Sydney and is currently working on a research project, ‘The Making of the Modern Action Film.’ Read Bruce’s ‘Great Movie Scenes’ column in The Conversation. 

Sunday 16 April. All Screwed Up(Tutto a posto e niente in ordine)1974.An outrageous, anarchic comedyin whicha group of immigrants try to adjust to city life; they soon find that everything is in its place, but nothing is in order. 

Introduced byDanielle McGrane, entertainment reporter/producer and critic specialising in music, film and TV who regularly appears on several ABC Radio 702 shows talking film and music.

Sunday 25 April. Swept Away (Travolti da un insolito destino nell'azzurro mare d'agosto), 1974. A mischievous contest of wills between a beautiful, rich, bourgeois woman and a smelly (according to her) communist sailor (Giannino in a Cannes Festival Best Actor award winning role) who find themselves shipwrecked on a deserted beach.

Introduced byJane Mills.

Sunday 2 May. Seven Beauties (Pasqualino, Settebellezze), 1975. In fascist Italy, a macho, small-time criminal (Giannini in an Oscar-nominated performance) triggers his downfall when he vows revenge on a rival, and ultimately gets his will to survive tested to its limits when he is sent to a concentration camp. Nominated for a Best Film Oscar. 

Introduced by A/Professor Giorgia Alùwho teaches Italian Studies at the University of Sydney. Her research interests include modern and contemporary Italian literature, Italian cultural and social history, and visual studies.

Sunday 9 May, Ciao, Professore!1992. American critic Roger Ebert called this film about a strict teacher and his much smarter) young students “a sweet movie.” But lurking in the shadows is Wertmüller’s social conscience which exposes the ideological conflict between wealthy Northern Italy and poverty stricken south. 

Introduced by Giorgia Alù.

Notes by Jane Mills

Jean-Pierre Melville at the Ritz Randwick - Bruce Beresford's advice regarding preparation for this unique season

Acclaimed Australian film-maker Bruce Beresford, probably the Australian director who has made more features the any of his compatriots, generously agreed to do the introduction to the second selection in the Jean-Pierre  Melville retrospective currently being presented at the Ritz Cinemas , Randwick in association with Cinema Reborn and StudioCanal. The film was the 1956 comedy of Parisian underworld manners BOB LE FLAMBEUR.

To set the tone for the season Bruce opted for Melvillian dress as per the photo above and offered some thoughts for those undertaking the Ritz's journey through almost half of Melville's entire output.

Bruce's advice

This is how you should attend a Jean-Pierre Melville retrospective… 

Tell nobody what you are doing. Even your loved ones - especially your loved ones - must be kept in the dark. 

It is comes to a choice between smoking and talking, smoke. 

Dress well but without ostentation. Wear a raincoat, buttoned and belted, regardless of whether there is rain.

Any revolver should be kept, until you need it, in the pocket of the coat. 

Finally, before you leave home, put your hat on. If you don’t have a hat, you can’t go.

 

Next up on Sunday 18 October Melville's intriguing story of a stool pigeon...or is he... LE DOULOS (1963) with a stellar cast of French cinema icons - Jean-Paul Belmondo (below), Serge Reggiani, Jean Desailly and Michel Piccoli. LE DOULOS will be introduced by the Australian Financial Review's film critic John McDonald.

Advance Bookings to LE DOULOS are on sale now at the Ritz Box-office and you can click to  Book Tickets Here