The Canberra Writers Festival is taking over the capital, and to commemorate the occasion, this week’s offerings all have their origins in the literary world – from a legendary French detective (MAIGRET) to a Graham Swift adaptation (MOTHERING SUNDAY) and a biopic about British WWI poet Siegfried Sassoon (BENEDICTION).
Please also note that, due to the cinema being used for another event earlier in the evening, there will be only one screening taking place this Saturday at 7:30 PM. There will be no 5 PM screening this week.
• THU 11 AUG @ 7:30 PM: MAIGRET (M, 89 MINS)
In 1950s Paris, formidable police inspector Jules Maigret (Gérard Depardieu) investigates the mystery of a murdered young woman in an evening gown, and in doing so, uncovers details about her mysterious past – which may have ties to his own.
• FRI 12 AUG @ 7:30 PM: BENEDICTION (M, 137 MINS)
After surviving the horrors of WWI, decorated British soldier Siegfried Sassoon becomes a vocal anti-war critic and one of the leading war poets of the era. Behind closed doors, however, he struggles to come to terms with his homosexuality.
• SAT 13 AUG @ 7:30 PM: MOTHERING SUNDAY (MA, 104 MINS)
In 1924, a young housemaid (Odessa Young) is given Mother's Day off by her employers and spends it in the company of her wealthy secret lover, who lives in a neighbouring manor and is already engaged to be married to another woman.
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LATIN AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL CONTINUES
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After a busy first week, the Latin American Film Festival continues into its second week with offerings from Cuba, Peru, El Salvador and Mexico. Find out details about all of the films on our website here: https://www.anufg.org.au/filminfo/20220804.html
• SUN 14 AUG @ 6 PM: INNOCENCE (121 MINS, 2021)
CUBA: In 1871, a group of first-year medical students are wrongly imprisoned – leading one man to
pursue justice and the hidden truth over 16 years.
• MON 15 AUG @ 7:30 PM: TRIP TO TIMBUKTU (100 MINS, 2014)
PERU: Two teenagers growing up in Peru during the tumultuous 1980s attempt to keep their love alive by escaping to an imaginary utopia.
• TUE 16 AUG @ 7:30 PM – PABLO'S WORD (84 MINS, 2018)
EL SALVADOR: A broken upper middle-class family in El Salvador struggle with jealousy and revenge in this thriller based on Shakespeare’s Othello.
• WED 17 AUG @ 7:30 PM – LIONESS (94 MINS, 2018)
MEXICO: A young Jewish woman in Mexico finds herself torn between her duty to her family and her forbidden love with a non-Jewish man.
The Latin American Film Festival returns this year to the ANU Film Group for the third time! With 15 films screening throughout the month of August – all of them FREE and open to the public – you’ll be spoilt for choice with this 17th edition celebrating Latin American culture at its finest.
It all begins this Thursday with host country Uruguay’s offering, THE EMPLOYER AND THE EMPLOYEE, a gripping drama exploring class differences. Find out more about next week’s screenings below, and check out the full list of films at https://www.anufg.org.au/filminfo/20220804.html
All films will be screened at the Kambri Cinema in their original language with English subtitles. Presented by the Latin American Embassies in Canberra.
• THU 4 AUG @ 7:30 PM: THE EMPLOYER AND THE EMPLOYEE (106 MINS, 2021)
URUGUAY: On a rural farm in Uruguay, two men find their responsibilities for their work and families complicated by an unexpected tragedy.
• SUN 7 AUG @ 6 PM: SPIDER (105 MINS, 2019)
CHILE: In chaotic 1970s Chile, a trio of right-wing revolutionaries commit a political crime that continues to haunt them 40 years later.
• MON 8 AUG @ 7:30 PM: MANGORÉ: FOR THE LOVE OF ART (93 MINS, 2015)
PARAGUAY: From humble beginnings, Agustin Barrios uses his talent and passion to become the legendary musician, guitarist and poet known as Mangoré.
• TUE 9 AUG @ 7:30 PM: MARTIN & MARGOT (93 MINS, 2019)
GUATEMALA: Two writers travel through Guatemala in search of the poet who brought them together – until a pregnancy changes their perspective on life.
• WED 10 AUG @ 7:30 PM: WARMI PACHAKUTIK: TIME OF WOMEN (56 MINS, 2020)
ECUADOR: Through their activism, a new generation of indigenous Kichwa women generate changes and questions about the meaning of belonging, roles and thought.
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WHAT’S ON THIS WEEK
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After getting off to big start last week, our new Spring 2022 season continues into August this week with a look at Roald Dahl and Patricia Neal’s tragic marriage (TO OLIVIA), an acclaimed Finnish train romance (COMPARTMENT NO. 6), an Oscar-nominated Indian journalism documentary (WRITING WITH FIRE) and an outrageously subtitled Kiwi comedy (NUDE TUESDAY).
• TUE 2 AUG @ 7:30 PM: TO OLIVIA (M, 94 MINS)
In 1962, children's author Roald Dahl (Hugh Bonneville) and his wife, Hollywood actress Patricia Neal, find their relationship put to the test after a tragic loss. But their shared grief soon becomes a source of redemption and strength for the unlikely couple.
• FRI 5 AUG @ 7:30 PM: COMPARTMENT NO. 6 (MA, 107 MINS)
A young Finnish woman boards a train from Moscow to Murmansk and is forced to share a tiny sleeping car with a misogynistic Russian miner. As the long journey progresses, an unexpected bond begins to form between two very different strangers.
• SAT 6 AUG @ **5 PM**: PLAYING WITH FIRE (M, 94 MINS)
In a news landscape dominated by men, a group of trailblazing journalists join forces to form India's first all-female news network, breaking traditions and redefining traditional gender roles, in this inspirational, Oscar-nominated Indian documentary.
• SAT 6 AUG @ 7:30 PM: NUDE TUESDAY (MA, 100 MINS)
A bored suburban husband and wife attempt to rekindle their marriage by heading to a new age couples retreat run by an unorthodox relationship guru, in this one-of-a-kind Kiwi comedy spoken entirely in gibberish and hilariously subtitled in English.
It’ll be a little while til the weather catches up with us, but Spring begins at the ANU Film Group tonight with a free Bush Week screening of MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU!
And the rest of the week includes many more terrific films, including acclaimed French WWII drama (FAREWELL, MR. HAFFMAN), a doco about the first Aboriginal filmmaker (ALBAZE), a horror film about toxic masculinity (MEN) and an awesome 80s throwback night on Saturday with a 35th anniversary screening of THE PRINCESS BRIDE at 5 PM and the record-breaking blockbuster TOP GUN: MAVERICK at 7:30 PM.
Haven’t checked out our full Spring 2022 programme yet? Head over to our website for all the exciting details now by CLICKING HERE. And don’t forget that memberships can be purchased or renewed either in person at any screening or online at www.anufg.org.au/join
• MON 25 JULY @ 7:30 PM: MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU (PG, 98 MINS)
Celebrate the start of our new Spring season and the beginning of Bush Week 2022 with this free screening featuring everyone’s favourite 12-year-old supervillain, Gru (Steve Carrell), as he hatches a plan with his loyal Minions to join a villain supergroup.
• WED 27 JULY @ 7:30 PM: ABLAZE (PG, 81 MINS)
Opera singer Tiriki Onus unearths 70-year-old film footage revealing that his grandfather, Bill Onus, might have been history's first ever Aboriginal filmmaker – who orchestrated a daring civil rights movement for equality through the arts in the 1940s.
• THU 28 JULY @ 7:30 PM: FAREWELL, MR. HAFFMAN (M, 116 MINS)
In 1941, when faced with the German occupation of Paris, a talented Jewish jeweller is forced to flee the city and leave his store in the hands of an ambitious French employee, beginning a Faustian bargain that will forever change their fates.
• FRI 29 JULY @ 7:30 PM: MEN (MA, 100 MINS)
After a personal tragedy, a young woman (Jessie Buckley) retreats alone to the English countryside, but soon finds herself being tormented by strange men personifying toxic masculinity. Directed by Alex Garland (Ex Machina).
• SAT 30 JULY @ **5 PM**: THE PRINCESS BRIDE (PG, 97 MINS)
Celebrate 35 years of this beloved tale of love and adventure, in which a dashing farmhand (Cary Elwes) must overcome numerous obstacles and enemies in his epic quest to be reunited with his one true love (Robin Wright). As you wish!
• SAT 30 JULY @ 7:30 PM: TOP GUN: MAVERICK (M, 130 MINS ¬– NO GUESTS)
After more than 30 years as one of the US Navy's top aviators, Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell (Tom Cruise) returns to the Top Gun program, where he must confront his past as he trains a group of younger pilots, in this acclaimed, record-breaking blockbuster.
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REMINDER: MASKS STILL MANDATORY AT ANU
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With a new season of screenings comes a timely reminder that the ANU still requires masks to be worn anytime you’re indoors on campus – including during ANU Film Group screenings. The only exceptions to the rule are if you have a medical exemption or are actively consuming food or drink.
Please remember to bring along your own mask when attending screenings. We do have a limited supply of free marks for anyone who’s forgotten theirs, but if we run out, we will not be able to allow you entry into the cinema.
Thanks to everyone who has been cooperating so far by wearing their masks and helping to keep our screenings safe – and continuing!
We’ve saved the best for last with a blockbuster final week for our Winter season. This week, don’t miss Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis biopic, an adventure into the multiverse with Doctor Strange, the return of everyone’s favourite yellow creatures, and the epic conclusion to the Jurassic World trilogy!
And then come back next week to do it all over again with a doco about the first Aboriginal filmmaker (ALBAZE), the horrors of toxic masculinity (MEN), a French morality tale (FAREWELL, MR. HAFFMAN) and, of course, feel the need for speed again with TOP GUN: MAVERICK. Plus, a 35th anniversary screening of THE PRINCESS BRIDE and more Minions for our free Bush Week screening.
• THU 21 JULY @ 7:30 PM: ELVIS (M, 159 MINS)
Baz Luhrmann directs this biopic exploring of the life and music of the legendary Elvis Presley (Austin Butler), as seen through Presley's complex relationship with his manager, Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks), which spanned over 20 years.
• FRI 22 JULY @ 7:30 PM: DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS (M, 126 MINS – NO GUESTS)
After a powerful young woman inadvertently opens a doorway to multiple different universes, Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) is forced to team up with new allies and old friends to face a mysterious new adversary.
• SAT 23 JULY @ **5 PM**: MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU (PG, 87 MINS – NO GUESTS)
In this prequel to the Despicable Me films, 12-year-old budding supervillain Gru (Steve Carrell) hatches a plan with the aid of his mischievous Minions to become evil enough to join his favourite supervillain supergroup.
• SAT 23 JULY @ 7:30 PM: JURASSIC WORLD: DOMINIONS (M, 147 MINS – NO GUESTS)
With dinosaurs now unleashed upon the world, heroes old and new must unite to determine whether the human race can survive in a fragile balance alongside history’s most fearsome creatures, in this epic conclusion to the Jurassic era.
Behold, our brand new Spring 2022 programme is now out in all its glory!
With 43 films screening between July 25 and October 8 – including another 21 films featured across two film festivals – there’s bound to be something for everyone in this jam-packed season. We’ve got everything from the latest blockbusters (TOP GUN: MAVERICK, THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER) to foreign films (OFFICIAL COMPETITION, COMPARTMENT NO. 6), Australian fare (BLAZE, HOW TO PLEASE A WOMAN), beloved classics (STRICTLY BALLROOM, THE PRINCESS BRIDE) and even some films you won’t find elsewhere (WRITING WITH FIRE, WHERE THE WATER STARTS).
Check out the full line-up now either:
1. On our website with extended synopses and posters by CLICKING HERE
2. In a printer-friendly PDF flyer by CLICKING HERE
3. Imported directly into your calendar on your phone or computer by CLICKING HERE
4. Or you can pick up one of our new programme flyers at any screening from this week onwards.
Memberships for our next season are now available for purchase either in person at any screening or online at www.anufg.org.au/join. All Spring memberships purchased this week will also include entry into the remaining screenings of our current programme up to July 23.
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DO YOU NEED TO RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP?
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We’ve been receiving a number of enquiries lately about when memberships are due to expire. It may seem like a lifetime ago, but the majority of our current members first joined up or last renewed their membership in February 2020.
As a result of the free extensions granted due to the various COVID-19 related shutdowns over the past two years, those memberships are now due to expire this week at the end of our current season on July 23.
So if you’re in this cohort and would like to continue being a part of Australia’s biggest and best film society, be sure to renew your membership at your next screening. Renewing in person is a quick and simple process that takes mere minutes – just remember to bring your membership card with you and a credit or debit card for payment (no surcharges apply).
Alternatively, you can also renew your membership online at www.anufg.org.au/join but please note that online renewals may take 2-3 working days to be processed.
Not sure when your membership expires? Just send us an email to info@anufg.org.au with your membership number (located in the bottom right corner on the back of your card) and we’d be more than happy to let you know.
Where has the time gone? Even though the weather outside may disagree, this is the penultimate week of our Winter season – but fear not, we will be revealing our Spring 2022 programme next week!
Screening this week is the latest film from Oscar-wnning director Asghar Farhadi (A HERO), a French fantasy drama (PETITE MAMAN) and a British dramedy about refugees (LIMBO). Not to mention our 50th anniversary screening of one of the greatest films ever made, THE GODFATHER, which has regretfully taken on an added poignancy due to the passing of actor James Caan last week at age 82.
• THU 14 JULY @ 7:30 PM: A HERO (PG, 128 MINS)
A man is temporarily released from prison for two days in order to settle an unpaid debt, and uses this time to try to convince his creditor to withdraw his complaint against him, but things don't go as planned.
• FRI 15 JULY @ 7:30 PM: THE GODFATHER (MA, 175 MINS)
The ageing patriarch (Marlon Brando) of the Italian-American Corleone family makes preparations to cede control of his organised crime empire to his reluctant son (Al Pacino). The 50th anniversary of this Oscar-winning classic is an offer you can’t refuse!
• SAT 16 JULY @ **5 PM**: PETITE MAMAN (PG, 73 MINS)
An eight-year-old girl struggles to cope with the loss of her beloved maternal grandmother, until she forms a unique bond with a girl she meets in the nearby woods – who she soon discovers is a young version of her own mother.
• SAT 16 JULY @ 7:30 PM: LIMBO (M, 104 MINS)
Four asylum seekers staying on a remote island in Scotland undertake cultural awareness classes while awaiting the processing of their refugee claims, in this wry and poignant observation of the refugee experience.
There are only two films screening this week as we head into July and take a little break before the Kambri First Nations Film Festival kicks off next week. Don’t forget to check out the line-up – including THE DROVER’S WIFE, MY NAME IS GULPILIL and RABBIT-PROOF FENCE – and register ahead of time for your free tickets. More information can be found here: https://www.anufg.org.au/news/494
• THU 30 JUNE @ 7:30 PM: C’MON, C’MON (M, 100 MINS)
A radio journalist (Joaquin Phoenix) who travels the country interviewing children finds the tables turned when he is charged with looking after his obnoxious young nephew as they embark on a cross-country trip.
• FRI 1 JULY @ 7:30 PM: OPERATION MINCEMEAT (M, 127 MINS)
In 1943, two British intelligence officers (Colin Firth, Matthew Macfadyen) concoct a plan to drop a corpse carrying false papers off the coast of Spain to fool the Nazis into believing that Allied forces are planning to attack by way of Greece rather than Sicily.
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SEEKING NEW DOOR PERSON
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We are once again on the lookout for a door person to assist us at upcoming screenings. Door people are the smiling, friendly faces who greet you as you enter, scan your membership card as you enter the cinema.
If you're a current ANUFG member, are punctual, friendly, and would like to help us out with the fine art of scanning QR codes (something we’ve all had a lot of practice with over the past two years!), we would love to hear from you.
Please note that this is an unpaid volunteer position, but all door people receive a free ANUFG membership for the following season as a token of thanks upon completion of a required number of sessions.
Want to find out more? Please get in touch by emailing us at info@anufg.org.au
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WHAT’S ON THIS WEEK
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This week at the ANU Film Group, you can take a cinematic journey to Colombia, futuristic Japan, 1960s France as well as back in time for a celebration of Queen Elizabeth II’s life.
• THU 23 JUNE @ 7:30 PM: HAPPENING (R, 99 MINS)
In 1963, a bright young French student faces an unwanted pregnancy and risks both her freedom and her future to fight for her right to have an abortion – despite the practice being outlawed in France at the time – in this award-winning drama.
• FRI 24 JUNE @ 7:30 PM: BELLE (PG, 121 MINS)
A high school student enters a virtual world and embarks on a quest to uncover the identity of a mysterious beast who's on the run from vigilantes, in this animated sci-fi take on Beauty and the Beast. Original Japanese version with English subtitles.
• SAT 25 JUNE @ **5 PM**: ELIZABETH: A PORTRAIT IN PART(S) (M, 89 MINS)
With unprecedented access to rare footage from the Royal Archives, this documentary is a truly cinematic celebration of the life of Queen Elizabeth II that reveals a unique glimpse of the woman behind the legend. Directed by Roger Michell.
• SAT 25 JUNE @ 7:30 PM: MEMORIA (PG, 136 MINS)
A Scottish orchid farmer (Tilda Swinton) is visiting her ill sister in Colombia when she awakens one night to a loud sound, and soon begins experiencing a mysterious sensory syndrome while traversing the country's jungles.
Over five nights this winter
– from Wednesday 6 to Sunday 10 July – Kambri at ANU will be hosting a free First Nations Film Festival, held in partnership with the ANU Film Group.
Timed to coincide with NAIDOC Week 2022, the Festival has been curated to celebrate and elevate the contributions and stories of First Nations creatives in the film industry. The screenings of these First Nations-focussed films, both old and new, form part of a wider Kambri First Nations Festival taking place across the precinct. Visit www.kambri.com.au for more information.
Entry to the festival is free and open to anyone to attend. No ANUFG membership is required, but registration is encouraged by CLICKING HERE
1. WEDNESDAY 6 JULY @ 7:30 PM – JEDDA (1955)
This landmark film was the first Australian feature to be shot in colour, and more importantly, the first to star Indigenous actors in leading roles. An Aboriginal orphan (Ngarla Kunoth) is adopted by a white family and finds herself trapped between two cultures.
2. THURSDAY 7 JULY @ 7:30 PM – RABBIT-PROOF FENCE (2002)
Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year is director Phillip Noyce’s powerful drama about the stolen generations. Based on the true story of three Aboriginal girls who, after being forcibly removed from their mothers in 1931, escaped from a mission settlement.
3. FRIDAY 8 JULY @ 7:30 PM – MY NAME IS GULPILIL (2021)
In 2017, David Gulpilil was diagnosed with lung cancer and given only six months to live. This intimate documentary charts his extraordinary life as he reminisces on a life bridging two cultures. It ultimately was his last performance before passing away in November 2021.
4. SATURDAY 9 JULY @ 7:30 PM – SWEET COUNTRY (2017)
In 1929 Alice Springs, when Aboriginal stockman Sam (Hamilton Morris) kills a white station owner in self-defence, he and his wife are forced to go on the run – pursued by a vengeance-fuelled posse intent on bringing Sam to justice one way or another.
5. SUNDAY 10 JULY @ 7:30 PM – THE DROVER’S WIFE: THE LEGEND OF MOLLY JOHNSON (2021)
In 1893, pregnant Molly Johnson (Leah Purcell) and her children struggle to survive in the absence of her drover husband. But that soon proves to be the least of her worries when unexpected visitors arrive, in this feminist reimagining of Henry Lawson’s classic Western.
It’s time to enter the multiverse this week at the ANU Film Group with one of the most acclaimed – and unexpected – films of the year, a return to Downton Abbey, a retro slasher and a 70th anniversary screening of a classic musical.
• THU 16 JUNE @ 7:30 PM: X (R, 106 MINS)
In 1979, a group of young filmmakers set out to make an adult film in a rural Texas farmhouse. But when their reclusive, elderly hosts catch them in the act, the cast quickly find themselves in a desperate fight for their lives.
• FRI 17 JUNE @ 7:30 PM: DOWNTON ABBEY: A NEW ERA (PG, 125 MINS)
In the 1930s, the residents of Downton Abbey – the Crawley family and their dedicated staff – embark on a grand new adventure to the South of France to uncover the mystery of the Dowager Countess' newly inherited villa.
• SAT 18 JUNE @ **5 PM**: SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN (G, 103 MINS)
What a glorious feeling to celebrate the 70th anniversary of this classic musical! In late 1920s Hollywood, three silent film stars find themselves caught up in the industry's monumental transition to "talking pictures".
• SAT 18 JUNE @ 7:30 PM: EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE (MA, 139 MINS)
A mild-mannered Chinese immigrant (Michelle Yeoh) being audited by the IRS must learn how to access the abilities of her alternate selves across infinite parallel universes in order to protect her family from a dangerous threat.