The cultural capital of Australia, Melbourne is inarguably the premiere location for film fans down under (no matter what anyone from Sydney tells you). These weekly posts will take you beyond the multiplex and highlight the Top 5 movie alternatives worth checking out each week.
1. The Melbourne Queer Film Festival (ACMI)
Continuing throughout this week and into the next, the twenty-third edition of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival boasts a range of LGBT themed cinema from around the globe, including James Franco and Travis Matthews’ Interior. Leather Bar, recently announced as a replacement for Matthews’ banned film I Want Your Love. For the full program, click here. (Thur, 14 Feb – Sun, 24 Feb)
2. Underground: The Julian Assange Story + Q&A (Cinema Nova)
From Balibo director Robert Connolly, Underground recounts the teenage years of hacker turned wikileaker Julian Assange. Each of these early screenings at Cinema Nova will be followed by a Q&A with Connolly along with a different special guest, including Assange’s mother Christine. Full speaker details here. (Sun, Mar 17, 6:30pm; Tue Mar 19 – Fri, March 22, 6:45pm)
3. MIFF Shorts (Moonlight Cinema)
Moonlight Cinema presents this exciting line-up of short films from last year’s Melbourne International Film Festival. Amongst the selections, Isabel Peppard’s Butterflies (pictured), which I wrote about in a recent edition of Short Stuff. For the full program, click here. (Tuesday, March 19, 7pm)
4. North by Northwest (The Astor)
A classic thriller of mistaken identity and international espionage, North by Northwest doesn’t have quite the same voyeuristic intensity as Psycho, Vertigo or Rear Window, yet it may be the funnest film that Alfred Hitchcock ever made. A big screen must. (Sat Mar 16, 2pm, 5pm & 8pm)
5. Beetlejuice (Rooftop Cinema)
Tim Burton’s second film, and the one that came to define his distinctive visual style, 1988’s Beetlejuice tells the story of a recently deceased couple who summon a deranged “bio-exorcist” to clear their home of it’s pesky corporeal residents. (Wednesday, March 20, 9:30pm)
