ACMI celebrates Asia TOPA
acmi.net.au/asia-topa
asiatopa.com.au
Joining Arts Centre Melbourne and a consortium of cultural organisations, ACMI showcases the colourful, the queer and the cutting-edge during the inaugural Asia TOPA program in 2017 – a festival-style program that celebrates the wellspring of moving image, performing arts and culture from the diverse Asia-Pacific region.
Bombay Talkies exhibition
Open until 2 Jul, Gallery 2, 10am–5pm Free entry
acmi.net.au/bombay-
talkies
A major Asia TOPA highlight, ACMI exhibition Bombay Talkies captures the excitement and glamour of early Indian cinema with a treasure trove of artefacts collected by the -father of Bollywood cinema'.
Coming soon: Wallace & Gromit and Friends: The Magic of Aardman
Opens 29 Jun 2017
acmi.net.au/aardman
From Wallace & Gromit to Shaun the Sheep and Chicken Run plus many more, Aardman's claymation creations have been enchanting audiences for over four decades. In this upcoming ACMI exhibition, audiences can take an extraordinary trip from sketches and models through to elaborate sets as these beloved characters take shape on screen. Highlighting over 350 objects from Aardman's most amazing animations, celebrate the Oscar-winning studio's unique artistic vision.
Coming soon: Series Mania Melbourne
20 – 24 July
acmi.net.au/series-mania
'Series Mania is to TV drama what the Cannes Film Festival is to film" – Variety. Series Mania is the world's most prestigious international TV festival and this year it's coming exclusively to ACMI. In an Australian first, join us for Series Mania Melbourne, a four day extravaganza of premiere TV screenings, Q&As, panel discussions and masterclasses for enthusiasts and industry insiders. The full program and bookings will be available Monday 3 July.
ACMI's free, interactive Screen Worlds exhibition is open daily, and now features a new VR exhibit
Open every day except Christmas Day, 10am–5pm
Free entry
acmi.net.au/screen-worlds
Screen Worlds is ACMI's free, permanent and interactive exhibition that tells the remarkable story of the moving image; a vibrant biography that explores its past, past present and future. Presented in conceptually connected sections Emergence, Voices, Sensation, Games Lab and Kids Space, Screen Worlds brings together rarely seen footage, fascinating objects and interactive displays.
ACMI Cinemas
Citizen Jane: Battle for the City G
1 Jul – 3 Aug
From the director of Valentino the Last Emperor, comes a David and Goliath tale of the woman who rallied her community and challenged the highest echelons of power. In 1955, New York -Master Builder' Robert Moses proposed a 10-lane elevated highway through Manhattan, demolishing the beloved neighbourhoods of Little Italy, Chinatown, SoHo and the Lower East Side.
Special advance preview 13 June: Join us after the screening for a lively discussion about the role of citizen activism in contemporary society, hosted by The Saturday Paper and DocPlay.
Chauka, Please Tell Us The Time
16 – 18 Jun
Over a period of several months, journalist and Manus Island detainee Behrouz Boochani had access to a phone. In secret, he collaborated with Iranian-Dutch filmmaker Arash Kamali Sarvestani on the outside to create a film which portrays what he describes as "the coarsening banality and repetition" of indefinite detention. The film reveals sobering first-hand accounts of harassment, belittlement and mistreatment.
Fri 16 Jun: Following the screening co-director Arash Kamali Sarvestani will be joined in conversation by Australian Greens senator Nick McKim,
Sat 17 Jun: Following the screening co-director Arash Kamali Sarvestani will be joined in conversation with award-winning writer and human rights advocate Arnold Zable.
Kedi CTC
Previews start 9 Jun
A smash hit at the 2016 Melbourne International Film Festival, Kedi tells the story of Istanbul and the feline residents who have roamed her streets and rooftops for millennia. An essential part of the cityscape, these cats claim no owners, yet they have an intricate and deeply felt relationship with the people who intersect with their lives on a daily basis. Ceyda Torun's charming debut offers a magical insight into her hometown, unpacking the history of the city and its complex future, in the face of modernisation and radical urbanisation.
The Year My Voice Broke M
In Cinema from 1 Jul
Set in the early sixties in the Tablelands of New South Wales, The Year My Voice Broke is an evocation of adolescence in a pre-multicultural, rigidly conservative rural Australia. Noah Taylor is Danny, an intelligent but awkward teenage boy who dreams of fame as a musician or a poet. Loene Carmen is Freya, his best friend, who is adopted by a local family and whose forthright rebellious behaviour leads to a reputation as the town floozy.
Adam Elliot presents Australian Indie Animations Unclassified 15+
15 Jul, 4pm
Melbourne-based animator Adam Elliot (Mary & Max, Harvie Krumpet) takes us on a journey though animation in Australia over the last three decades, celebrating the unique ties many animators have established with the Bristish-based Aardman Studios. Adam will present a hand-picked collection of short films from some of the greatest animators this country has produced and talk with many of the key players in the field.
Hidden Figures PG
7 – 18 Jul
Hidden Figures tells the remarkable, little-known story of Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughn (Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae) – a pioneering trio of African-American mathematicians who crossed gender and race lines to serve vital roles in the early years of the US Space program.
A United Kingdom PG
10 – 20 Jun
In 1947, Oxford-educated Seretse Khama (David Oyelowo) meets London office worker, Ruth Williams (Rosamund Pike). Their attraction is instant but their fledgling romance is complicated by the fact that Khama is the prince of the British protectorate of Bechuanaland (modern-day Botswana) and due to return to his homeland to become its king. Ruth accepts Seretse's marriage proposal, but their union challenges the powerful status quo at home and abroad.
Nahid Unclassified 15+
23 Jun – 4 Jul
Nahid (Sareh Bayat) is a harried young divorcee living with her school-age son, Amir Reza in a small northern city of Iran on the Caspian Sea. With barely a moment of respite, Nahid spends her days juggling finances, trying to make rent, keeping her truant son on the straight and narrow, fending off overtures from her repentant ex-husband and quietly, furtively falling in love with a handsome widowed hotelier who offers her a second chance at happiness.
The Tales of Hoffman G
22 Jul – 1 Aug
A spellbinding fusion of music, ballet, drama, fantasy and romance adapted from the opera by Jacques Offenbach. The Tales of Hoffmann dramatizes the three great romances in the life of the poet-hero, Hoffmann (Metropolitan Opera star Robert Rounseville): a wind-up performing doll, Olympia (The Red Shoes' Moira Shearer), a Venetian courtesan, Giulietta (the stunning Ludmilla Tchérina) and a beautiful opera singer, Antonia (soprano Ann Ayars). Hoffmann loses each of the women he loves but poetically transmutes his loss into art.
Tarkine in Motion Unclassified 15+
29 – 30 Jul
In 2015, over 70 artists spanning film, music and other disciplines journeyed together in the Tarkine – a part of north west Tasmania of great cultural and environmental significance. Presented by the Bob Brown Foundation, the documentary captures the artists' response to the beauty of the area and offers a glimpse into rarely seen corner of Australia.
Presented by MIAF & ACMI
Melbourne International Animation Festival
18 – 25 Jul
MIAF is your comprehensive showcase of the best new and historical animation from here and abroad. One of the largest animation festivals in the world, MIAF also includes a multitude of screenings and talks.
Presented by the Melbourne Cinémathèque & ACMI
Melbourne Cinémathèque
7pm every Wed
Since 1948, the Melbourne Cinémathèque has been showing ground-breaking, rare and significant cinema from around the world. Curated by the Melbourne Cinémathèque, sessions screen at ACMI every Wednesday throughout the year.
Admission by Melbourne Cinémathèque membership $25 - $290