Wallace & Gromit and Friends: The Magic of Aardman

ACMI: What's On September to October, 2018

Museum and Ideas

Wallace & Gromit and Friends: The Magic of Aardman
acmi.net.au/aardman
Don't miss ACMI's extraordinary, heart-warming exhibition Wallace & Gromit and Friends, closing Sunday 29 October. Rediscover old favourites and watch beloved Aardman characters transform from sketches on the page to characters on the on the screen. Highlighting over 350 objects from Aardman's most amazing animations, celebrate the Oscar-winning studio's unique artistic vision. The exhibition includes over 50 authentic film sets, as well as hand crafted plasticine models, concept drawings, character studies, storyboards and production designs. It will be a grand outing for the family, animation aficionados and art lovers alike, with activities and displays illuminating the incredible intricacy, humour and artistry of the studio. Big and small kids will love our claymation station where you can make your own stop-motion animation, complete with clay, sets and detailed instructions on how to bring your own animation to life.

Changing the Game
Wed 4 Oct
acmi.net.au/change
Join Steph Convery, Clem Ford, Leena van Deventer and Rae Johnston to talk survival strategies for being a woman with an opinion on the internet. In this provocative and proactive panel discussion, we explore the current landscape of social interactions through technology and the ways diverse players are taking the power back. From commentators outing trolls on social media to organisations empowering users to disable abusive comments, we are seeing game developers building safe playing spaces and artists from racially and gender diverse backgrounds creating games as a medium to promote tolerance.

Code Breakers: Women in Games
Tue 25 Jul – Sun 5 Nov
Free entry
acmi.net.au/code-breakers
Code Breakers is the first Australian exhibition celebrating the achievements of women working in the games industry. Visitors can play games made by emerging and established makers, from platformers, RPGs and digital board games to graphical adventures and puzzlers, there's something for everyone, at every skill level. Alongside the fun, Code Breakers ponders important questions in the post-Gamergate landscape: How do women carve a path in an industry that has historically been hostile towards them? What does a more inclusive games industry look like? Each maker reflects on the sometimes challenging journey they've made in this male-dominated industry, revealing the human stories behind their games.

ACMI's free, interactive Screen Worlds exhibition is open daily
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, Kids Space, and the brand-new VR Lounge featuring a rotating series of VR works, Screen Worlds brings together rarely seen footage, fascinating objects and interactive displays.

ACMI Cinemas
Visit acmi.net.au/film for session times and ticket information.

I Am Not Your Negro
From Thu 14 Sep
acmi.net.au/ianyn
Filmmaker Raoul Peck returns with a transcendent documentary examining the life and work of literary iconoclast and queer icon James Baldwin. The Oscar-nominated I Am Not Your Negro is based on Baldwin's unfinished manuscript Remember This House, a stirring, personal account of the lives and deaths of his friends and US Civil Rights Movement leaders Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. Baldwin's razor-sharp activism bears witness to the impact and legacy of race in America.

Their Finest
Fri 15 – Tue 26 Sep
Catrin Cole (Tamara Drewe's Gemma Arterton) is a resolutely can-do sort eking out a living as a copywriter during the London Blitz. Recruited to the Ministry of Information's Film division to write dialogue -from a woman's perspective' to make the unit's wartime propaganda featurettes more appealing to a female audience. Catrin takes the casual chauvinism of head writer Tom Buckley (Sam Claflin) in her stride while Bill Nighy is cast in the scene-stealing role of pompous thesp, Ambrose Hilliard Richard E. Grant, Eddie Marsan and Jeremy Irons are all excellent in supporting roles.

Disneynature Festival
Sat 23 Sep – Sun 8 Oct
acmi.net.au/disneynature
Pandas, butterflies and monkeys are just some of the stars in our second Disneynature Festival in the upcoming September school holidays. Travel deep into the jungle, across the plains of Africa and to the most remote corners of China, in this exclusive season screening six of Disney's greatest documentaries for all ages. Narrated by a who's who of Hollywood talent, including John Krasinski (The Office), Meryl Streep, John C. Reilly, Tim Allen, Samuel L. Jackson and Tina Fey. Kicking off this year's program is the Australian premiere of Born in China.

Shaun the Sheep Movie
In Cinema from 4 Jul
Shaun is a clever, mischievous sheep who lives with his flock on Mossy Bottom Farm, under the supervision of The Farmer and Bitzer, a well-meaning but ineffectual sheep dog. Despite Shaun's best efforts, life on the farm has got into a bit of a rut, so Shaun concocts a cunning plan – to have a day off! But be very careful what you wish for.
Chicken Run
In Cinema from 29 Jul
Ginger, Bunty, Babs and Fowler are chickens trapped on a farm and desperate to escape. If they don't produce any eggs for the week, Mr. and Ms. Tweedy will have their heads and turn them into chicken pot pies. Just when it seems all hope is lost an American rooster called Rocky falls from the sky into their midst. Ginger agrees to protect Rocky in exchange for flying lessons. Aardman Animations' first stop-motion feature film won numerous awards, including the Los Angeles Film Critics Best Animated Feature.

Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
In Cinema from 2 Jul
Inventor and cheese-lover Wallace and his devoted canine Gromit run their own vegetable protection agency, Anti-Pesto, but get into all manner of mischief when they unintentionally create a Were-Rabbit with a voracious appetite. With the town's beloved vegie plots at risk of disappearing into the jaws of the veg-ravaging beast, Wallace and Gromit are hired to save the day. Ralph Fiennes and Helena Bonham Carter add their talents to a terrific voice cast. Winner of the 2006 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature as well as over 30 international film awards.

Flushed Away
In Cinema from 2 Jul
Roddy (Hugh Jackman) is a decidedly upper-crust "society rat" who makes his home in a posh London flat. When a common sewer rat named Syd comes spewing out of the sink and decides he's hit the jackpot, Roddy schemes to rid himself of the pest by luring him into the "whirlpool." But it's Roddy who winds up being flushed away into the bustling sewer world of Ratropolis. Immediately wanting out he decides to enlist an enterprising scavenger, Rita (Kate Winslet) and her faithful boat, the Jammy Dodger, to help get him back home. But Rita doesn't come cheap and there is a villainous toad determined to rid Ratropolis of all things rodent. The Toad dispatches his two hapless hench-rats, Spike and Whitey, to get the job done. When they fail, the Toad has no choice but to enlist that dreaded French mercenary Le Frog.

Wallace & Gromit: The Aardman Collection
In Cinema from 1 Jul
This special compilation features several classic Aardman multi-award winning short films including early instalments of Creature Comforts, the complete works of William Shakespeare (in under five minutes!) and the third Wallace and Gromit adventure, A Close Shave plus many more Aardman treats!

School Holiday Program
Sun 24 Sep – Sun 8 Oct

Our holiday program in the heart of Melbourne includes kids and teens' workshops in coding, filmmaking, robotics, virtual reality and more. Catch a kids' movie in the cinemas, or explore the animated worlds of Wallace & Gromit, Shaun the Sheep and Chicken Run downstairs in the exhibition.

Prehistoric VR
Sat 23 Sep – Sun 8 Oct
Free
acmi.net.au/prehistoric-vr This school holidays drop onto the ocean floor in our latest commission Prehistoric VR, an immersive encounter by internationally renowned makers of large-scale puppetry experiences Erth Visual & Physical Inc, and award winning visual artist and filmmaker Samantha Lang. Based on Erth's stage show Prehistoric Aquarium, Prehistoric VR invites you to travel back 200 million years to encounter some of the strange, wonderful and terrifying creatures of the prehistoric deep. Up close and personal with an amazing array of aquatic creatures from the Ediacaran to the Cretaceous periods, this ground-breaking VR experience connects audiences to the real science of palaeontology. For ages 7 to 12.

Family Sundays: Journey to Outer Space
Sun 1 Oct
Free
Calling all earthlings! Have you ever dreamed of becoming an astronaut, rocketing through the earth's atmosphere and exploring new planets? Begin your journey to become an astronaut on the international space station with our VR simulation, and use your brick-building skills to design your own Lego rocket to take you galaxies far, far away .Accept an intergalactic mission, create your own unique flag and take a moonwalk on the greenscreen as you explore and conquer new planets. Experience the wonder of the solar system in 3D as you visit distant planets and moons in our VR gallery.

Family Sundays: Melbourne International Games Week
Sun 22 Oct
Free
Everyone's favourite block-jumping, Bowser-battling plumber is back! Join Mario and all his friends in a day bursting with interactive activities and great gameplay. Challenge your family and friends to see who has the ultimate gaming skills on the new Nintendo Switch. From mini Marios to young Yoshis, come dressed as your favourite game character in costume to enter our awards ceremony at 2:30pm to win fantastic prizes. If you don't have a costume, roll up to our photo wall and jump into one of our costumes to create an unforgettable and unique family portrait to take home with you. Get your cube-based creativity on as you enter the blocky world of Minecraft through the power of greenscreen. Get crafty and creative with a series of hands-on activities, or build and explore as a family in our Minecraft Play Zone. Presented by ACMI and Melbourne International Games Week.

Family & Friends Claymation
Sun 15 Oct
It's time to bust out the clay and get creating! Bring your family and friends to this exclusive one-day workshop to learn the tips, tricks and techniques of the stop-motion animation masters behind Wallace & Gromit. Work with our experts to sculpt clay characters and watch them come to life with sets, studio lighting and sound in an interactive and hands-on approach to crafting your own short animation. It's a grand day out for groups or families looking to come together and get creative.

For session times and more information on these and all other ACMI events visit acmi.net.au