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Tickets
SINGLE SESSIONS
$11.50 full price
$9.50 concession
SUBSCRIPTIONS
FULL SUBSCRIPTION
9 x film pass $78.00 full price
9 x film pass $70.00 concession
HALF SUBSCRIPTION
5 x film pass $49.00 full price
5 x film pass $45.00 concession
Full subscriptions admit you to one screening each of the films.
Subscriptions are transferable but cannot be shared for the same
session.
Concessions are available to full-time students, unemployed, pensioners,
members of the Alice Springs Film Society and Friends of the Festival.
Bona Fide ID must be presented.
Please note. Admission to all unclassified films is restricted to people 18 years and over.
Above: Takeshi Kitano as Zatoichi
How to book
SINGLE SESSION TICKETS
On sale at the Box Office
30 minutes before each session
VENUE / BOX OFFICE
Araluen Arts Centre
Larapinta Drive
Alice Springs NT 0870
Tel (08) 8951 1122
Above: Marco Solo
Book by FAX:
Credit Cards only
(BCARD/MCARD/VISA/AMEX)
to the Travelling Film Festival
(02) 9280 1520
Book by mail:
Cheque/Credit Cards to
Travelling Film Festival
PO Box 96
Strawberry Hills NSW 2012
SUBSCRIPTIONS
On sale in advance from
venue Box Office or from
the Sydney Film Festival
Please make cheques payable to
the Sydney Film Festival
Book by email:
[email protected]
The Travelling Film Festival visits...
NT: Alice Springs, Katherine, Darwin
QLD: Bundaberg, Mackay, Cairns, Townsville
NSW: Dubbo, Wagga Wagga, Wollongong, Bowral, Bowraville, Laurieton, Huskisson
Sponsors
Sydney Film Festival acknowledges the support of
the Australian Film Commission and
NSW Film and Television Office
Presented by Sydney Film Festival
PO Box 96 Strawberry Hills NSW 2012
Tel (02) 9280 0511 Fax (02) 9280 1520
[email protected]
w w w. s y d n e y f i l m fe s t i v a l . o rg On Tour
Sydney
Travelling
Film Festival
Alice Springs Araluen Arts Centre
18–21 February 2005
On the road with the best on screen
This is a slowburning movie,
a character study
set against
a creepy
background...
it’s the Australian
‘Blair Witch’
Opening Night
Lost Things
Australia/Dir: Martin Murphy/2004/84mins/English
language (M)
Is death the ultimate horror - or is there
something in our destiny? This return to
basics for the psychological horror genre is
fresh and unpredictable, with top
performances and an intelligent script.
Simply made on a low budget, the film
proves that it’s your imagination and the
quality of your story telling not the size of
your budget that ultimately matters. Four
teenagers set off for a weekend of surf n’
sun. Where this film deviates immediately
from the standard fare of this genre is in its
characterisations. Each of the characters is
uniquely identifiable, and not as a
stereotype.
The originality is followed through the layers
of their conversations which touch on real
Margaret Pomeranz
At The Movies, ABC TV
issues facing teenagers in an adult world.
Our attention is held through a combination
of humour and drama as the adventure
begins to fracture - and the mystery of
what’s happening deepens.
The filmmakers’ search for a fresh group of
young actors has proved highly successful;
each of them delivering a terrific
characterisation.
The introduction of a mysterious element
that provides the source of fear is carefully
orchestrated to be both accessible and just
out of sight. Martin Murphy’s direction is
assured and keeps us involved, off balance
and entertained. The film is aided by a fine,
restrained score from Carlo Giacco, and the
ideas that drive Stephen Sewell’s clever
script are worthy of our investment. –
Andrew Urban, UrbanCinefile •••••
The Projectionist
Australia/Dir: Michael Bates/2002/14mins/English
language (M)
Grand Prix
Tampere Film
Festival 2003
‘The Projectionist’, inspired by Rachmaninov’s
composition ‘The Isle of the Dead’, threads
together a story about an old cinema
projectionist and an elaborate series of huge
projected images which represent his
memories. He is a 21st century ‘everyman’
whose complex mind is burdened with too
many overlapping memories. His individual
suffering resonates, ironically because it is
invisible to everyone but himself. The ghostly
visions which appear in ‘The Projectionist’
reflect his personal history and private pain.
Above: Facing Windows
In My Father’s Den
New Zealand/Dir: Brad McGann/126mins/2004/English
language (MA)
FIPRESCI Award Toronto
Audience Award San Sebastian
A tale of secrets, betrayal and the
consequences of living in denial, silence and
fear. Paul Prior (Matthew Macfadyen), a
world-weary photojournalist returns home to
New Zealand after the death of his father.
It’s been seventeen years since he left and his
brother Andrew (Colin Moy) is stunned by his
sudden, unannounced visit. The two siblings worlds apart in temperament, beliefs and life
experience - attempt to renew their troubled
relationship. Pressured by his brother to stay
longer, Paul is charged with arranging the
sale of their father’s estate. Revisiting his
father’s cottage unearths long suppressed
memories for Paul. When he meets the
disconnected sixteen-year-old Celia who
actively pursues him - fascinated by his
cynicism and experience of the world beyond
her small-town existence - an unlikely
friendship develops. Paul recognises
something of himself in Celia: the passion for
writing, a thirst for knowledge and
experience; qualities that have been
tarnished by his constant exposure to the
front lines of the world. When Celia goes
missing Paul, as the outsider, is immediately
blamed for her disappearance. Mounting
suspicions turn to violent encounters. The
past finally catches up as the truth emerges
in this taut, edge-of-your-seat drama. –
Sydney Film Festival
The Year
My Voice Broke
Australia/Dir: John Duigan/1987/105mins/English language (M)
A beautiful coming-of-age drama set in country
New South Wales in 1962. Danny (Noah Taylor)
an awkward fifteen year-old, watches painfully
as his best friend and first love, the slightly older
Freya (Leone Carmen), blossoms into
womanhood and falls for trouble maker Trevor
(Ben Mendelsohn). As the relationship between
Freya and Trevor deepens and Danny is left
f u rther behind, a series of events unfold which
will irreversibly change the lives of everyone
involved forever.
We Have Decided Not To Die
Australia/Dir: Daniel Askill/2003/11mins/
English language (M)
Audience Award
Clermont-Ferrand
Film Festival
Spring, Summer,
Autumn, Winte r...and
Spring
Korea/Dir: Kim Ki-duk/2003/101mins/Korean language
English subtitles (MA)
An exquisitely simple movie, the film
concentrates its focus on the relationship
between a Buddhist monk and his young
protege. The master and his protege live in
extreme isolation; their small wooden house,
on a raft in the middle of a lake is the only
habitation for miles around. The story
e f f o rtlessly joins the cycle of the seasons, to
become part of the larger rhythms of life.
Along the way there are numerous
surprises...by the end when you are back at
Spring with a young acolyte and a gray-haired
master - the film takes on the heft and gravity
of one of the smooth stone Buddha's that
decorate the old monk’s house.
It seems less a modern work of art than a solid,
ancient object that has always been there,
waiting to be found.– New York Times
Zatoichi
Japan/Dir: Takeshi Kitano/200/115mins/Japanese language
with English subtitles (MA)
Action stations!! That incredible Japanese
institution, Takeshi Kitano - action maestro,
art-house auteur, slapstick comic and kids’
television favourite - has made a film which
combines all of his talents. Kitano is ideally
placed for his thrilling new samurai picture,
which somehow manages also to be a musical,
a comedy and a gentle exploration of the
countryside.
Set in the 19th century, the film has Kitano as a
Japanese blind masseur and itinerant wiseguywarrior Zatoichi, a legendary character familiar
in Japan. Zatoichi walks the earth with his
pre t e r n a t u rally enhanced hearing and reflexes,
i n variably encountering bullies who think they
can take advantage of his vulnerability. It’s at
this point Zatoichi’s sword is unsheathed from
his blind-man’s cane and he wreaks mayhem in
sizzling fight scenes where crimson spouts of
blood are stylised, indirect, almost abstract.
It’s simply a very entertaining film. – The
Guardian
A stunning visual experience which achieved
the runner-up prize at the 2003 BAFTA Awards.
‘We Have Decided Not To Die’ is about a mental
state where logic drops away and anything is
possible.
An audio visual narrative that uses sound,
stunts and visual effects to create a world
w h e re characters float in space and time.
It tells the story of three characters’ modern
day journeys of transcendence; journeys into
a place where death is no longer inevitable.
The Story of the
Weeping Camel
Germany/Dirs: Byambasuren Davaa, Luigi Falorni/2003
/93mins/Mongolian language with English subtitles (PG)
D o n’t miss this hit of the 2004 Sydney Film
Fe s t i val! A family of nomadic shepherds in the
Gobi Desert of Southern Mongolia use a
t raditional music ritual to try and save the life
of a ra re white baby camel after it is rejected at
birth by its mother.
This narra t i ve documentary has a rhythm and
beauty to it that fits with the ethnographical
n a t u re of its subject matter so well that it’s hard
Zatoichi is a hugely entertaining movie from one of
Japan’s most talented filmmakers
– David Stratton, At The Movies, ABC TV
Clockwise from top left: The Story of the Weeping Camel; Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter... and Spring; Control Room; and Since Otar Left.
to know where the documentary ends and the
fiction begins.
The actors are the real nomads who played out
their daily lives before the camera, with some
re-enactments for the filmmakers. They are
delightful, beautiful people, especially young
Ugna who practically steals the film from the
camels. The style of direction, simple still
shots, reflects the lives depicted. And the
landscape is stunning. – Margaret Pomeranz,
At the Movies, ABC TV
Control Room
USA/Egypt/Dir: Jehane Noujaim/2003/84mins/English
language (M)
FIPRESCI Award
Sydney Film Festival
2004
Banned from several Arabic countries because
of its critical stance, ‘Control Room’ was also
hailed as a mouthpiece for Osama Bin Laden
by President Bush.
In the film, Al Jaze e ra’s role as the most
popular news channel in the Arab world,
catering to an audience of over 40 million,
is observed by filmmaker Jehane Noujaim as
the channel’s journalists re p o rt on the
escalating war. Caught between a rock and a
h a rd place is the media liaison officer of the
United States Armed Fo rces, Lieutenant Josh
Rushing. What is journalistic objectivity in a
situation like this? ‘Control Ro o m ’ g i ves insight
into the concept of journalistic integrity and
how each side may see the other betraying
that ethic. – Marg a ret Po m e ranz, At the
Movies, ABC T V
Since Otar Left
Facing Windows
France/Georgia/Dutch/Dir: Julie Bertuccelli/2003/100mins/
French, Georgian and Russian languages with English
subtitles (M)
I t a l y/Dir: Ferzan Ozpetek/2003/106mins/Italian language
with English subtitles (M)
GRAND PRIZE
INTERNATIONAL CRITICS WEEK
CANNES 2003
The return of great Russian filmmaking.
A subtle story of a lie for love that changes
the lives of three generations of women in
today’s Georgia. ‘Since Otar Left’ is an
exquisitely bittersweet drama set in Tbilisi, the
crumbling capital of the post-Soviet republic
of Georgia. Three women - the stoically
beautiful Ada (Dinara Droukarova), her lusty
mother Marina (Nino Khomassouridze) and
whip-smart grandmother Eka (Esther Gorintin)
- live together in an apartment. When news
comes that Marina’s brother Otar has been
killed while working in France, Marina and Ada
decide to conceal his death rather than break
Eka’s heart. Otar’s death amplifies the
fantasies, failings and buried aspirations each
woman had projected onto his achievements
and ultimately becomes a catalyst for change.
– Filmink
Marco Solo
Australian/Dir: Adrian Bosich/2005/10mins/English
language
In the darkest days of WWII, a young baker’s
apprentice suddenly murders his employer
before taking to the empty midnight streets,
frantically searching for someone or
something...a haunting image of passion, rage
and desperation. Giovanna has been married to
her devoted husband Filippo for 9 years. The
burden of responsibility for the family begins to
show when they come across an elderly
gentleman on the street who appears lost and
confused. Giovanna doesn’t want to get involved
but her husband Filippo feels compelled to take
the stranger home. Irritated by her husband’s
decision, Giovanna’s begins
to fantasise about her idea of the perfect man the handsome and mysterious neighbour that
she watches through her window at night.
As Giovanna helps the elderly man search for his
past an enduring friendship develops between
the unlikely pair.
Combining elements of mystery, love story and
historical rumination, ‘Facing Windows’ is about
finding and fulfiling one’s destiny; as two women,
one husband, the man in the window and the
elderly stranger are brought together.
Poor Marco. Accidentally born into an
overcrowded Australian-Italian household,
he is relegated to his parents' bedroom. Nine
years later, armed with a vivid imagination,
an obsession with Dame Edna Everage, and a
warped sense of Catholicism, Marco fights
for a space of his own.
Screening Times 18–21 February 2005
Friday 18th
7.30pm The Projectionist (M)
(short) followed by Lost Things (M)
Saturday 19th
1.00pm Spring, Summer,
Autumn, Winter, Spring...(MA)
3.15pm Since Otar Left (M)
7.00pm Control Room (MA)
9.00pm In My Father’s Den (MA)
Sunday 20th
1.00pm The Year My Vo i ce Broke
(M)
3.00pm Marco Solo (short)
followed by Facing Windows (M)
6.00pm We Have Decided Not To
Die (M)(short) followed by The
Story of the Weeping Camel (PG)
8.00pm Zatoichi (MA)
Monday 21st
5.30pm In My Father’s Den (MA)
8.00pm Since Otar Left (M)