Documentaries @Cinema Reborn Festival
1-7 May 2024 Sydney, Melbourne 9-12 May
Cinema Reborn Film Festival is an annual festival bringing newly restored classics to the big screen. Developed by a community of cinema enthusiasts, programmers, filmmakers, screen historians and critics, Cinema Reborn’s focus is on screen heritage and preservation and is intended to shine a light on the long history of the art of the cinema, the worldwide activity of film restoration and the treasures that exist in the world’s film archives.
Two Australian Documentaries will be screened as part of this year program.
JOURNEY TO THE END OF NIGHT (1982)
Once seen, never forgotten. Forty years after World War II, veteran Bill Neave recounts his wartime experiences in Papua New Guinea, after escaping from the Japanese in Rabaul, East New Britain. As he speaks to the camera, the events are as vivid and alive to him as they were decades ago. He discusses his experiences with his dead friends: the murders, the horror, the brutality and the torture. Peter Tammer’s documentary masterpiece trivializes any questions about documentary authenticity or the border lines between truth and fiction by transcending them all. One of the greatest documentaries made in this country, it asks: “a soldier is trained to kill, but not to commit murder. But who can draw the line?”
LIGHT YEARS (1991)
In the 1930s and 1940s, Olive Cotton helped run a photographic studio in Sydney with her childhood friend and first husband Max Dupain. During that time, her own work was exhibited locally and internationally. After World War II, she remarried and moved to Koorawatha in central NSW where she lived without water and electricity while struggling to survive and raise a family. Too poor to print her photographs, the negatives were stored in a sea chest until the 1960s, when friends and family helped her build a darkroom in Cowra. She spent much of the rest of her life printing from her archives. Cotton amassed an amazing photographic collection during her 60-year career: she is one of Australia’s most revered photographers and a key figure in the development of contemporary photography in this country.
WIN TICKETS
RYUICHI SAKAMOTO | OPUS
Missed ‘OPUS’ at Antenna or just want to experience it again? Great news! 🌟 The film is getting a limited theatrical release across Australia next week, and we have an exciting giveaway for you! We’re offering TWO COMPLIMENTARY TICKETS to see this mesmerizing concert film featuring the legendary final performance of Sakamoto.
To be in the pool to win, please send your name and email address to antenna(at)antennafestival(dot)org with the subject OPUS Ticket Giveaway.
SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL 2024
First Films
The Sydney Film Festival (SFF) has only unveiled a fraction of its 2024 lineup, but we are already excited about the documentaries in their lineup. Highlights from the announced films include
- The Contestant – The incredible true story of a TV contestant left naked in a room, unaware his months-long challenge was being broadcast to millions via a Japanese television show
- The Pool – A spectacular cinematic portrait of the iconic Bondi Icebergs – the pool and the people who cherish it – from The Final Quarter (SFF 2019) director Ian Darling.
- Menus-Plaisirs – Les Troisgros – Master documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman reveals the inner-workings of a French restaurant that’s held three Michelin stars for more than 50 years.
Adding to that, SFF has just announced their opening night film, which is the world premiere of Midnight Oil: he Hardest Line. Contrary. Passionate. Outspoken. Over 45 years Midnight Oil helped shape modern Australia. This is their trailblazing story for the first time on film.
Check out SFF website for more info.
