IFFR TO FETE THE CULTURAL IMPACT OF VHS HEYDAY

In the long history of the entertainment sector in its many forms - theatre, film, radio, the internet - few technological developments have flown so high and plummeted so uniquely as the VCR. 

                                                                                     (Credit: Alex Ross Perry / Instagram)

The legacy left behind from the boom years of VHS domination (and, early on, the fleeting companion format, Betamax) is only just now coming into a sharper focus; what has long been dismissed as an artefact of ‘80s ephemera is now being reconsidered as a vital and complex piece of film culture history.

The changing attitudes to the impact of the home video decades can be found in the announcement that the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) will be dedicating a strand in the 2025 program to the VHS heyday. As conversations evolve around streaming platforms and their impact on cinema going, IFFR presents HOLD VIDEO IN YOUR HANDS, a timely exploration of VHS culture, deeply rooted in community, creativity and unique viewing practices.

Central to the sidebar will be the World Premiere of Alex Ross Perry’s documentary Videoheaven (pictured, top), a three-hour voiceover meditation on the history of video stores in Hollywood cinema that has been a decade in the making. 

In a 2023 interview with website Cinema Scope, Perry (pictured, above), who worked at the iconic Kim’s Video Store in New York, said “Social relationships in video stores as depicted on-screen show that for about ten years, basically the entire ’90s, the video store was an inherently social space. Pre-internet, pre–message boards, like the record store or whatever, you had to go to learn and discuss, with employees, customers, friends.”

Rotterdam filmmaker Gyz La Rivière (pictured, left) returns to the IFFR with the World Premiere of his video store love letter, Videotheek Marco, a rose-coloured recollection into local video store history and connected audiovisual activities like community television. 

In a similar vein is Jagannathan Krishnan cinema-verite documentary Videokaaran (2011; pictured, right), which will have a retrospective screening at IFFR. The acclaimed feature is a handheld odyssey through the world of underground video parlours, where audiences would gather in makeshift cinemas to watch videos projected on whatever flat, upright wall was available. 

Confirmed for the sidebar is The Shrouds, the latest from celebrated Canadian auteur David Cronenberg. Starring Vincent Cassell, Diane Kruger and Guy Pearce, the narrative utilises home video technologies in its depiction of an industry that offers customers unique in-coffin coverage of their late loved ones. 

Also a vital element of the ‘Hold Video in Your Hands’ initiative, the IFFR will launch interactive projects inviting Rotterdam citizens to share their personal home video stories, creating a communal cinematic experience.

The 2025 International Film Festival Rotterdam will run Thursday 30 January to Sunday 9 February. Program details and official announcements will be posted at the event's official website. 

PREVIEW: 2024 RUSSELL HOBBS BRITISH FILM FESTIVAL

The 2024 Russell Hobbs British Film Festival returns to Palace Cinemas nationwide this November with a line up that includes such notable names as Saoirse Ronan, Andrew Garfield, Florence Pugh, Ralph Fiennes, Jude Law and Tim Roth.

The event opens with the Australian Premiere of BLITZ, Steve McQueen's period drama depicting pivotal moments of World War II in London and starring Saoirse Ronan (pictured, below), Paul Weller and highly-touted newcomer Elliot Heffernan. The Oscar-nominated Ronan also fronts THE OUTRUN, as a woman who returns to Scotland's Orkney Islands, seeking to reconcile with her troubled past.

Closing the festival is the premiere of WE LIVE IN TIME (pictured, top), starring Oscar nominees Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield in a romance that delves into the profound question of how to make the most of the time we have in this world.

The 2024 Festival Centrepiece is Mike Leigh’s HARD TRUTHS, a darkly humorous examination of a hypersensitive woman’s impact on her family, blending compassion with Leigh’s signature attention to detail. Family dynamics are also explored in Andrea Arnold’s BIRD, the story of 12-year-old Bailey (newcomer Nykiya Adams), who seeks solace in nature as her distracted father remarries.

Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche star in THE RETURN, an adaptation of Homer’s Odyssey, a distinctly British spin on the classical work with an all-star cast. Another  British/French co-production is WIDOW CLICQUOT, the rousing true story of Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin, the “Grande Dame of Champagne,” otherwise known as Veuve Clicquot.

Attending the festival is Aylin Tezel, whose directorial debut FALLING INTO PLACE follows Kira (played by Tezel) and Ian, each fleeing their own personal struggles, who cross paths during a winter weekend on the Isle of Skye. One of the U.K.'s rising talents, Tezel will be joining audiences in person in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane for a series of Q&A events.

Alicia Vikander and Jude Law star in the historical drama FIREBRAND, set during the final months of King Henry VIII's reign who, alongside his sixth wife, Katherine Parr, faces the perilous challenges of the Tudor court. The adaptation of the best-selling novel CONCLAVE stars Ralph Fiennes as a cardinal entrusted with the secretive task of selecting a new Pope, but in the Vatican's sacred halls, uncovers secrets that could destabilize the Roman Catholic Church.

Pierce Brosnan and Helena Bonham Carter lead an ensemble cast in FOUR LETTERS OF LOVE, Polly Steele’s tender story of Nicholas and Isabel who seem destined for each other, but whose path to true love is anything but straightforward. And romantics will also enjoy THE SALT PATH starring Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs as a couple who embark on a 630-mile coastal walk after losing their home and facing a terminal diagnosis. 

Unconventional rom-coms abound, including AND MRS, the bittersweet tale of a bride-to-be (Aisling Bea) who, after losing her fiancé unexpectedly, is determined to proceed with the wedding; THE RADLEYS, which depicts an ordinary family hiding a dark secret - they’re vampires; and, CHUCK CHUCK BABY, a musical comedy set in a Welsh chicken processing plant.

In the music-themed sidebar ‘Brit Rock to Brit Pop’, documentarian Nick Broomfield uncovers the true story of the creative force behind what would become the world’s greatest rock band in THE STONES AND BRIAN JONES; iconic rock band Led Zeppelin’s electrifying 1973 Madison Square Garden performances are captured in THE SONG REMAINS THE SAME (pictured, right); and a feast for Blur fans, with the epic concert film BLUR: LIVE AT WEMBLEY STADIUM, and the doco BLUR: TO THE END.

Retrospective screenings of some of the U.K.’s most adored films pepper the 2024 title roster. Marking its 25th anniversary and presented in restored 4K is Lynne Ramsay’s debut feature RATCATCHER, a haunting portrayal of a troubled childhood. In tribute to the late Dame Maggie Smith, James Ivory’s A ROOM WITH A VIEW will be screened, alongside the documentary MERCHANT IVORY, a celebration of the 44-film collaboration of Ismail Merchant and James Ivory.

And a strand entitled ‘History Restored’ features classic British dramas, many on the bigscreen for the first time in decades. In a new 4K restoration, winner of six Academy Awards A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS examines Sir Thomas More's moral stand against King Henry VIII's divorce; based on the novel by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, James Ivory’s epic melodrama HEAT AND DUST features parallel stories of love and cultural clash in 1920’s India; Kenneth Branagh's gritty, blood-soaked 1989 rendition of HENRY V; Peter O’Toole and Katherine Hepburn in THE LION IN WINTER, the grand tale of King Henry II's family power struggles; and Ken Russel’s THE MUSIC LOVERS, a biography of composer Tchaikovsky's tumultuous life, with career-best performances from Richard Chamberlain and Glenda Jackson.

The 2024 RUSSELL HOBBS BRITISH FILM FESTIVAL opens on Wednesday 6 November in Melbourne, Ballarat, Adelaide, Perth Byron Bay, Canberra and Brisbane and Thursday 7 November in Sydney, concluding on Sunday 8 December in all cities.

2024 CAPITAL FILM FESTIVAL: PREVIEW

Canberra’s premiere international film event, The Capital Film Festival returns Wednesday October 30 boasting a roster of Cannes and Toronto festival titles that strengthen its reputation as one of Australia’s prestige cinema gatherings.

Andrew Perkin, Festival Director, said: “While the program covers a diverse range of genres from first-time filmmakers to established auteurs, there is a recurring theme of isolation and its many forms. This may reflect the effects caused by the worldwide shutdowns of 2020 and the internal conflicts many artists looked to explore.”

Opening night honours have been bestowed upon French director Jacques Audiard’s EMILIA PÉREZ, a surrealistic meditation on gender and a bold hybrid of narratives, including but not limited to cartel thriller, latina-pop musical, Mexican melodrama and redemption parable. The film created history at this year’s Cannes Film Festival where it took the prestigious Grand Jury Prize and, in a festival first, split the Best Actress Prize amongst the female ensemble of Zoe Saldaña (pictured, top), Selena Gomez, Adriana Paz, and Karla Sofía Gascón. 

A major coup for the programming team is the acquisition of MENUS-PLAISIRS – LES TROIGROS (pictured, right), the latest from 94-year-old iconic documentarian Frederick Wiseman. A breathtaking study of the inner-workings of a French restaurant that's held three Michelin stars for more than 50 years, the screening will be accompanied by a selection of fine cheeses and premium French wine.

An in-person Q&A with the Chinese-Australian artist Jiawei Shen will follow the screening of WELCOME TO BABEL, director James Bradley’s fascinating documentary that uncovers Jiawei's incredible journey from growing up in Mao’s China and surviving the Cultural Revolution to his resettlement in Australia and establishing his reputation as one of the most important figures in the art world.

Other must-see movies in the 2024 program include writer/director Jesse Eisenberg’s A REAL PAIN, in which he co-stars with Kieran Culkin as mismatched cousins who reunite for a tour through Poland; Cannes Grand Prix prize winner, ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT, an intoxicatingly romantic drama from writer/director Payal Kapadia; and, Palme d’Or honouree ANORA (pictured, right), the latest from auteur Sean Baker, whose latest underdog story introduces the world to Mikey Madison as a sex worker who meets and marries the son of an oligarch.

The genre film community has much to celebrate in the line-up representing horror, manga and….Lego. Tilman Singer’s follow-up to his auspicious debut Luz stars Euphoria breakout Hunter Schaffer in CUCKOO, a sinister horror pic centred on the unsettling occurrences at a resort in the German Alps; Takashi Imashiro’s popular manga, GHOST CAT ANZU is an eccentric anime, shot live on location and rotoscoped to melt the real world into Japan’s fantastical kami realm; and, Oscar-winning documentarian Morgan Neville’s exuberant PIECE BY PIECE utilises Lego animation to celebrate the life of music and cultural icon Pharrell Williams.

Closing the festival will be the critically acclaimed winner of the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, THE ROOM NEXT DOOR. Directed by Pedro Almodóvar and starring Academy Award® winners Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton, the Spanish great’s latest is a visually exquisite and intimate drama centred on the relationship between two fascinating, complex, and flawed women.

The full program, including session and ticket details, can be found at the 2024 Capital Film Festival official website.

2024 QUEER SCREEN FILM FESTIVAL: PREVIEW

Ushering in Sydney’s springtime film festival season is the 11th Queer Screen Film Festival, set to warm our hearts with 35 fresh films. Tickets for the one of the largest LGBTIQ+ film events globally are available now at queerscreen.org.au for 28 August to 1 September in Sydney and for the on-demand program, which streams nationally from 2 to 8 September.

“We’re bookending the festival with two fabulously fun and romantic films, on opening and closing nights,” Festival Director Lisa Rose reveals. “And we’re continuing that theme with the one incredible documentary feature. Queer love, in its many forms, flows through every film in the program.”

Setting the sizzling tone on opening night is Marco Berger’s new feature THE ASTRONAUT LOVERS (pictured, right), which follows two men – one gay, the other swaggering and seemingly straight – who connect in Buenos Aires one steamy summer. Also bringing the palpable chemistry, yet without any dialogue whatsoever, is closing night film GONDOLA, about two young, female cable-car conductors who find ingenious ways to communicate their burgeoning feelings, every time they pass by in the sky. 

Love is laid bare in FRAGMENTS OF A LIFE LOVED, as filmmaker Chloé Barreau revisits past loves, and lovers. This captivating film won Outstanding Documentary Feature at Frameline last month and was lauded for its unique approach to storytelling.

A film about first love seems only fitting and CLOSE TO YOU, featuring Elliot Page in his first film role since transitioning, is QSFF’s first ever narrative centrepiece. Page’s character Sam, visiting family after delaying a trip home for a long time, runs into high school crush Katherine, along the way. 

“Queer films and filmmakers are taking up their rightful space on what is a very competitive and commercial global stage,” she said. “The fact Queer Screen has been invited to the Marché du Film for two years running is also a reflection of the significance of LGBTIQ+ storytelling.” 

2024 Queer Screen Goes to Cannes selection STRANGE CREATURES has its World Premiere during the Festival and 2024 Queer Screen Completion Fund recipient VIDEOLAND (pictured, top) has its Australian Premiere, following its win in the Comedy Series Competition at the prestigious 2024 Series Mania Festival in Lille, France in March. 

STRANGE CREATURES filmmaker Henry Boffin will be in attendance for a Q&A on his touching comedy-drama film, which sees two feuding brothers set out on a road trip – in a hearse – to scatter their ashes at the old family home in remote Narrabri. Writer-director of VIDEOLAND Jessica Smith and producer Scarlett Koehne will also be guests of the Festival, together with lead actor Emmanuelle Mattana, who plays hapless video store clerk Hailey. Serving 1990s nostalgia at every turn, the series sees Hailey watching every Sapphic film ever made in a bid to research ‘how to be a lesbian’. When she develops a crush on a customer, it’s time to put her research to the test.

In ALL SHALL BE WELL, a lesbian relationship is left devastated when her partner of 30 years dies, and the acceptance she thought they had earned fades as legal and financial matters enter the frame. Filmmaker Ray Yeung received the 2024 Teddy Award at Berlinale 2024 and Frameline’s Audience Award for Narrative for this restrained yet powerful film. 

Also exploring long-term love is TURTLES, a poignant comedy-drama about an older gay couple – one of whom is withdrawing, and the other is going all-out to bring him back. A must-see gem that offers a refreshing and authentic story of queer love and self-discovery.

In BACKSPOT, Riley (Devery Jacobs) is given the opportunity to join an elite cheerleading squad, face new pressures from a demanding head coach (Evan Rachel Wood; pictured, above right) and confront her own pursuit of perfection, causing her world to spiral.

The festival will celebrate Wear It Purple Day on 31 August with a special screening of BIG BOYS (pictured, right), in which teenaged Jamie starts to develop some complicated feelings towards his cousin’s new boyfriend during a camping trip. This heartfelt crowd-pleaser is free to see for those under 26, and just $10 for everyone else. 

And the organisers have upped the ante on Queer Screen Pitch Off, where six Australian filmmakers pitch their film proposals to a panel of expert assessors, competing for funding to produce their short film. The prize pool has doubled to $20,000, with a $10,000 prize for the winning pitch. Eligible female and gender-diverse practitioners can vie for a best screenwriter prize and a professional development grant, each worth $5,000, following a generous contribution from Screen Australia’s Gender Matters Taskforce.

Tickets and session details for the 2024 QUEER SCREEN FILM FESTIVAL program can be found here.

PREVIEW: 2024 SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL

The 71st Sydney Film Festival program has launched with a blockbuster roster of talent and international titles - Yorgos Lanthimos’ Kinds of Kindness, starring Emma Stone, fresh from the Cannes Competition; the World Premiere of Aussie boxing drama Kid Snow; the first Indian film to appear in the Cannes Competition in 30 years, Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light; Lee Tamahori’s intense drama The Convert with Guy Pearce; The Bikeriders (pictured, below) starring Jodie Comer, Austin Butler and Tom Hardy; and, Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner Sujo.

In 2024, the Festival will present 197 films from 69 countries including 28 World Premieres and 133 Australian Premieres, bringing together hundreds of new international and local stories, with more to be announced. The program is made up of 92 narrative feature films, including prestigious international festival prize-winners and 54 documentaries tackling crucial contemporary issues, from established and upcoming documentarians.

Opening the festivities will be the World Premiere of Midnight Oil: The Hardest Line (pictured, right). Featuring unheard interviews with every band member, unseen live and studio footage, alongside signature moments like the outback tour with Warumpi Band, their Exxon protest gig in New York and those famous “Sorry” suits at the Sydney Olympics, this film traces the singular journey of Australia’s quintessential rock band across their 45-year career.

Direct from the 2024 Cannes Film Festival will be Grand Tour, the latest from Miguel Gomes, about a romantic pursuit across Asia; Christophe Honoré’s Marcello Mio, featuring an all-star French cast playing themselves in a meta comedy paying homage to the great Marcello Mastroianni; acclaimed actor Ariane Labed’s directorial debut September Says, a Gothic psychological drama in which the closeness of two sisters becomes increasingly disruptive; and Cannes Un Certain Regard contender Việt And Nam, which tells the love story of two gay mineworkers.

Internationally awarded films in competition include Berlin Film Festival Silver Bear honouree Dying, a multi-generational epic about a conductor and his turbulent family and Rich Peppiatt’s raucous and rude comedy Kneecap stars three real-life Belfast rappers, Audience Award winner in the Sundance NEXT strand.

Italian box office juggernaut There’s Still Tomorrow (trailer, above) is a melodrama directed and starring Paola Cortellesi about an industrious woman in post-WWII Rome. It screens in competition at SFF alongside Puan, an incisive comedy about a philosophy professor at a Buenos Aires university who is threatened by a charismatic rival.

Ten documentaries (including seven World Premieres) will contest the 2024 Documentary Australia Prize, amongst them Dale Frank – Nobody’s Sweetie, an intimate portrait of artist Dale Frank; Aquarius, documenting a 1973 gathering embraced by activists, hippies, and radicals that changed the town of Nimbin forever; The Blind Sea (pictured, right), following professional athlete Matt Formston as he takes on the challenge of surfing the biggest wave ever tackled by a blind surfer; and, Sally Aitken’s Sundance Selected Every Little Thing, a story of a woman finding herself as she cares for injured hummingbirds.

Special Presentations at the iconic State Theatre include Jodie Comer, Austin Butler and Tom Hardy in The Bikeriders, Jeff Nichols’ take on the rise and menacing transformation of an iconic American motorcycle club; Lee, featuring Oscar winner Kate Winslet alongside Alexander Skarsgård in the true story of model turned WWII correspondent Lee Miller; My Old Ass, a comedy-love story starring Aubrey Plaza and Maisy Stella, produced by Margot Robbie; and, Viggo Mortensen opposite Vicky Krieps in The Dead Don’t Hurt, a feminist western about a romance in a time of corruption and war.

Two presentations are set to leave audiences reeling with their visual inventiveness. Choi Dong-hoon's Alienoid (trailer, above) and its sequel Alienoid: Return to the Future are mind-bending sci-fi thrillers that masterfully intertwine the fates of alien prisoners trapped in human bodies with 15th-century magicians, brought to life by an all-star Korean cast. And Skywalkers: A Love Story follows two hardcore daredevils as they scale the world’s highest buildings to capture footage for social media and ignite passion in the process - which audiences can also experience at a stomach-dropping screening at IMAX.

Always a stand-out is the Freak Me Out Program, curated by Richard Kuipers, which returns with six features, six shorts and a special live event. These include Cuckoo (pictured, right), starring Hunter Schafer as a troubled teen working at a holiday resort where very strange goings-on start to take place; Annick Blanc’s debut, Hunting Daze (Jour de Chasse), a SXSW Midnighters hit centred on a woman stranded at a buck’s party in the Quebec wilderness; Yannis Veslemes’ She Loved Blossoms More, a Greek Weird Wave fever dream about time travel and family ties; and, Michael Duignan’s The Paragon, the story of a tennis coach who team up with a mysterious psychic tutor to seek revenge on a hit-and-run driver.

A special film and live music event not to be missed is Hear My Eyes: Hellraiser which will give audiences the opportunity to experience Clive Barker’s 1987 extra-dimensional horror classic, re-scored live by EBM explorers Hieroglyphic Being and Robin Fox, and a synched laser-art show at City Recital Hall.

Sydney Film Festival runs from 5-16 June 2024. Tickets and Flexipasses to Sydney Film Festival 2024 are on sale now. Please call 1300 733 733 or visit sff.org.au for more information or to book.