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Films to accompany Hopper exhibition
Dennis Hopper has played a key role in a film season that examines a period of rapid social and political change in the United States.
The Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) presents Focus on Hopper's America.
The program coincides with Dennis Hopper and the New Hollywood, a major exhibition at ACMI which looks at a formative era for film and art in America through Mr Hopper's life and work.
The corresponding film program is a complex archaeology of interlocking films, designed as a series of cinematic experiences that also provide a contextual backdrop to the exhibition.
Presented in three parts, Focus on Hopper's America is a program of rarely seen works of new restorations including features, documentaries and shorts. There are four Australian premieres included in these, three of which are direct from the Cannes International Film Festival 2009.
ACMI Film Programmer, Kristy Matheson says that they have curated this season to be a stand-alone investigation into an enormously creative period in America and the powerful social and political change that shaped its arts and its artists.
"It also enhances the experience of exhibition goers by allowing them to further appreciate the environment, the artistic influences and the works of one of Hollywood's greatest and most controversial exports," she said.
The first chapter within the program Los Angeles, the Real Face of Hollywood goes beyond what is seen on the outside and instead explores the city through the eyes of some of its iconic stars.
Opening night begins with Morgan Neville's The Cool School (2008), narrated by Jeff Bridges. To end the first chapter, James Benning's Californian Trilogy, Los (2000) will screen with Gary Conklin's short L.A. As Suggested By the Art of Edward Ruscha (1981).
The second part, Altered States: A Country in Change looks at how the US Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam war influenced artists across America. It begins with Roger Corman's social drama The Intruder (1962) and concludes with Apocolypse Now Redux (2001).
Lastly, Rebellion in the USA looks at sex, drugs, personal freedom and the collapse of 1960s idealism. It is investigated through a series of rarely seen counter-culture classics. Barbet Schroeder's More (1969) begins the third part by exploring pleasure and pain of 1960s excesses.
To end the exhibition, Mr Hopper's film The Last Movie (pictured) is documented by L.M. Kit Carson and Lawrence Schiller and is renamed American Dreamer (1971). Philosophical turns about art, life, sex and filmmaking make this very much a document of its time and essential viewing for contemporary audiences.
Focus on Hopper's America runs from December 3 to 13, 2009 and coincides with the exhibition Dennis Hopper and the New Hollywood. The program is shortly followed by a Long Play season of Easy Rider to celebrate 40 years of groundbreaking work.
For more information and session times, please visit the website.