by FIlmInk Staff
THROUGHOUT THE MONTH OF MAY, CINEMA NOVA WILL PAY TRIBUTE TO AUSTRALIAN CINEMA WITH CURATED ANNIVERSARY CLASSICS, NEW FEATURES, AND SPECIAL EVENTS CELEBRATING OUR NATION’S RICH MOVIE CULTURE.
Exploring the diversity of Australian life through fictional and non-fiction titles, restorations, and event screenings, Cinema Nova will also highlight Melbourne’s vibrant inner north by presenting a Q&A screening with Zoe Coldham, the young Melbourne filmmaker behind the documentary short, GORE STREET, FITZROY.
Coldham will be joined by special guests at the Gala Screening of her film on Sunday May 3 at 4.15pm, which will be followed by a panel discussion. Through a series of interviews with longstanding residents, Coldham – who grew up on Gore Street in Melbourne’s oldest suburb, Fitzroy – reflects on a community that has been transformed in her lifetime.
In Zoe’s own words about why Cinema Nova is the perfect place to theatrically debut her film; “I’ve been going to Cinema Nova since I was about 12 years old. Nova, along with Video Busters on Smith Street, was my introduction to film, and I feel grateful to have grown up with a cinema that always showed independent, artistic work you couldn’t see anywhere else. It felt completely normal to walk in and watch something you’d never heard of, from beyond the bounds of Hollywood.”
Highlighting tensions between the benefits of modern urban development and the loss of culture and community, GORE STREET, FITZROY is one of several inclusions in the programming of G’DAY MAY. Coldham’s GORE STREET, FITZROY will show prior to sessions of the 2013 documentary LYGON STREET – SI PARLA ITALIANO (from May 7) and 1996 indie romcom LOVE AND OTHER CATASTROPHES (from May 22) – both of which were shot in and around Carlton and Melbourne University.
Other new release Australian films include ALPHABET LANE (commencing April 23), a quietly unhinged and oddly romantic black comedy about an isolated couple who lose control of a joke about imaginary friends; WOLFRAM (commencing April 30), Warwick Thornton’s atmospheric spiritual follow-up to his neo-western, Sweet Country; and filmmaker Bina Bhattacharya’s FROM ALL SIDES (commencing May 21), a suburban drama about a multi-racial, bisexual married couple raising their teenage children in an increasingly complicated world.
The retrospective and restoration G’DAY MAY lineup includes LOVE AND OTHER CATASTROPHES (30th Anniversary and Restoration – commencing May 21), the microbudget comedy set around Carlton’s Melbourne University; PROOF (35th Anniversary – commencing May 7), the sensual Melbourne-made black comedy from the director of The Dressmaker, Jocelyn Moorhouse, starring Hugo Weaving and Russell Crowe alongside a commanding Geneviève Picot; MOULIN ROUGE! (25th Anniversary – commencing May 14), the dazzling Baz Luhrmann jukebox musical starring Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor as fated lovers living in 1890’s Paris; MALCOLM (40th Anniversary – commencing May 26), the comedy-caper following an immensely intelligent but naïve mechanic who becomes involved in an unconventional heist; and GOING DOWN (Restoration – commencing May 14), the comedic 1980’s drama following four Sydney girls who decide to give their best friend a night she’ll never forget…
Event screenings also dot the G’DAY MAY lineup, including DON’T BE PREY (Meet the Filmmaker Q&A; Friday May 8, 6.40pm), a high-adrenaline story of resilience following one man’s fight to reclaim his life by taking on the Oceans Seven – the world’s most dangerous marathon swimming challenge; BIRTHRIGHT (Meet the Filmmaker Q&A; Tuesday May 12, 6pm), a biting, darkly comedic satire about intergenerational wealth that follows a son who refuses to leave his parents’ luxurious home on the eve of his pregnant wife’s birth; and SOMERSAULT (Restoration; Friday May 22, 7pm), Cate Shortland’s romantic drama of a young woman who flees her hometown and arrives in the Australian Alps, where new experiences await, presented by Nova Film Club host Koko as part of her ‘Koko Recs’ screening series.
A trailblazing supporter of the Australian film industry for almost 35 years, Cinema Nova pays homage to Australia’s very own homegrown talents – new and old. G’DAY MAY commences in May 2026.
