Brisbane’s film and art scenes are enriched with the arrival of an exciting new membership-based screening series. From July 12, Container: Brisbane Film Society will begin screening significant new films and moving image works to Brisbane audiences fortnightly on Tuesday evenings.
As a membership-based screening series, like Melbourne’s longstanding Melbourne Cinematheque, members can attend the entire carefully curated fortnightly program for free, with joining fees ranging from $30 (for a six-month concession membership) to $100 (for an annual regular membership.)
Once members, audiences can then freely attend screenings of critically praised films from festivals like Cannes, Venice and Berlin as well as experimental showcases and live expanded cinema performances. Screenings will typically take place at The Elizabeth Picture House in Brisbane’s CBD, but for 3D, 35mm and other requirements may be held elsewhere.
“We are delighted to reveal our plans for Container and its initial lineup,” said director and lead curator John Edmond. “Strong support, particularly from The Elizabeth Picture House, New Farm Cinemas, as well as conversations and feedback from our city’s cinephiles, art and movies lovers, have helped make this society happen.”
“What we heard from people was a desire to see amazing and important films that they would otherwise not be able to see, and in a way that would help create a community through regular catchups,” Edmond relayed. “It also allows people to see new festival-circuit films without the crush and mad rush of watching innumerous films at a festival.
The films presented by Container will range from significant art films, cult underground movies, unusual documentaries, and experimental films and moving image artworks. “With our programming and curation, we wanted to do three things. We wanted to show the breadth of film happening now. We wanted to present striking and singular films that let you know why they stand out. And we wanted to respect Brisbane and our audience’s intelligence; to not be cynical or second guess the public but use our knowledge and research to present important films being talked about,” John Edmond said.
Container: Brisbane Film Society supports Brisbane’s emerging film industry and film artists with a parallel series of industry events curated by filmmaker and Container Industry Manager Emily Avila. These unique events will offer networking moments, rare opportunities to see work-in-progress titles, as well as masterclasses from directors visiting Brisbane to present their films at Container. Through both these screenings and events, Container seeks to help develop Brisbane’s film community.
INITIAL LINEUP
Peter Strickland’s Flux Gourmet will kick off Container’s film program. The acclaimed art comedy from this year’s Berlinale felt like a natural choice for Edmond. “Peter’s The Duke of Burgundy was one of our first picks when programming the inaugural Queensland Film Festival, I was delighted to help bring him out to Australia in 2019 along with working on a collection with him, and Flux Gourmet’s stylish and arch telling of a parallel world that actually takes art seriously felt on point.
Container: Brisbane Film Society’s future programming will be flexible to take advantage of new films as they debut throughout the year, but also to take advantage of opportunities around visiting filmmaker guests as well as artists and musicians. “We had to let people know the kind of films we would be screening and so we announced a few more titles and events than normal,” Edmond noted. “But hopefully we have some surprises and mystery in the future.”
After Flux Gourmet, other announced films include other stylised cult films like Gasper Noé’s Lux Æterna and Lucile Hadžihalilović’s Earwig. Noé— the legendary director behind films like Irreversible, Enter the Void and Climax—is back with a virtuoso split screen film that melds backstage drama and commentary on witchcraft and representation into a visual overload. (Presented in partnership and appreciation with Static Vision.) Lucile Hadžihalilovic’s films, Innocence, Evolution and particularly her latest, Earwig, present that atmospherically surreal fantasies that disturb and unravel the mystery of passing from childhood to adulthood.
João Pedro Rodrigues’ Will o the Wisp is as fresh as they get, direct from Cannes 2022 and a giddy near musical that touches on the importance of trees, firefighters, love and art, while kicking against dying conservative institutes. Joana Pimenta & Adirley Queirós’ Dry Ground Burning was one of the standout films from this year’s Berlinale with its hybrid docufiction study of Brazilian all-woman criminal gang and its daring oil piracy. An unexpected blurring of Pedro Costa’s immersed social portraiture and the precise thrill of a John Carpenter film like Assault on Precinct 13 or George Miller’s Mad Max.
Rhayne Vermette’s Ste. Anne (Berlin 2021) and Michelangelo Frammartino’s Il Buco (Venice 2021) both offer new ways of seeing the land. Rhayne Vermette is an indigenous Métis filmmaker from Canada whose lyrical debut blurs subjectivity, landscape and premonitions of the future. Michelangelo Frammartino (Il Quattro Volte) looks to the past with Il Buco (The Hole) a careful and authentic recreation of the 1961 descent into the Bifurto abyss hidden in the Italian countryside and, at that time, the deepest known cavern. In contrasting the cave’s geological time with the youthful energy of the exploring spelunkers and observations of an Italian peasant, Michaelangelo has produced a timeless classic of stunning beauty and attentiveness to nature.
ABOUT CONTAINER: BRISBANE FILM SOCIETY
From 12 July onwards Container presents important contemporary films and moving image works that would otherwise not be screened in Brisbane. Screenings will take place fortnightly at 7pm Tuesday at The Elizabeth Picture Theatre for most of the year. Attendance is free for members. Membership fees are:
Standard Annual Membership
Provides free admission for 12 months from date of purchase
$100/$50 Concession
Concession membership is based on self-identified requirement—whether a student, pensioner or low income—and needs no proof of concession entitlement or identity.
Six Month Membership
Provides free admission for 6 months from date of purchase
$60/$30 Concession
Solidarity Membership $250
Provides free admission for 12 months from date of purchase along with 3 single use passes to bring guests along to screenings. The higher membership fee helps us make these screenings more available to the rest of the community.
Announced Screenings:
12 July: Peter Strickland’s Flux Gourmet
26 July: Joana Pimenta & Adirley Queirós’ Dry Ground Burning
9 August: Rhayne Vermette’s Ste. Anne
23 August: Lucile Hadžihalilović’s Earwig
6 September: João Pedro Rodrigues’ Will o the Wisp
20 September: Gasper Noé’s Lux Æterna (presented in partnership with Static Vision)
4 October: Michelangelo Frammartino’s Il Buco
Other upcoming screenings include the A New Old Play (Qiu Jiongjiong), the 3D A Woman Escaped (Sofia Bohdanowicz, Burak Çevik & Blake Williams, Circumstantial Pleasures (Lewis Klahr), Expedition Content (Ernst Karel & Veronika Kusumaryati), Happer’s Comet (Tyler Taormina), maɬni – towards the ocean, towards the shore (Sky Hopinka), La Nature (Artavazd Peleshian), Pacificition (Albert Serra), Topology of Sirens (Jonathan Davies), Urthworks (Ben Rivers), as well as films by Zachary Epcar, Pedro Neves Marques, Michael Robinson, Apichatpong Weerasethakul and a live expanded performance by Richard Tuohy and Diana Barrie.
Container is supported by Five Star Cinemas and the Federal Government of Australia through the Restart Investment to Sustain and Expand (RISE) Fund.
For more information visit: www.container.org.au or contact info@container.org.auDirector and Programmer – John Edmond
Industry Manager – Emily Avila
Art – Márcio Matos
