Since 1984, the Cinémathèque has grown to become an internationally recognised film society that works with organisations around the globe, beginning with screenings at the RMIT Glasshouse Theatre, before moving to the State Film Centre, and then to its current home with its Presenting Partner ACMI, Australia’s national museum of screen culture. Across four decades, the Cinémathèque has managed to flourish and survive many social, cultural, industrial and technological changes, while its ethos – to show a wide array of films from many countries and from across film history in carefully contextualised programming – has remained constant.

To mark the occasion, the 2024 program will open on Wednesday 7 February with the very first film screened in 1984, Jean-Luc Godard’s endlessly playful Une femme est une femme (1961), as part of the season ‘From the Boulevards of Paris to the Docks of Cherbourg: Landmarks of the French Film Musical’, a larger focus on the multifaceted history of French filmmakers’ approach to the genre.

Following on from the opening season, the 2024 program sees a particularly strong focus on international auteurs whose works have confronted the personal and political realities of their time and place, such as an exploration of one of Hong Kong’s most important filmmakers in Keep Rolling: Ann Hui’s Counter-Cinema, and The Pain of Living: Jean Eustache, Being Cinema, a near-complete retrospective of the works of an enigmatic French maverick.

Elsewhere, the 2024 program explores collective authorship with seasons highlighting significant filmmaking teams, including a focus on a singular British duo in All art is one: The Visionary Cinema of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, and an overview of a prolific filmmaking family who remain one of the great legacies of New Iranian Cinema, The House That Mohsen Built: The Films of Samira Makhmalbaf, Marzieh Meshkini and Mohsen Makhmalbaf.

Highlighting roles outside of the director’s chair, the program also features In the Afterglow: The Mercurial Stardom of Gloria Grahame, showcasing a luminary actress from Hollywood’s golden age, as well as a co-presentation with the Italian Cultural Institute that looks into a pivotal cinematic artisan, Writing with Her Eyes: Suso Cecchi d’Amico, Screenwriter as Observer.

Full listings and membership options are now available at acmi.net.au/cteq. The Melbourne Cinémathèque 2024 program screens 7 February – 18 December, 7pm Wednesdays at ACMI.

Screenings are presented by the Melbourne Cinémathèque and ACMI. Curated by the Melbourne Cinémathèque.

Melbourne Cinémathèque 2024 screening program
7 February – 18 December
7pm Wednesdays at ACMI, Fed Square
Full program and memberships: acmi.net.au/cteq

Image: Visible Secret (2001) © Media Asia Film
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