Static Vision reveals a unique line-up of Australian Premiere feature films, retrospectives, documentaries and shorts centering on the concept of transformation, evolution and adaptation, screening exclusively at Pink Flamingo Cinema in Marrickville from September 29 – October 2
and Lido Cinemas in Hawthorn from 20 – 23 October.
Following the success of 2020’s Hyperlinks festival and 2021’s Dreamscapes festival – Static Vision’s latest festival program comprises 17 feature films, 10 Australian premiere screenings and 10 shorts. The program also includes sought-after retrospective screenings of cult underground films which deserve to be seen on the big-screen.
The festival operates on a single-screen all weekend, ensuring no clashes. Punters are invited to engage in multi-film viewing with passes available for double-features and weekend-long festival admissions at a discounted rate.
Metamorphoses will open with a 40th anniversary screening of Paul Schrader’s 1982 erotic-horror Cat People. This fascinating reimagining of Jacques Tourneur’s iconic 1942 film stars Nastassja Kinski (Paris, Texas) and Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange) and features an iconic and haunting score from Giorgio Moroder.
Highlights include the highly-anticipated Cannes premiering Lux Aeterna, from cult provocateur Gaspar Noé (Climax, Enter the Void); starring Charlotte Gainsbourg and funded by fashion house Yves Saint Laurent. A hallucinatory, overloaded fantasia emulating a real-time witch-burning, Lux Aeterna is arguably Gaspar Noé’s most visually audacious film to date.
Another highlight is the international debut of the latest compilation film from irreverent cult film-jamming collective (and owners of over 33,000 Jerry Maguire VHS tapes) Everything Is Terrible! titled Kidz Klub! The film collates footage from thousands of forgotten DVDs and VHS tapes – targeted at the youth of yesterday – to tell a tale of skateboarding web-surfers, rapping math equations, educational wizards and myriad bowl cuts.
International Festival Highlights
From Cannes, Fantastic Fest and sold-out sessions at MIFF, Sick of Myself presents both a pitch-black satire of our image-obsessed society and a disturbingly dark tale of a very unwell woman’s kamikaze desire to be seen. Kristoffer Borgli’s second feature packs a visceral punch in its exploration of a particularly insidious kind of fame-hunger: celebrity victimhood.
Receiving a special mention in competition at Locarno, The Sacred Spirit is The X-Files by way of Yorgos Lanthimos. Gorgeously shot on 16mm and blending comedy and drama to great effect, this paranoid exploration of a Valencian ufology cult is an alien film like no other.
Winner of the AGBO Fellowship at this year’s Slamdance festival, Therapy Dogs is an experimental high school diary film from an impressively young 17-year old filmmaker Ethan Eng. Filmed without permission, entirely under the guise of a senior yearbook project, Therapy Dogs sits at the logical meeting point of Jackass, The 400 Blows and a Frederick Wiseman project.
Underground Gems
Featuring a who’s who of the underground Brooklyn comedy scene, Inspector Ike is a pitch-perfect microbudget parody of 1970s TV detective serials, starring comedian Ikechukwu Ufomadu (Ziwe), Ana Fabrega (Los Espookys), John Early (Search Party), Grace Rex, and Stavros Halkias.
Straight from TIFF, the international premiere of a stunning 4K restoration of Tales from the Gimli Hospital Redux, Guy Maddin’s cult feature film debut from 1988. A cult hit in the 1980s, garnering comparisons to David Lynch’s Eraserhead, Maddin’s first feature is a surreal and hilarious ode to early cinema.
Starring Sophie von Haselberg (Irrational Man) as Sissy St. Claire, Give Me Pity! is a warped TV variety special Give Me Pity! from Amanda Kramer. Expect disco balls, glitter outfits, and Stars and Stripes prints in this spectacle beamed straight from IFFR, TIFF, Fantastic Fest and MIFF.
Greece’s entry for the 2022 Best International Feature Film Academy Award and winner of 5 Greek Oscars, Magnetic Fields is an impressive debut from comic-book artist and filmmaker Yorgos Goussis. An improvised road movie and low-key romance, Magnetic Fields observes the attraction between two eccentric strangers as they cross paths on a mountainous Greek island.
Thursday 29 September – Sunday 2 October
Pink Flamingo Cinema, 18 – 24 Sydney Street, Marrickville, NSW
Single Tickets
General – $15 / Concession – $12.50
Opening Night – $20 / Concession – $17.50
Passes
Friday or Saturday Triple Feature – $35, 5 Film Pass – $65, Full Festival – $160
Thursday 20 October – Sunday 23 October
Lido Cinemas, 675 Glenferrie Rd, Hawthorn, VIC
Single Tickets
General – $17.50 / Concession – $15
Opening Night – $20 / Concession – $17.50
Passes
Friday or Saturday Triple Feature – $40, 5 Film Pass – $70, Full Festival – $165
For more program information and to purchase tickets, please visit the Sydney festival page here and Melbourne festival page here
