Melbourne has a rich tradition of low-budget “experimental narrative” cinema – films that acknowledge a desire to tell stories, but at the same time draw on other traditions of documentary or the avant-garde. Often self-funded, such “homemade” narratives are able to pursue their artistic objectives untroubled by commercial expectations, taking risks with style and duration and switching at times from Gothic or whimsical melodrama to minimalist observation of people and places within a single work. This selection includes the world premiere of Stargazers – an epic “miniseries” shot virtually singlehanded over several years by Leo Berkeley (Holidays on the River Yarra) – along with rarely-screened works from directors such as James Clayden (Hamlet X) and Anna Kanneva (Dreams for Life). Capping off the program is a trilogy of medium-length narrative films on Super-8, including Trevor Rooney’s High Noontide, also a world premiere.
- Jake Wilson

Special thanks to Bill Mousoulis.

SESSIONS 1-3
KINO DENDY | Sun 10th 1pm

Stargazers

Dir Leo Berkeley | 1999 | Video
Following the adventures of five idealistic strangers in suburban Melbourne, Stargazers is a five-hour drama conceived as an extensive experiment in improvisation. Each actor created and developed their own character, nothing was put on paper and neither the director nor the actors knew what would happen in each scene until it was actually shot. Stargazers was a deliberate attempt to challenge conventional notions of length and pacing in fictional screen narratives and allow the drama and the dialogue to unfold in its own time and with its own rhythm: a story where a talk at the pub or an anecdote in the kitchen are explored for their inherent dramatic richness as much as plot twists or action sequences. Screens in three feature-length instalments; with Angela McKenna, David Frazer, Luke Elliot, Caroline Lee and Damien Richardson. World premiere.

SESSION 4
KINO DENDY | Sat 16th 7pm

Stroker

Dir John Laurie | 1988 | 16mm
Dr. Stroker, ailing renegade psychologist, teams up with Dr. Randolph Block, surgeon and family man, to conduct experiments into pineal implants in humans. Intended to be “cinematic” rather than literary, the film was shot without a written script, the plot evolving from what occurred in front of the camera. The actors spoke numbers and the dialogue was reconstructed from body language and lip movements after editing. With John Flaus and Ross Macleod.

SESSION 5
KINO DENDY | Sun 17th 1pm


With Time to Kill

Dir James Clayden | 1987 | Video
In this unconventional cop thriller from one of Melbourne’s leading experimental filmmakers, Lieutenant Nick Yates and Sergeant Max Clements devise a hit list and set out to rid the town of ‘human garbage’ that has accumulated out of the corruption that surrounds them. But the hunters become the hunted in a deadly, urban landscape that seems to have no end. With Ian Scott and James Clayden.
Screens with short
The Ghost Paintings
Dir James Clayden | 1986 | Super-8/video

 

SESSION
6 KINO DENDY | Sat 16th 5pm

Against The Innocent

Dir Daryl Dellora | 1988 | 16mm
Polemical yet playful, this mixture of fiction and documentary follows the visit of a German terrorism expert to Melbourne. While elsewhere a hostage drama unfolds, we hear the views of a range of experts and others, prefiguring more recent debates on the politics of terror. With Monica Cameron (and a cameo from Don Dunstan).
Screens with shorts

Work
Dir Michael Buckley | 1986 | 16mm

Vanilla Essence
Dir Anna Kannava | 1989 | 16mm


SESSION 7
POP SHOP GALLERY | Sun 10th July 7pm

This special all-Super-8 session includes three medium-length narratives:

Darling for a Day
Dir Mark La Rosa | 1989 | Super-8
A group of teenagers run away to Sydney.

Ordinary Flux
Dir Richard Tuohy | 1991 | Super-8
An attempt at strict narrative formalism in a world of everydayness.

High Noontide
Dir Trevor Rooney | 2005 | Super-8
A man wanders through a series of city landscapes. World premiere.