As part of our Australian Film Industry in Crisis theme, we present
the touring BFI Free Cinema program plus a selection of three features
from Free Cinema exponents Carel Resiz, Tony Richardson and Lindsay
Anderson. The Free Cinema revolutionaries suffered under oppressive
bureaucracy and outdated cinematic attitudes and tastes back in the
late 50’s
and early 60’s and responded with the amazing Free Cinema movement.
We show these films in the belief that our own “Free Cinema 2” revolution
is underway in Australia. We show these films humbly as great forerunners
of cinematic revolution in two parts: one shorts, one features. Our
revolution will be cinematically different but its spirit the same.
Part
1:
The BFI’s Free Cinema touring program:
103mins total KINO DENDY | Wed 13th 7pm
O Dreamland - NEW PRINT
Dir Lindsay Anderson | 1953 | b&w | 11 mins
| no dialogue
Lindsay Anderson’s vibrant and energetic portrait of the Margate funfair
on a typically wet summer’s day is about the serious business of the
English enjoying themselves on holiday. Punctuated by the manic and
mechanic laugh of a dummy policeman, the perfectly selected montage of images
exposes the shoddiness of the attractions, the bingo halls, slot machines
and the animals in the miniature zoo. O Dreamland is every bit as much about
exploitation as it is about pleasure.
Momma Don’t Allow - NEW PRINT
Dir Karel Reisz, Tony Richardson 1956 / b&w
/ 22 mins
Momma Don’t Allow is an exploration of the emergence of working-class
youth culture in the mid-Fifties and focuses on young people jiving the night
away in a north London pub. The Teddy Boys may now look rather tame, but
the film’s exposure of class divisions when a group of ‘well-dressed’ middle-class
groovers arrives to spend a night out slumming it, is genuinely shocking.
Together - NEW PRINT
Dir Lorenza Mazzetti, Denis Horne 1956 | b&w
| 52 mins | no dialogue
Against the background of the bombsites, warehouses and street markets
of the late Fifties East End, Together offers a compelling exploration
of the isolated lives of two deaf men. Despite its emotive fictional structure,
the film is not a typical romanticisation of East End working-class
life, but offers a complex, open-ended presentation that refuses to condemn
or celebrate. The film is also notable for its extraordinary cast, with great
performances from local people and the curious, but very successful
casting of the artist Michael Andrews and the internationally known sculptor
Eduardo Paolozzi.
Nice Time - NEW PRINT
Dir/scr Claude Goretta, Alain Tanner 1957 | b&w
| 17 mins
‘Impressions of Piccadilly Circus in 1957: hot dogs and nude magazines;
dumb cinema queues; posters advertising the glories of war and the horrors
of science fiction; lonely faces; searching glances; the parade of amateur
and professional ‘talent’; presiding over all, the ironic statue
of Eros... The observation is untouched by nostalgia, and presents a devastating
picture for anyone who thinks of Piccadilly Circus in romantic terms...
Part 2:
Free cinema portraits of revolutionaries
MUFF is proud to present three revolutionary films spawned from the Free Cinema movement that deal with the subject of revolution; inwardly, outwardly and actively…
Saturday Night and Sunday morning
Dir Karel Reisz | 1960 | 85 mins
Albert Finney gives a truly breathtaking performance as Arthur Seaton
the working class rebel and hero who fucks married women, pulls minor
industrial pranks, gets into fights, acts ‘the lad’ about town and generally
rejects the command of his masters and betters in early sixties England.
Based on Alan Stilltoe’s novel and shot by Freddie Francis, the films
brilliant portrayal of inward revolution makes this a very important film
of the English New Wave. Reisz’ finely studied direction offers a brilliant
realist portrait of the working class in England and the life of a lad about
town; who doesn’t take any shit from anyone. On an odd local note Finney
has an uncanny resemblance to Joel Edgerton in this film…check it
out to see what me mean.
KINO DENDY | Sat 9th 5pm
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner
Dir: Tony Richardson | 1962 | 100 mins
A young delinquent is sent to borstal, after robbing a bakery, following
his father’s death. There our antihero Colin rebels against the
screws but his passion for running makes him a darling of the asshole
camp Governor who wants to beat the local Private School in their first
ever match off, in the long distance run. The portrayal of outward
rebellion and defiance of the condescending power structures of borstal
counter pointed with the flashbacks on Colin’s life before being
sent to the youth clink, all work to make this a truly compelling piece
of cinema.
KINO DENDY | Sat 16th 3pm
If…
Dir: Lindsay Anderson 1968 100 mins
(A very special film for Festival director Richard Wolstencroft who
as noted in MUFF 3 saw this film at Ivanhoe Grammar School and first
formulated his own rebellion…) Here Rebellion is overt and active as Travis and
his band of merry revolutionaries decide it best to shoot up their Private
school with semi automatic weapons on Founders Day. Like any good Private
School Boy should, what? Anderson’s film is a devastating and brilliant
portrait of English school system and life. The film is the most radical
of the three Free Cinema features presented here using surreal tactics, black
and white and colour film, magnificent use of African tribal music and a
terrifying climax to shock and confront audiences. Whether the revolution
at the end of the film is that of the right or the left remains obscure…
KINO
DENDY | Mon 11th 7pm