Screen Machine

To-do: Week starting Thursday 14th April: Paul, La Mirada Film Fest, Windows on Europe, Heartbeats, The Sleeping Beauty, John Hughes, Eraserhead

Week starting Thursday 14th April

New releases this week:

Paul is the latest film from “Screen Machine’s favourite director” Greg Mottola, the guy who directed the “Best Film of 2009″ Adventureland, Superbad and the rarely-seen The Daytrippers (1996) which, according to Screen Machine Co-Editor Conall, is “good”. What’s this one about? It’s about an alien hanging around with those British guys from Shaun of the Dead.

Murundak: Songs of Freedom is a documentary about Aboriginal protest singers. Apparently Missy Higgins likes this movie.

Brighton Rock is a murder thriller based on the Graham Greene novel.

Festivals:

La Mirada Film Festival celebrates Spanish language cinema. Various films on the program have been selected by big name auteurs. On Monday, Guest screens at ACMI, a documentary by José Luis Guerin who is participating this year in the Jeonju Digital Project. Full program here. April 14-26.

Bringing awareness to the region of the world most neglected in contemporary world cinema discourse is the Windows on Europe Film Festival. At Cinema Nova, April 13-17. Program here. Highlight of the festival looks to be Our Beloved Month of August (thanks Ian), a Portuguese film by Miguel Gomes that recently received a lot of love from Adrian Martin.

Mini-seasons:

Heartbeats, a film about two friends’ obsession with a beautiful young man from hyped Canadian actor/director Xavier Dolan, continues its season at ACMI until May 1. Dolan’s feature debut I Killed My Mother is also screening at ACMI, Mondays and Tuesdays throughout April.

The Sleeping Beauty is Catherine Breillat’s follow-up to her 2009 fairytale adaptation Bluebeard. At ACMI, every Sunday until April 24.

Second run:

The Melbourne Cinematheque presents an evening of films from Melbourne-born documentarian John Hughes. Films include Film-Work (1981) about the leftist documentary group the Waterside Workers Federation Film Unit; One Way Street: Fragments for Walter Benjamin (1992) a portrait of the influential philosopher; and The Archive Project (2006) about the activist filmmakers the Melbourne Realist Film Unit. At ACMI, April 20.

Eraserhead is David Lynch’s 1977 feature film debut, a surrealist work about a man struggling in an industrial environment with an angry girlfriend and a mutant child. At the Astor, April 17 & 18.

CineCult303 present Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, a film about two teenage slackers travelling through time to finish a history assignment. Starring George Carlin! At Bar 303 in Northcote, April 19.

Also opening this week:

Scream 4 is Scream 3 but with iPads and Youtube. It turns out that the killer is Neil Patrick Harris.

Catherine Breillat's "The Sleeping Beauty" at ACMI