Bushfire Fundraiser - Baz Luhrmann's 'Australia' - Friday February 27th

Let's reflect on our luck: we have a theatre to come together in, friends and family to share it with and homes to return to afterwards. After the fires, some communities aren't so lucky. 

The Port Fairy Film Society, Belfast Lions, Port Fairy Red Cross, Moyne Shire Council and Port Fairy Folk Festival are proudly supporting the Bushfire Relief Fund through its fundraiser screenings of Baz Lurhmann's 'Australia' on February 27th at Reardon Theatre in Port Fairy.

There will be two screenings at 1pm and 7.30pm.

Tickets can be purchased from Belfast Lions, Port Fairy Red Cross, Moyne Shire Council offices in Port Fairy and the Visitor Information Centre at Railway Place. Tickets will be available at the door subject to availability. CFA volunteers and their partners will be admitted free to the screenings.

As an epic of the forties' Hollywood tradition, 'Australia' attempts to tell the grand tale of our island home. Romance, the great glorious space, war and culture clashes. Like Hugh Jackman's intro at the Oscars, this is entertainment, not navel-gazing.

Please support this event. Bring your friends and family. $12 per ticket. 

Click below to watch trailer:

Persepolis - February 20th 7.30pm

Persepolis is Port Fairy Film Society’s February screening. Review by Damien Becker.

Animation grew up long ago thanks largely to Japanese anime and Pixar, but audiences for ‘cartoons’, no matter how worthy the subject matter, can still be tricky to find. Some people just can’t seem to bond with drawings.

If this sounds like you, Persepolis might change your mind. The film looks at the Iranian revolution of the seventies through the voice of Marjane, a teenage girl with a dangerous love of punk rock. Marjane, like the film itself, is smart and endearingly straightforward. The revolution brings oppression and regression, especially for wisecracking rebellious teenage girls. This is a painful memory, but she doesn’t flinch in the telling of it with bite and humour.

Persepolis is a film of an autobiographic comic about an Iranian girl fleeing to France while speaking mostly in English. It sounds confusing, but it’s easy to watch and enjoy. It also chronicles a forgotten story, when Iran was open and tolerant until change came both insidiously and frighteningly swiftly.

The more sophisticated cinema effects technology and the fancier the editing gets, the clearer it is whether the people involved know what they’re doing as old fashioned filmmakers. A good story well told visually is still the foundation of the best films, as it always was.

Two recent animations, Persepolis and Waltz With Bashir have wowed audiences and critics even as they tackled difficult aspects of Middle East history. Persepolis beat all conventional films to win the Jury Prize at Cannes. Waltz With Bashir has even been nominated for an Oscar in a general film category, Best Foreign Language Picture.

The animation of Persepolis is hand-drawn but sharp and magical, and what it lacks in effects trickery it replaces with heartfelt, clever writing and clear visual style.

“An uplifting, funny, moving fable about the difference between the ideal of freedom and the real thing,” wrote Jim Schembri of The Age.

“A unique insight into life in Iran from the point of view of a young girl, this observant cinematic impression sears itself into our consciousness by its simplicity,” said Louise Keller from Urban Cinefiles.

“Four stars… this is a hymn to the human spirit, to a young woman who refused to let fundamentalism destroy her love of life,” said David Stratton, of ABC-TV’s At the Movies.

Screening starts at 7.30pm. Memberships available at the door, tea and coffee provided.

Click below to watch trailer: