BRAN NUE DAE ……Being home never felt so good

The Port Fairy Film Society is looking forward to bringing south west movie goers the eagerly awaited Australian musical “Bran Nue Dae” this Friday at the Reardon Theatre.
Set on Australia’s west coast, Bran Nue Dae is a road movie, coming of age, comedy musical which celebrates the adventure of finding home.
Bran Nue Dae is described by critics as a hybrid of film genres; musical, comedy, road-trip & love story.
Bran Nue Dae was originally a 1990 musical set in Broome, Western Australia that tells stories and highlights issues relating to Indigenous Australians in a humorous way. It was a play written by Jimmy Chi, his band “Kuckles and Friends” and was the first Aboriginal musical.
The musical has been turned into a feature film directed by Rachel Perkins starring Ernie Dingo, Geoffrey Rush, Jessica Mauboy, Missy Higgins, Deborah Mailman, Magda Szubanski and Dan Sultan.
The story is set in the summer of 1965 and centres on Willie, a young man who is filled with the life of the idyllic old pearling port of Broome - fishing, hanging out with his mates and his girl. However, his mother returns him to the religious mission for further schooling. After being punished for an act of youthful rebellion, he runs away from the mission on a journey that ultimately leads him back home.
Bran Nue Dae director Rachael Perkins does a marvellous job of creating a film that captures the energy, fun, music and cheekiness of the original play. She is quoted as saying
“…hopefully the audience will appreciate it for being light, for it being entertaining, and for it being joyous and celebratory and a little bit silly, you know, and mad, because that's what we intended it to be.”

Bran Nue Dae can't be accused of failing to be a crowd pleaser, and word of mouth should help spread the film's accomplishments.

David Stratton from “At the Movies” in his 2009/10 summer movies review says “BRAN NUE DAY represents a really enjoyable visit to the movies this summer…..I’m giving it four stars”

BRAN NUE DAE will be shown at 7:30 at the Reardon Theatre Bank St. Port Fairy. It is rated PG and has some sexual references. For one night only, so be there early as previous monthly screenings have filled fast. Your patience is asked to sign up your memberships. Doors open 7:10pm.

Tarerer Film Festival - Friday 12th November 6.30pm

Tarerer Film Festival:

Samson & Delilah 6.30pm

Stone Bros. 9pm

The third annual Tarerer Film Festival has two of the most anticipated films of 2009 on one big night, Warwick Thornton's Samson & Delilah and Stone Bros. by Richard Frankland.

Curated by local film icon Walter Saunders, the inaugual Director of the Indigenous branch of the Australian Film Commission, the Tarerer Film Festival has been a highlight on the region's film calendar for the past two years.

Samson & Delilah (6.30pm) is the most acclaimed Australian film since Lantana. Two teenagers in the central desert are in love but have little support around them to nurture their spirit. They flee to Alice Springs, where life is hard and unsafe.

Told using intimate, fluid desert imagery and minimal dialogue, Samson & Delilah won Warwick Thorton a Camera D'Or at Cannes for Best First Feature.

"This is for me one of the most wonderful films this country has ever produced," said Margaret Pomeranz of ABC TV's At the Movies. "It is exquisitely made, it’s full of discipline. There’s not a spare moment in it. Five stars."

"Most importantly for Australian filmmaking, there is a complexity to our response; it's neither 'feel good' or a 'downer'," wrote Andrew L Urban of Urban Cinefiles.

Stone Bros. (9pm) is directed by Portland director Richard Frankland. As the first Indigenous comedy feature ever made, this stoner road movie features Eddie and his 'cuz' Charlie travelling through the outback with a deranged dog, a deadly spider and 187 joints.

Essentially an old-fashioned slapstick played chiefly for regular belly laughs, Stone Bros. hurtles along from one crazed situation to another. Reminicent of the hilarious 2001 TV series Bush Mechanics, the film is underpinned by Frankland's storytelling ability while exploring deeper issues of place and identity. Frankland is a deep thinker and a smart filmmaker, and you sense that despite the apparent ease of the style there is something he is working away at in the minds of the audience.

"A lively, energetic and laugh-out-loud funny road movie with a uniquely black Australian flavour," said Louise Keller from Urban Cinefiles.

"A genuinely funny road movie that sees two fine actors dealing with personal and global issues in a fresh and emotionally engaging way," wrote Ruth Hessey of ABC Radio National's MovieTime.

The Tarerer Film Festival is run by the Tarerer-Gunditj Project Association and hosted by the Port Fairy Film Society. Tickets are $8 per film, available at the door. There will be drinks and nibbles and discussions between each film.

Mary and Max - Friday 21st August 7.30pm

Mary and Max both have feet of clay and are in need of a friend. Max is a lonely, overweight New Yorker whose only positive relationship is his new penpal Mary Daisy Dinkle, an eight-year-old with a sad home life. The film follows twenty years of this melancholy long-distance friendship.

Mary and Max is the feature length debut for Adam Elliot, who won an Oscar for his claymation short Harvey Krumpet. Elliot's handcrafted talent and cinematic voice is utterly unique in world cinema, demonstrated when this film opened the Sundance Film Festival to a rapturous reception.

Critics have fallen in love with his obsessive detail and quirky observational humour. Could Elliot be the Gen X Leunig?

An eclectic cast of voices include Toni Colette, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Barry Humphries and Eric Bana.

"The film is sublime," Margaret Pomeratz said. "It's funny and insightful... it was five years in the making and worth every minute."

"You really care about these characters, even though you know they're made of plasticine," said David Stratton.

 

Mary and Max screens this Friday 21st August at 7.30pm at Port Fairy Cinema in Bank Street. Memberships available at the door with free tea and coffee provided.

Unfinished Sky - Friday 20th March 7.30pm

Unfinished Sky is Port Fairy Film Society’s February screening this Friday 7.30pm.

A reclusive Queensland farmer finds a bruised and terrified Afghani woman on his property. With language and trauma as barriers to communication for her and emotional depth restricting his ability to act with compassion, trust is slow to develop. Meanwhile, the hotelier and the policeman are acting strangely.

First curious, then suspicious, and finally protective, the widowed farmer John (played by William McInnes) keeps Tahmeena’s existence a secret from those in the town that are asking questions. Details of their past emerge slowly, building tension as their relationship develops.

Actress Monic Hendrickx also played the equivalent character (though, interestingly, of Eastern European descent) in the 1998 Dutch film The Polish Bride, of which this film is a loose remake.

Unfinished Sky won six AFI awards and won favour with critics with its strong performances and tense drama.

“Anchored by two outstanding performances, Unfinished Sky is an engaging and intriguing drama,” wrote Andrew L Urban from Urban Cinefiles.

“This combination of thriller and love story is most successful with the latter. The relationship between John and Tahmeena is developed beautifully and tentatively,” said Margaret Pomeratz of ABC1’s At the Movies.

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

Click below to watch trailer:

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:

Director Pene Patrick coming to Port Fairy

Film director Pene Patrick will be a special guest at the Port Fairy Film Society pre-release screening of her new film Playing for Charlie on Friday 23^rd January to launch their 2009 program.

Playing for Charlie enjoyed critical acclaim and sellout audiences at International Film Festivals in Rome, Melbourne and Sydney. Now Port Fairy will join London, Prague and Toronto on the 2009 circuit of this coming of age drama that explores the delicate relationship between a young mother and her teenage son after the recent death of his father.

Newcomer Jared Daperis (whom Inside Film dubbed “the new Mel Gibson”) plays Tony, at 16 the man of the house caring for mum Paula, who has Multiple Sclerosis. Tony’s first true love is football – paradoxically for a film set in Werribee, it’s rugby union – but the barriers to him ‘making it’ seem too great. He is forced to make a decision that will impact the rest of his life.

Debutant director Pene Patrick has crafted an emotional tale with a terrific cast and crew, including Oscar-nominated composer Lisa Gerrard.

“Confirmation of a cinema that is independent, courageous, profound, powerful, determined to trace its own path amongst an audience that is in contunuous flux," said Gianluca Giannelli Savastano of Rome International Film Festival.

“It's a story of courage and heart, with a very unique hero at the centre,” said Dale Sinden of 2UE.

“The Joe-Paula relationship and big-game finale are handled in a nicely understated way,” wrote Boyd Van Hoeij in Variety. ”(The) score by Lisa Gerrard (Gladiator) is wonderfully atmospheric.”

Playing for Charlie screens at 7.30pm followed by a rare chance to discuss the film with the director Pene Patrick.

Anyone can be a member of the Port Fairy Film Society. Well-priced memberships for its monthly screenings (choose from three-month or annual) are available at the door before each screening. Visitors can come to one session per year before taking out a membership. Port Fairy is one of the most successful film societies in Australia. Its 2009 program promises once again to bring the best of contemporary world cinema to the district.