Soul Kitchen brings a bit of light relief, food, fun and colour this month at Port Fairy….

This months movie offering is a film set in Hamburg which centres around a struggling restaurant in a warehouse owned by a Turkish man named Zinos, and a series of humorous events and interactions between a curious gathering of characters. Everything that can go wrong for Zinos does go wrong; tax collectors, health inspectors, relationships, family, staff, customers and much more. Some of the stories and events are predictable and a bit slapstick but as David Stratton of “At the Movies” points out

“SOUL KITCHEN is cheerful, wild, colourful and sometimes a little silly, but it's thoroughly enjoyable.”

This comedy is a far departure from Fatih Akins previous award winning movies including the very broody “Head On” And “Edge of Heaven” but he has assembled a fine cast making Soul Kitchen a “delicious treat” of great music, amazing food, life and colour.

Soul Kitchen is rated MA and screens at 7:30pm this Friday October 15^th after the AGM of the Port Fairy Film Society, which will be held in the presence of all the members just prior to screening.

The Film Society welcomes nominations to the committee for the 2011 year. Contact Kathy Sanderson –President prior to the AGM on 0407 685 686 if you are interested.

The Tuesday Classic Matinees continue to be a big hit in the community and at 1.30 on Tuesday 26 October we screen “Philadelphia Story”, the third in this seasons set of films free to existing PFFS members. It is rated PG and goes for 112 mins. Made in 1940, This is a very witty romantic comedy with Katharine Hepburn as a socialite whose wedding plans are complicated by the simultaneous arrival of her ex-husband (Carey Grant) and an attractive journalist.(Jimmy Stewart).

“Welcome” to come to Port Fairy

A Kurdish boy from Iraq trying to reach the UK strikes up an unusual friendship with a middle-aged Frenchman.

This month the Port Fairy Film Society has the pleasure of screening “Welcome” a provocative and topical French film by writer director Philippe Lioret. The film is described as an emotionally affecting drama about intersecting lives, unlikely friendships and the hope of new beginnings. It depicts a modern day migration dilemma where Bilal, a modern 17 year old Kurdish refugee, has spent the last three months of his life traveling across Europe to reunite with his girl friend who has emigrated to England.

Without the required documentation he decides to swim across the channel and goes to the local swimming pool hoping to train. There he develops a friendship with Simon the swimming instructor who is initially uninvolved and indifferent to Bilal, but over time they form a strong bond which establishes the human connection across race, age, culture and political divides. This deeply personal story shines a light on the impact of decisions and laws made by modern governments which affect the lives of asylum seekers and refugees and those who become part of their struggle. This particular film was widely received and debated in France due to a controversial French law which penalizes those citizens who help refugees. It is indeed food for thought as a deeply personal reflection on the issues of illegal immigrants given the current conversation in the Australian landscape.

Welcome was screened to the French and European Parliaments.

Welcome is rated M and screens this Friday at the Reardon Theatre Bank St Port Fairy at 7:30pm.

AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER is the August Classic Matinee

At 1.30pm on Tuesday 24 August, the PFFS screens AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER as the first film in our second season of Tuesday Classic Matinees of f

our monthly Classic films from the 30’s 40’s 50’s 60’s.

When Nickie(Carey Grant) meets Terry(Deborah Kerr) going to N.Y. they agree to meet in 6 months time on the Empire State Building, even though they are engaged to others. G (119 mins) 1957. One of the most popular romances, inspiring Sleepless in Seattle.

See the Trailer:

http://www.spike.com/video/affair-to-remember/2672750

Two shorts from The Stories from Moyne produced by ACMI & MSC will be screened before the film.

The four TUESDAY AFTERNOON CLASSIC MOVIE MATINEES are a

t 1.30pm on the Fourth Tuesday of the Month, August to November, at the Reardon Theatre, Bank St, Port Fairy.

Admission is by membership of the Port Fairy Film Society. Concession rates for members of the Port Fairy Senior Citizens Club, Moyneyana House Residents and the Day Centre.

Film Society Memberships are available at door & from PFSCC, MH & the DC.

All Welcome. Free Tea, Coffee and Conversation .

White Ribbon…Dark but brilliant

The Port Fairy Film Society is proud to present this months Friday night film “The White Ribbon”

The White Ribbon (German) is a 2009 black and white drama written and directed by Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke. The story darkly depicts society and family in a northern German village just before World War I, and the landscape leading to the rise of Nazism. The film explores a series of strange events beginning in the village school which then continue to unfold in the community. The film is full of clues but explanations are not easily given or found which has the effect of making it mesmerizing and tantalising to the viewer.

According to Haneke, the film is about "the origin of every type of terrorism, be it of political or religious nature.”

This film is described as both disturbing and thought provoking and has generated a wide variety of responses and opinions.

The At the Movies crew of Margaret and David describe the film as “Impressive” both giving it four stars.

Other critics describe it in this way: “The White Ribbon is a stark, contemplative and hauntingly brilliant film” and “Unlike conventional thrillers, this film does not restore a moral order to the universe. Rather, it questions it. It must be seen.”

“The White Ribbon” premiered at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival in May 2009 and won the Palme d'Or, followed by positive reviews and several other major awards, including the 2010 Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

See The Trailer:

http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi712247065/

The Film is rated M and screens at 7:30 on Friday August 20^th at the Reardon theatre Bank Street. Memberships go on sale from 7:10. Free tea and coffee, lollies for sale.

St.Kilda Film Festival comes to Port Fairy

Don’t miss your chance to see the best of Australia's Top 100 short films as the St Kilda Film Festival hits the road taking in 37 destinations Australia-wide with a selection of shorts that includes Festival award winners and stand out favorites.

These exciting films, which cover a diverse range of subject matter ranging from laugh out loud comedy to quality drama, share an infectious passion for the medium, limited only by the size of their relatively modest budgets.

Our short filmmakers push the creative envelope producing work which delights and provokes.

.The 2010 highlights include
Tomorrow by Simon Portus about a young country girl and a businesswoman who meet on their journey to Brisbane; their connections are greater than their differences (Winner 2010 StKFF & 2010 Flickerfest FF, Best Film, Best Direction, Best Actor).

Ink by Justine Wallace is the story of a lost toy, a girl graffiti artist and a stolen childhood(2010 StKFF Best Animation, Screenplay, and Sound & UK SSF, WOW FF, Salento FF ).

Little Ripper by Craig Boord about the tough, competitive, full time occupation of training and racing pigeons( 2010 StKFF Best Documentary, Austin & Indie FFs).

Helmut’s House by Jess Dickenson about an 89hermit who has lived in a hand built house in a remote Australian riverbed for 40 years.

Primo Bacio by Sarah Vasssilas, a documentary dedicated to a couple who have been together for 49 years about how kissing has changed since their courting(2010 StKFF Best positive image of age award).

Apricot by Ben Briand about an man with memory loss who asks personal questions of a young woman to cover his own loss ( Cannes FF Best Young Director).

The Wake by Gemma Lee about a well meaning, social misfit who makes an unexpected arrival at his best mate’s fathers Funeral (2010 StKFF SBS award winner).

In Port Fairy, 7.30 pm Friday 30th July (16 films: interval at 8.30). Exempt 15+ 125mins $10, $8 for PFFS members.

http://www.stkildafilmfestival.com.au/page-54/tour-films

Brothers-A very worthy remake at the Friday night movies

When a decorated Marine goes missing overseas, his black-sheep younger brother cares for his wife and children at home—with consequences that will shake the foundation of the entire family….

This Friday July 16^th, the Port Fairy Film Society brings a moving, beautiful and dramatic film from acclaimed director Jim Sheridan which is a faithful remake of the Danish made 2000 film of the same name. Brother is the powerful story of two siblings, thirtysomething Captain Sam Cahill (Tobey Maguire) and younger brother Tommy Cahill (Jake Gyllenhaal), who are polar opposites. A Marine about to embark on his fourth tour of duty, Sam is a steadfast family man married to his high school sweetheart, the aptly named Grace (Natalie Portman), with whom he has two young daughters (Bailee Madison, Taylor Grace Geare). Tommy, his charismatic younger brother, is a drifter just out of jail who’s always gotten by on wit and charm. He slides easily into his role as family provocateur on his first night out of prison, at Sam’s farewell dinner with their parents, Sam is then shipped out to Afghanistan.

Sam is presumed dead when his Black Hawk helicopter is shot down in the mountains. At home in suburbia, the Cahill family suddenly faces a shocking void, and Tommy tries to fill in for his brother by assuming newfound responsibility for himself, Grace, and the children. The film is a rich exploration of family relationships, and the issues of love, loyalty and manhood.

Margaret from “At the Movies” found the really interesting American cast all gave very fine performances which contribute to making a very strong and powerful film worthy of four stars.

“Brothers” screens at 7:30pm at the Reardon Theatre this Friday. Members tickets go on sale from 7:10pm.

Screenings coming later in July include the St Kilda Film Festival.

Le Concert in Port Fairy

This month's Port Fairy Film Society, Friday night screening brings a memorable musical experience in the French film Le Concert, an award winning comedy drama.

Continuing on with the great run of quality movies shown at Port Fairy this year the story of Le Concert unfolds going back thirty years ago, when Andrei Filipov, the renowned conductor of the Bolshoi orchestra, was fired for hiring Jewish musicians. Now a mere cleaning man at the Bolshoi, he learns by accident that... read more the Châtelet Theater in Paris invites the Bolshoi orchestra to play there. He decides to gather together his former musicians and to perform in Paris in the place of the current Bolshoi orchestra. As a solo violin player to accompany his old Jewish or Gypsy musicians he wants Anne-Marie Jacquet, a young virtuoso. If they all overcome the hardships ahead this very special concert will be a triumph.For music lovers the high point of the movie is the award winning musical score and performance of Tchaikovsky’s concerto.

“Cinema Autopsy’ reviewer Thomas Caldwell describes “Le Concert [as] delivering one of cinema's most moving and satisfying emotional payoffs in years, transforming a film that is pretty good into a film of true greatness”.

Le Concert is rated M and commences at 7:30pm on Friday June 18^th at the Reardon Theatre Bank Street Port Fairy. Membership tickets go on sale from 7:10pm. Free tea and coffee and sweets for sale.

Poetry and Romance in Bright Star

Poetry and romance are brought to the Port Fairy in Bright Star in a fundraising film by the Ex Libris Book Fair, this Friday 4 June at 7.30pm. PG 110 mins Tickets $12 ph 5568 3311 & Door

Bright Star tells the story of John Keats (Tim Wishaw) the great romantic poet through the eyes of his love and inspiration - Fanny Brawn (Abbey Cornish).

Campion brings to this story an unfashionable, unapologetic reverence for romance and romantic love, and she responds to Keats's life and work with intelligence and grace.

Inspired by the actual love letters between the couple and Keats' sublime poetry, Jane Campion’s Bright Star is an affecting and deeply considered study of the last years in the short life of Keats, and the ecstasy of loss which suffuses his love affair with Fanny Brawne – a love thwarted not due to illness, but to a web of prospects, social scruples and loyalties.

“Jane Campion is at the very top of her form with this really fine co-production between the UK and Australia. Bright Star is superior to most period films because of the absolute realism with which Campion and her distinguished cinematographer Greig Fraser, depict everyday life 190 years ago and a tender relationship which was restricted by the conventions of the period.

In a cast full of really fine performances, Abbie Cornish is outstanding as Fanny. Campion takes her time to tell her tender story, but the film rewards with a conclusion I found incredibly moving.

This is certainly one of the best films of the year. (2009)” David Stratton ABC At the Movies 5 Stars.

"From one of the finest filmmakers working in the world today. .. An exquisite film”, Margaret Pomeranz 4.5 Stars

Oklahoma! sweeps into Port Fairy

“Oh, What a Beautiful Morning” sings Curly as the boys meet, lose and try to win the girls with heart and song.

Oklahoma! dazzles audiences with sweeping cinematography, catchy show tunes and skirt-hitching dance sequences.

At 1.30pm Tuesday 25 May Oklahoma! sweeps across the screen at the Reardon Theatre to conclude our first season of Tuesday Classic s.

There will be another 4 film season starting in August for PFFS members.

Colin Firth in stunning, award winning performance as “A Single Man”

“A Single Man” described as a romantic tale of love interrupted, stars Colin Firth and Julianne Moore in a stunning directorial debut for designer Tom Ford, and features an award winning performance by Colin Firth.

Set in 1960’s California, it traces the story of one transformational day in the life of George Falconer (Firth), a gay college professor who is mourning the death of his long time lover. This one day blends past and present, desire and despair and the discovery of love persisting even after the object of love is gone.

This was at a time when being gay was not socially acceptable, when jobs could be lost, when families were shamed and therefore cruel. Ford has filled this adaptation of Christopher Isherwood’s novel with a compelling sense of beauty and style. It is an immaculate-looking film.

David Stratton from ABC’s “At the Movies” states

“ I think it is an exceptionally beautiful film. It's a very small story, but emotionally a very powerful story and it's so beautiful, it's like a kind of perfect jewel…”

So if you are in the mood for a thought-provoking and dramatic plot-line, sprinkled with the brilliance of Colin Firth and his co-stars, you will not regret it.

“A Single Man” is rated M and screens at the Reardon Theatre Bank St. Port Fairy on Friday May 21^st at 7:30pm. Members tickets go on sale at the door from 7:10pm. See you around the urn for free tea and coffee.

Spectacular Science Film Festival Free!!!

The spectacular beauty of the Antarctic, Earth and the Moon will be explored on the Big Screen in four excellent films this Friday and Saturday at the Reardon Theatre Port Fairy. The screenings are free.

The program provides a wonderful insight into human exploration of our world at all levels.

This marvellous Festival of free science themed films with drinks and refreshments is presented by the Royal Inst of Science in conjunction with Free Range Films, ACMI and the Port Fairy Film Society, with funding by the Victorian Government.

Friday 14 May 11.30am & 1.30pm
Earth

The spectacular BBC documentary by Mike Linfield about a year of life on Earth in large screen detail, as told through the lives of polar bears, elephants, whales, caribou, cranes and the Earth itself . G 96mins

"visually you have to gasp at some of the images captured here, they really strike home just how beautiful and complex this planet earth is with its multiplicity of species, reaffirming how much we ought to treasure it.” Margaret Pomeranz , ABC, 3.5 Stars




Friday 14 May 7.30 pm
The Fox and the Child
Luc Jaquet’s (March of the Penguin’s)part fiction and documentary beautiful story of a young girl who forms a friendship with a fox in the French country side, and the quite scary(for young children) and dangerous, natural life of the predatory fox, narrated by Kate Winslet. The film is told primarily from the fox’s perspective. G 94 mins


“The film has some amazing moments,.. the most amazing is the relationship between the child and the fox, I don’t know how it was achieved but it’s pretty impressive… Luc Jacquet …does animals really well.” Margaret Pomeranz , ABC,
3.5 stars

Saturday 15 May 2.00pm
In the Shadow of the Moon

Ten of the surviving Apollo astronauts tell their story of their visits to the Moon in David Sington’s marvellous documentary. It shows footage never seen before recounted in terms of its human as well as technical achievement. A big inspirational film to be seen on the big screen. G. 96mins


“Documentaries can be so great at times, and this is one of them. I sat absolutely captured, in a high degree of tension for much of the time, not just by what was achieved by these men but by how they actually felt about that experience.” Margaret Pomeranz, ABC, 4.5 Stars



Saturday 15 May 7.30pm
Encounters at the End of the World

This visually stunning documentary by Werner Herzog about life in an Antarctic station shows the sometimes eccentric human side of our scientific exploration at the end of our world. With humour and respect, it also shows the raw beauty of the Antarctic including some magnificent underwater scenes. G 99 mins 3.5stars David Stratton, ABC.



The Science Film Festival sponsors

Free Range Films is part of a wider series of science themed events
that are run in regional Victoria, the idea being to provide free opportunities for people in regional areas to engage in science in a fun, entertaining and relevant way. In conjunctionwith Deakin University, they are also involved with the Warrnambool Kids Festival. Contact Adam Strang, Programs Coordinator, The Science Exchange www.riaus.org.au<http://www.riaus.org.au/>

THE BOYS ARE BACK on Friday 19 FEBRUARY

The Port Fairy Film Society brings “The Boys are Back” to its monthly February screening from Academy Award® nominee Scott Hicks (“Shine”). The screenplay by Allan Cubitt is based on the acclaimed 2001 memoir by Simon Carr, (The Boys Are Back), an unflinchingly funny and honest recounting of his journey from grieving husband to full-contact fatherhood in the aftermath of his profound loss.

Shot on location in the stunning countryside of South Australia, and inspired by this true story, THE BOYS ARE BACK is a deeply moving, wryly confessional tale of fatherhood, that intimately evokes both the fragility and wonders of family life.

It follows a witty, wisecracking, action-oriented sportswriter (CLIVE OWEN) who, in the wake of his wife’s tragic death, finds himself in a sudden, stultifying state of single parenthood.

Left with raising two boys, a curious six year-old (NICHOLAS MCANULTY) and a rebel teen (GEORGE MACKAY) from a previous marriage, in a household devoid of feminine influence, and with an unabashed lack of rules, life becomes exuberant, instinctual, reckless . . . and on the constant verge of disaster.

United by unspoken love, conflicted by fierce feelings and in search of a road forward, the three multi-generational boys of the household, father and sons alike, must each find their own way, however tenuous, to grow up.

Their story is not just about the transforming power of a family crisis -- but the unavoidable grace of everyday life and love that gets them through.

Jim Schembri of the Age describes “the Boys are Back” as “[a] beautifully etched, deeply moving drama about single fatherhood, the best film Adelaide director Scott Hicks has made since Shine -- and the peak of Clive Owen's acting career.”

The M rated film screens at 7:30pm on Friday February 19^th at the Reardon Theatre Bank St. Port Fairy. Great new 2010 memberships are on sale at the door, with screenings of Balibo, and Bran Nu Dae coming up in the next few months.

First Classic Tuesday Matinee -- Singing in the Rain

At 1.30pm on Tuesday 23 February, the Port Fairy Film Society brings its members the first of four Classic Hollywood Musicals, Gene Kelly’s acclaimed and loved “Singing in the Rain”.

“Singing in the Rain” is one of the brightest, happiest Hollywood musicals. Set in Hollywood in 1927, Don Lockwood(Gene Kelly) and Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) are stars of the silent era about to make their first talkie movie , when Don becomes infatuated with Kathy Seldon (Debbie Reynolds).

The film has wit, humour, good acting, great dancing and songs, "You Were Meant for Me," "You Are My Lucky Star," Good Morning”,"The Broadway Melody," and of course “Singing in the Rain”.

In 1952, the NY Times reviewed its premiere: “Compounded generously of music, dance, color, spectacle and a riotous abundance of Gene Kelly, Jean Hagen and Donald O'Connor on the screen, all elements in this rainbow program are carefully contrived and guaranteed to lift the dolors of winter and put you in a buttercup mood.”

“Singing in the Rain” is widely acclaimed as one of the finest musicals Hollywood has made.

This is the first of the four Tuesday Matinee Classics that will screen at the Reardon Theatre on the Fourth Tuesday of the month February to May. The 1.30pm sessions have been scheduled to encourage members of the Senior Citizen’s Club and Day Centre to enjoy their lunch and a film on the one afternoon.

Film Society memberships are available at the door, but they can also be pre-purchased at a 50% by members of the PF Day Centre, PF Senior Citizens Club and Moyneyana House residents.

"Singing in the Rain" is rated G and runs for 103mins, but will run for longer as the Classic Matinees will have an interval.