Melbourne Cinémathèque

15/10/2026

While our focus on the film scores of maverick composer Zdeněk Liška has wrapped up, the Czech & Slovak Film Festival of Australia presented by Škoda Australia continues for its 14th edition.

The festival runs in Melbourne at Classic and Lido Cinemas until this Sunday 18 October, with Adelaide and Brisbane editions starting in November. This year’s theme is Horizons, celebrating cinema's power to broaden our view, connect cultures and look beyond the familiar.

Explore the program:

OPENING NIGHT Set in the demanding world of para ice hockey, Invincibles follows a group of athletes brought together by circumstance but united through determination. Each […]

12/10/2026

Join us this Wednesday 14 October at ACMI for the opening night in our season on Illicit Attachments: The Cladestine Cinema of Marcel Carné.

At 7pm we will screen a 4K DCP of LES PORTES DE LA NUIT (1946), the final collaboration between Carné and screenwriter Jacques Prévert. In a starkly beautiful, wintry, nocturnal postwar Paris, a former Resistance fighter (Yves Montand) encounters various figures, all leading him towards the tragic inevitabilities of fate. Featuring Serge Reggiani, Pierre Brasseur and Sylvia Bataille.

At 9.10pm will follow a 35mm print of THÉRÈSE RAQUIN (1953), Carné and Charles Spaak’s adaptation of Émile Zola’s 1867 novel. Shifting Paris murk to contemporary Lyon, the film sees Simone Signoret’s simmering, watchful Thérèse trapped between a snivelling husband and impulsive truck driver (Raf Vallone). Roland Lesaffre, Carné’s longtime collaborator and off-screen partner, adds an unsettling charge as a blackmailer, while Roger Hubert, his frequent cinematographer, lends a portentous atmosphere to the bleak streets. Print courtesy of the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia.

Memberships: https://www.acmi.net.au/cteq

11/10/2026

Our Zdeněk Liška season is at a finish, but head to Senses of Cinema anytime for CTEQ Annotations on the films featured.

Brian Hoyle annotates THE CREMATOR (1968), "a relentlessly nightmarish horror film" in which the eponymous character "speaks passionately about music": https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2007/cteq/cremator/

Cerise Howard annotates THE FABULOUS BARON MUNCHAUSEN (1962), that "melds live-action with cut-out and other forms of animation, rhyming all awhile with a dreamlike Zdeněk Liška score": https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2015/cteq/the-outrageous-baron-munchausen-karel-zeman/

Austin Lancaster annotates IKARIE XB-1 (1963), "A dazzling illustration of Liška’s attunement to rhythm": https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2026/cteq/trouble-in-paradise-ikarie-xb-1s-music-and-sound/

05/10/2026

Join us on Wednesday 7 October at ACMI for the final night of our season on Zdeněk Liška, Composer and Co-Auteur Extraordinaire, presented in partnership with the Czech & Slovak Film Festival.

At 7pm we will screen a 4K DCP of THE FABULOUS BARON MUNCHAUSEN (1962). Inspired by Gustave Doré’s 19th century engravings of the famed Baron’s flights of fancy, Karel Zeman’s adaptation of the story seamlessly melds live action with animation. Liška’s soundtrack, rich in electroacoustic experimentation - equal parts diegetic sound effects and incidental music - ranks among his most innovative and playful.

At 8.40pm we will then screen IKARIE XB-1 (1963), Jindřich Polák’s iconic adaptation of Stanisław Lem’s 1955 sci-fi adventure novel THE MAGELLANIC CLOUD. Liška’s innovative score employs manipulated tape loops of orchestral instruments and found sounds to produce a sense of foreboding and evoke the enervating psychological ambience aboard a spaceship peopled by an international crew. This will be preceded by Hermína Týrlová’s delightful stop-motion short THE SNOWMAN (1966), soundtracked by another striking electroacoustic score. Both films courtesy of the National Film Archive in Prague (Národní filmový archiv).

Finally at 10.25pm we will screen MUSIC BY ZDENĚK LIŠKA (2017), a fascinating documentary about Liška’s extraordinary talent, made by Pavel Klusák for Czech television.

Memberships: https://www.acmi.net.au/cteq

29/09/2026

Listen to Melbourne Cinémathèque Co-Curator Cerise Howard speak on 3MBS Melbourne 103.5FM’s FILM SCORES with host Richard Leathem about our Zdeněk Liška, Composer and Co-Auteur Extraordinaire season: https://omny.fm/shows/film-scores/film-scores-19-september-2026?t=4m57s

With thanks to Richard and 3MBS. Our Liška season continues at ACMI this Wednesday 30 September from 7pm with a 4K DCP of THE SHOP ON THE HIGH STREET (1965), followed at 9.20pm by a 2K DCP of CELEBRATION IN THE BOTANICAL GARDEN (1969), then concludes next Wednesday 7 October with THE FABULOUS BARON MUNCHAUSEN (1962), IKARIE XB-1 (1963), THE SNOWMAN (1966), and MUSIC BY ZDENĚK LIŠKA (2017).

28/09/2026

Come along this Wednesday 30 September to ACMI for the second night of our season celebrating the work of Zdeněk Liška, Composer and Co-Auteur Extraordinaire, presented in partnership with the Czech & Slovak Film Festival.

At 7pm we will be screening THE SHOP ON THE HIGH STREET (1965). This serio-comic masterpiece by directing duo Ján Kadár and Elmar Klos, about a milquetoast carpenter (Jozef Kroner) ordered to participate in the “Aryanisation” of his small hometown, won the 1966 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film and features one of Liška’s loveliest, brassiest soundtracks - among the few of his to have been released independent of a film. 4K DCP courtesy of the Národní filmový archiv / National Film Archive in Prague.

This will be followed at 9.20pm by CELEBRATION IN THE BOTANICAL GARDEN (1969). A riotous bacchanale made against the grim backdrop of the summer of 1968, brilliant New Wave director Elo Havetta’s feature debut follows French wanderer Pierre (Slavoj Urban) as he brings new life to a Carpathian village, accompanied by one of Liška’s most euphoric scores rollicking along throughout. 2K DCP courtesy of the Slovenský filmový ústav / Slovak Film Institute.

Memberships: https://www.acmi.net.au/cteq

21/09/2026

Join us this Wednesday 23 September at ACMI for the opening night of our new season, Zdeněk Liška, Composer and Co-Auteur Extraordinaire, presented in partnership with the Czech & Slovak Film Festival of Australia.

At 7pm we will screen THE CREMATOR (1968), a parable about a crematorium operator who loves classical music and is wooed by Na**sm in the early days of the occupation of Czechoslovakia. Directed by Juraj Herz and based on a novel by co-writer Ladislav F**s, in contrast and complement to the creepiness and dark comedy is Liška’s indelible orchestral and choral score, featuring soprano Vlasta Soumarová-Mlejnková. This will be preceded by 13-minute short THE FLAT (1968), directed by Jan Švankmajer, where a dingy apartment revolts against a man, as Liška’s score raises the tension.

At 9.15pm we will screen THE VALLEY OF THE BEES (1968), Liška, director František Vláčil and co-writer Vladimír Körner’s engrossing follow-up to MARKETA LAZAROVÁ (1967). Set again in the 13th century, the story revolves around two Knights of the Cross caught in a conflict of ideas and dogmatism. Liška deploys choirs of stylised human voices to haunting effect throughout.

All films will be presented from 4K DCPs, with those for both features courtesy of the National Film Archive in Prague (Národní filmový archiv).

Memberships: https://www.acmi.net.au/cteq

18/09/2026

Well, we've come to the end of our tales from Mario Bava, but head to Senses of Cinema anytime for CTEQ Annotations on them.

Kristian Ramsden annotates BLACK SABBATH (1963), where "the horror depends heavily on the recurring emphasis upon volti/faces and their sensuous capacities": https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2026/cteq/the-faces-of-mario-bavas-black-sabbath/

Ian Olney annotates KILL, BABY... KILL! (1966), which "occupies a unique place in [Bava’s] oeuvre as a bridge between the gothic chillers associated with the first half of his career and the giallo thrillers connected with the second": https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2026/cteq/kill-baby-kill/

Kyle Sossamon annotates DANGER: DIABOLIK (1968), and how "Bava’s technical prowess is here deployed for the sake of commenting on the power of filmmaking to create illusions": https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2026/cteq/playful-provocation-hypermediacy-in-mario-bavas-danger-diabolik/

Darragh O’Donoghue annotates RABID DOGS (1974/1998), "a return to zero-degree filmmaking: a no-frills, realistic, narrowly focused crime movie": https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2026/cteq/rabid-dogs/

Alexia Kannas annotates THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (1963), "a very important film in the contexts of Bava’s filmography, the history of the Italian film industry, and the giallo genre’s development": https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2026/cteq/the-girl-who-knew-too-much/

And Inge Fossen annotates LISA AND THE DEVIL (1973), "Bava’s most opaque and arty film": https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2026/cteq/lisa-and-the-devil/

14/09/2026

Join us this Wednesday 16 September at ACMI for the final night of Haunted Worlds: Mario Bava, the Diabolical Magician of Cinecittà, presented in partnership with the Italian Cultural Institute.

At 7pm we will screen THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (1963), a film which has been deemed, retroactively, as the birth of giallo. Bava’s deliberate creative riff on Alfred Hitchcock sees Letícia Román star as Nora, the sole witness to a murder who seeks out evidence with Dr. Bassi (John Saxon) after the authorities refuse to believe her. With Valentina Cortese.

This will be followed at 8.40pm by LISA AND THE DEVIL (1973), a Gothic horror tale of a young woman (Elke Sommer) who loses her way and spends the night in a mansion belonging to a blind Countess (Alida Valli) and her son (Alessio Orano). Despite having never been released theatrically in Italy, the film’s reappraisal for its evocative visuals has led many to consider it amongst Bava’s most personal and daring works. With Telly Savalas.

Memberships: https://www.acmi.net.au/cteq

07/09/2026

Join us this Wednesday 9 September at ACMI for the second night in Haunted Worlds: Mario Bava, the Diabolical Magician of Cinecittà, as presented in partnership with the Italian Cultural Institute.

At 7pm we will screen DANGER: DIABOLIK (1968), a psychedelic and often delirious adaptation of the Italian comic series by Angela and Luciana Giussani. It stars John Phillip Law as a master criminal who stages an exhilarating series of heists with his lover (Marisa Mell), alongside a striking score by Ennio Morricone.

This will be followed at 9pm by RABID DOGS (1974/1998), a gritty and realist crime thriller that takes the form of a claustrophobia-inducing road trip. Meant to be Bava’s career-shifting comeback, due to financial problems, the film was shelved for over 20 years before finally being released on DVD. With Riccardo Cucciolla, Lea Lander and Luigi Montefiori.

Memberships: https://www.acmi.net.au/cteq