Melbourne Cinémathèque

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Melbourne Cinémathèque

The Melbourne Cinémathèque is a not-for-profit, volunteer-run film society. We hold screenings at ACMI, Fed Square every Wednesday night for most of the year.

Admission is by membership, which can be obtained on a short-term or yearly basis. Screening programmes include a diverse selection of classic and contemporary films showcasing director retrospectives, special guest appearances and thematic series including archival material and new or restored prints. We have on occasion hosted numerous seminars featuring renowned film scholars such as David Bordwell and Ian Christie. Comments on posts will be moderated for community standards.

20/07/2026

Come along this Wednesday 22 July to ACMI for the final night of our season By Any Means Necessary: Spike Lee, American Provocateur.

At 7pm we will screen a 35mm print of 4 LITTLE GIRLS (1997), Lee’s first feature-length documentary, about the girls murdered in the Ku Klux Klan’s 1963 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama. Initially intended as a drama, the chronicle of young lives cut short is a brilliant and understandably sombre document told through interviews and archival footage.

Finally, at 8.55pm we will screen a 35mm print of SUMMER OF SAM (1999). Lee’s take on the infamous “Son of Sam” murders – in which serial killer David Berkowitz went on a 13-month spree in New York City, killing six people and wounding eleven – the film focuses on the events’ erosion of trust between the residents of a largely Italian-American neighbourhood in the Bronx during the late 1970s. With John Leguizamo, Mira Sorvino, Adrien Brody and Lee himself.

Prints courtesy of The Academy Film Archive and National Film and Sound Archive respectively.

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

19/07/2026

For CTEQ Annotations on the films in our By Any Means Necessary: Spike Lee, American Provocateur season so far, head to Senses of Cinema.

Sebastian Carrasco annotates SCHOOL DAZE (1988), that "places us squarely at the nexus of theory and praxis, the mechanics for cyclical systemic domination": https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2026/cteq/school-daze-d-and-confused/

Michael Green annotates 25TH HOUR (2002), "a requiem for 9/11 America... suffused with grief and regret": https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2026/cteq/25th-hour/

Sandra E. Lim annotates MALCOLM X (1992), where "Lee gives us… a figure of quiet, self-possessed resistance for a Black community reeling from state violence": https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2026/cteq/a-pedagogy-of-resistance-from-double-consciousness-to-the-unified-self-in-spike-lees-malcolm-x/

13/07/2026

Join us this Wednesday 15 July at ACMI for the next night of our current season on a prolific auteur, By Any Means Necessary: Spike Lee, American Provocateur.

At 7pm we will screen MALCOLM X (1992), an uncompromising biopic adapted from THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MALCOLM X starring Denzel Washington and Angela Bassett in career-defining performances. With a runtime of 202 minutes, this epic feature will be played without an interval. A dream project of Lee’s, it presents an oft-demonised figure to a wide audience without compromising on his Black nationalist views, his journey with Islam, or the circumstances of his murder. The film is also a peak for Lee’s long-time costume designer Ruth E. Carter, whose wardrobes effortlessly capture decades of Black American experience.

35mm print courtesy of the National Film and Sound Archive.

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

07/07/2026

Listen to Melbourne Cinémathèque Co-Curator Eloise Ross speak on ABC Melbourne’s THE FRIDAY R***E with hosts Brian Nankervis and Denise Scott about our By Any Means Necessary: Spike Lee, American Provocateur season (at the 48:20 mark): https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/thefridayrevue/the-friday-revue/106858702

With thanks to Brian, Denise, THE FRIDAY R***E and ABC Melbourne. Our Spike Lee season begins at ACMI this Wednesday from 7pm with SCHOOL DAZE (1988), followed at 9.20pm by a 35mm print of 25TH HOUR (2002).

06/07/2026

Join us this Wednesday 8 July at ACMI for the opening night of our season By Any Means Necessary: Spike Lee, American Provocateur.

At 7pm we will screen a 4K DCP of SCHOOL DAZE (1988), Lee’s rarely revived film which examines heterogenous identities in a Southern all-Black college, styled as a 1940s Technicolor musical with sharp dialogue and lavish song and dance sequences. Starring Laurence Fishburne and a rich cast of Lee regulars, including Giancarlo Esposito, Samuel L. Jackson, Ossie Davis, Bill Nunn and Lee himself.

This will be followed at 9.20pm by a 35mm print of 25TH HOUR (2002). In post-9/11 New York, a drug dealer (Edward Norton) moves through his final day of freedom. Norton’s typical narcissism is perfectly utilised by Lee, who buttresses him with another stacked ensemble – Philip Seymour Hoffman, Brian Cox, Rosario Dawson, Anna Paquin – helping generate pathos for an unlikeable man through the reactions and empathy of those around him.

35mm print courtesy of the National Film and Sound Archive.

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

04/07/2026

We would like to extend a huge thank you to everyone who contributed to the Australian Cultural Fund campaign to support our 2027 screening program!

With your help we exceeded our target and raised over $15,000, which will go a long way to creating the best possible program next year and keeping our membership prices affordable for our robust community.

Thanks to your generosity, the 2027 program will continue the Melbourne Cinémathèque’s long-running tradition of screening important cinematic works from the full history of international cinema, and help us maintain Melbourne’s position as a leading city of international film culture.

The great response we’ve had shows the strong appreciation of the Cinémathèque among our membership and the wider community. It means the world to us!

29/06/2026

Join us on Wednesday 1 July at ACMI for the final night of our season looking at Light Without Mercy: The Tragi-Comic World of Roy Andersson.

At 7pm we will screen A PIGEON SAT ON A BRANCH REFLECTING ON EXISTENCE (2014). The final film in Andersson’s LIVING trilogy, this wry, absurdist and darkly comic portrait of contemporary life occupies a netherworld inhabited by the legacies of war, colonialism and the bittersweet sadness of everyday life in an extraordinary distillation of Andersson’s themes, deadpan humour and stylistic characteristics.

At 8.55pm we conclude with ABOUT ENDLESSNESS (2019), a witty anthology made of 32 long takes that dwell, once more, on the absurdity, sorrow and hopefulness of human existence. The film will be preceded by two shorts: Andersson’s SOMETHING HAPPENED (1987), which began life as an educational film about AIDS, and Nicolas Schmerkin’s making-of documentary OBSESSIONS FROM THE SECOND FLOOR (2001).

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

27/06/2026

For CTEQ Annotations on the middle of our season screening Light Without Mercy: The Tragi-Comic World of Roy Andersson, head to Senses of Cinema.

Iris Chen annotates NINE COMMERCIALS (1979-89) that "retroactively mock the vital energy of modern advertisements with displays of an alternate kind of immortality… the plastic-bag variety – they are here forever but are forgettable, cheap": https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2026/cteq/nine-commercials-by-roy-andersson/

Jamie Jungyoon Tak annotates YOU, THE LIVING (2007), "an atomised dollhouse of brief, grim sketches on urban malaise": https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2026/cteq/you-the-living/

Our Roy Andersson season concludes next Wednesday 1 July at ACMI with A PIGEON SAT ON A BRANCH REFLECTING ON EXISTENCE (2014) from 7pm, followed at 8.55pm by the shorts SOMETHING HAPPENED (1987) and OBSESSIONS FROM THE SECOND FLOOR (2001), and then the feature ABOUT ENDLESSNESS (2019).

25/06/2026

We're now in the final week of our Australian Cultural Fund campaign to support our 2027 screening program. A massive thank you to everyone who has already made a tax-deductible donation!

We’ve raised over $9,000 so far, but we still need your help. Our target is $12,000, so we're asking if you're able to help us meet our goal before the campaign closes on 30 June. Every donation helps us continue our mission of screening rare and significant films drawn from the full history of international cinema.

The Melbourne Cinémathèque is a completely independent, volunteer-run, not-for-profit film society. Currently we receive no government funding.

Reaching our goal will allow us to keep our membership fees affordable and our screenings accessible to everyone. Your contribution nurtures Melbourne's next generation of cinephiles.

Follow the link below to our ACF fundraising page for more info or to make a donation.

https://artists.australianculturalfund.org.au/s/project/a2EMn00000gHCMgMAO/melbourne-cin%C3%A9math%C3%A8que-2027-program

22/06/2026

Join us this Wednesday 24 June at ACMI for the second night of Light Without Mercy: The Tragi-Comic World of Roy Andersson.

At 7pm we will screen YOU, THE LIVING (2007), the second entry in Andersson’s career-defining LIVING trilogy. Here, he presents a droll, minimalist portrait of city life through a series of meticulously constructed, staged and framed vignettes. This will be preceded by NINE COMMERCIALS (1977-89), a selection from the 400+ TV commercials Andersson directed during his 20+ year break from feature filmmaking.

At 9pm we will screen GILIAP (1975), Andersson’s underseen second feature which confounded and stalled his career in features. Whilst a commercial and critical flop upon release, this eccentric neo-noir set around a shabby Swedish seaside hotel has since become a cult film and can be enjoyed as a bridge between Andersson’s neighbouring films.

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

Address

ACMI, Federation Square, Flinders Street
Melbourne, VIC
3000

Opening Hours

7pm - 11:30pm

Website

http://www.melbournecinematheque.org/

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