Victoria Wareham, Author at QAGOMA Blog

Pink foam, macaroni and cat paw puppetry: 5 Miranda July moments

Posted by Victoria Wareham ● 2 Jul 2021

Miranda July is an exciting, multidisciplinary artist who moves between film, writing and performance to create narratives that speak to the strangeness of the everyday and the human desire for connectedness. As we celebrate the work of this ground-breaking artist and filmmaker in ‘Miranda July: Me and You and Everybody‘, here are five memorable moments to watch out for.

Head to the Australian Cinémathèque at the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) to explore the films of this genre-defying director.

#1 The pink bubbles in ‘Kajillionaire’

New to Miranda July? Her latest feature Kajillionaire is a great place to start. A comedic twist on the heist-drama, this is the story of a family of con-artists who survive off ludicrous small-time scams. In downtown L.A. where cheap rent is almost impossible to find, the Dyne family live in an apartment where at certain times of the day, the walls are flooded with oozing pink foam; caused by some questionable plumbing in the bubble factory located on the floor above. Joyful and strangely beautiful, mysterious pink bubbles never looked so good!

Kajillionaire (2020) / Director: Miranda July

“If you’re watching this…just call this number…and say macaroni”

#2 Macaroni in ‘Me and You and Everyone We Know’

What better way to test if someone is paying attention to your film than to give them an instruction to follow at the end? Head to one of the screenings of Me and You and Everyone We Know to find out the true meaning of “macaroni”.

Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005) / Director: Miranda July

#3 Paw puppetry in ‘The Future’

In Miranda July’s second feature film, The Future, a thirty-something couple decide to adopt a cat named Paw Paw who has been given six months to live. Originally developed by Miranda July as part of her stage performance, Things We Don’t Understand and Definitely Are Not Going to Talk About (2006), July’s cat paw puppetry brings to life one cat’s story of patience, loneliness, and unrequited love. Who knew puppets could be so moving?

The Future (2011) / Director: Miranda July

#4 It’s clearly a 4: decoding secret relationship symbols in ‘The Amateurist’

Have you ever over analysed the wording of a text message or an email? Miranda July’s experimental short The Amateurist is the story of an analyst who interprets the physical gestures of a woman that she observes through a television screen as secret symbols of affection and longing.

*The Amateurist* (1998) / Director: Miranda July / Screening before *Me and You and Everyone We Know*

#5 “She’s always creating” Amy Adrion on working with Miranda July

Half the Picture is an eye-opening documentary that features interviews from influential directors, including Ava DuVernay, Mary Harron and Miranda July, to highlight the challenges faced by women filmmakers trying to break into an industry that is stacked against them. Before the screening, the film’s director Amy Adrion introduces the film and regrets to inform us that Miranda July really is as cool and as smart and as funny as she seems.

Amy Adrion on working with Miranda July / Director introduction to Half the Picture (2011)

Struggling to stay focused when you’re working from home? Follow Miranda July’s five-step program from ‘The Future’ to avoid distraction

Dip into our Cinema blogs / View the ongoing Australian Cinémathèque program

QAGOMA is the only Australian art gallery with purpose-built facilities dedicated to film and the moving image. The Australian Cinémathèque at the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) provides an ongoing program of film and video that you’re unlikely to see elsewhere, offering a rich and diverse experience of the moving image, showcasing the work of influential filmmakers and international cinema, rare 35mm prints, recent restorations and silent films with live musical accompaniment on the Gallery’s Wurlitzer organ originally installed in Brisbane’s Regent Theatre in November 1929.

Feature image: Miranda July on set for Kajillionaire (2020) / Courtesy: Universal Pictures Australia
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5 films about the Masters & The Met, New York

Posted by Victoria Wareham ● 15 Jun 2021

As QAGOMA opened its doors to the exhibition, ‘European Masterpieces from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York‘, the Australian Cinémathèque, GOMA curated a selection of insightful and playful films that delve into the history of the Masters and the modern-day museum with ‘The Met: The Masters and the Modern Day‘.

RELATED: More 5 FILM suggestions to watch

Fanatical collectors, the world’s most prestigious fashion event and a painter scorned

#1 Caravaggio 1986

A fictionalised re-telling of the life of painter Michelangelo Merisi de Caravaggio, Derek Jarman’s award winning 1986 biopic of this master of chiaroscuro rivals the visually sumptuous nature of the paintings themselves. Featuring the debut performances of Tilda Swinton and Sean Bean, Caravaggio 1986 is a haunting cinematic portrait that reimagines key events in the life of this Italian Baroque Master.

Caravaggio 1986 / Director: Derek Jarman

#2 Mr. Turner 2014

Mr Turner 2014 is a detailed and visually sumptuous account of the last twenty-five years in the life of the romantic English painter, Joseph Mallord William Turner. Actor Timothy Spall creates a rich and austere portrait of one of the world’s most well renowned (and eccentric) recluses and the events leading up to his eventual passing.

Mr. Turner 2014 / Director: Mike Leigh

#3 The First Monday in May 2016

Once a year on the first Monday in May, the steps of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York are filled with celebrities dressed in the latest couture from the fashion houses of McQueen, Versace, Dior and many more. Established in 1948, ‘The Met Gala’ is one of the most prestigious events in the Museum’s calendar and is an opportunity for the world’s most renowned designers to showcase their latest creations and raise funds for the Costume Institute. The First Monday in May 2016 directed by Andrew Rossi, follows Costume Institute curator, Andrew Bolton as he prepares for the exhibition opening of ‘China: Through The Looking Glass’, a major design survey exploring the impact of Chinese aesthetics on Western fashion.

The First Monday in May 2016 / Director: Andrew Rossi

#4 At Eternity’s Gate 2018

How did Vincent Van Gogh really die? This beautifully filmed biopic of one of the world’s most enigmatic painters draws on the revisionist theory from biographers Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith that proposes a new cause behind this iconic painter’s untimely death. William Defoe delivers an Oscar nominated performance as Van Gogh and interestingly, is also the artist behind a number of the in-progress paintings featured in the film.

At Eternity’s Gate 2018 / Director: Julain Schnabel

#5 My Rembrandt 2019

Can you ever have enough Rembrandt? Not according to some of the world’s leading art collectors. My Rembrandt explores the passion and obsession of Rembrandt fanatics from around the world by delving into the relationships that they have with the paintings that they own.

My Rembrandt 2019 / Director: Oeke Hoogendijk

Was that set in The Met, New York?

Despite strict protocols regarding filming, The Met has a rich history of on-screen appearances. Whether that’s Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan walking through the Egyptian galleries in When Harry Met Sally 1989; Pierce Brosnan’s Magritte-inspired escape sequence in the 1999 remake of the Thomas Crown Affair or the elaborate jewel heist in Oceans 8 2018, the Metropolitan Museum of Art is a modern day muse that’s as iconic as the artists in its collection.

Victoria Wareham, Australian Cinémathèque, QAGOMA

When Harry Met Sally 1989 / Rob Reiner

Thomas Crown Affair 1999 / Director: John McTiernan

Oceans 8 2018 / Director: Gary

This Australian-exclusive exhibition was at the Gallery of Modern Art from 12 June until 17 October 2021 and organised by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in collaboration with the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art and Art Exhibitions Australia.

Featured image: Screenshot from The First Monday in May 2016 / Director: Andrew Rossi
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5 films to rave about – Sound systems, acid-house and the yellow smiley

Posted by Victoria Wareham ● 5 Feb 2021

Grab your glow sticks and don the fluro with these films that celebrate the rave phenomenon as a sweet-harmony of escapism, hedonism and self-expression. Immerse yourself in these techno vibes, jungle beats and smooth synth that will have you throwing shapes.

1 Everybody in the Place 2018 15+

In this brief visual history of the British Rave scene, 2004 Turner Prize winning artist and director Jeremy Deller invites us into a London classroom where a group of year twelve and thirteen students explore rave as a united movement that redefined the social, cultural, and geographical landscape of Britain.

2 Beats 2019 MA15+

“Rave to the grave, the biggest night of your life Scotland”

In this end of an era film, Beats 2019 pairs the coming-of-age experience of two friends in central Scotland with the death rattle of the 90s rave scene. Largely filmed in black and white, Beats channels the films La Haine 1995 and Rumble Fish 1983 to echo the national delusion of 90s Britain, with the brief bursts of colour paying tribute to ravers as the accidental freedom fighters of the decade.

3 If It Were Love 2020 15+

If It Were Love 2020 centres on the dance piece ‘Crowd’ by choreographer Gisèle Vienne and re-enacts a slow-motion 90s rave in real time. Beautifully captured for the screen by director Patric Chiha, the skilful combination of cinematography and choreography transforms the cinema into an underground rave, celebrating what it means to be alive.

4 Climax 2018 R18+

Climax 2018 is a cinematic dance party that descends into a drug-fuelled nightmare. In this Fame 1980-meets-Trainspotting 1996 visual feast, Gaspar Noé’s beautiful but haunting film is inescapably enthralling, and is guaranteed to stay with you long after you’ve seen the film.

5 Bring Down The Walls 2020 15+

Born out of Chicago’s post-disco underground club scene in the early 1980s, house music has a longstanding history as a voice for repressed and marginalised communities across America. In this politically engaged, discursive documentary, 2006 Turner Prize-nominee Phil Collins (and no, not that Phil Collins!) invites us into the “Bring Down the Walls Project”; an anti-incarceration movement that transforms the dance floor into a space of connection and liberation to bring down the physical walls of the prison–industrial complex.

Art and Rave

If you’re starting to notice a pattern forming between Turner Prize artists and the Rave scene, 2008 Turner Prize winner Mark Lecky’s Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore 1999 is a must-see video work that captures the essence of the UK underground rave scene through a visual collage of raw footage and animation.

Victoria Wareham, Australian Cinémathèque, QAGOMA

Rave cinema program

The Rave cinema program (30 January until 10 March 2021) explored the rave scene as a site of connection, release and transformation. Born out of Chicago’s post-disco underground club scene in the late 1980s, rave counterculture continues to be a significant global movement, providing a space of liberation for repressed and marginalised communities. In periods of radical social, political and economic change, raves are energy-filled zones of autonomy that offer alternative spaces of freedom, hope and unity.

Dip into our Cinema blogs / View the ongoing Australian Cinémathèque program

The cinema program is accompanied by a new setlist developed by UK DJ Ben Hawkswell.
Program curated by Victoria Wareham, Australian Cinémathèque, QAGOMA

Featured image: If It Were Love 2020 / Director: Patric Chiha
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5 films my parents wouldn’t let me watch (but I did anyway!)

Posted by Victoria Wareham ● 8 May 2020

When my parents found out I had watched The Virgin Suicides (1999) at a sleepover, they created a ‘banned film’ list which ended up becoming a ‘must watch’ list for me and my film viewing was never the same again. After that, I became terrified of late night phone calls when I – think – I’m home alone (Scream 1996), demonic children and pea soup (The Exorcist 1973), falling for the wrong guy (Natural Born Killers 1994) and Anthony Hopkins with his love of a fine chianti and fava beans (Silence of the Lambs 1991).

If the kids are at home this week, these are some of the films you might want to consider hiding! What was your banned list?

Victoria Wareham, Australian Cinémathèque, QAGOMA

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The Exorcist

The Silence of the Lambs

Natural Born Killers

Scream

The Virgin Suicides

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Feature image: Scream (1996) Dir. Wes Craven

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