Australian Cinématheque Archives

Fairy Tales: The history & hidden meaning of ‘Beauty and the Beast’

Posted by Sophie Hopmeier ● 27 Mar 2024

Transformation is an essential element in the fairy tale tradition. A change of appearance can signal or conceal a character’s true identity. While some characters alter their own appearance to escape or trick others, many are victims — transfigured as punishment. The spells that trigger these transformations are, in many cases, broken by a character’s…

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Fairy Tales: Unmissable films & live music in April

Posted by Sophie Hopmeier ● 26 Mar 2024

In April, we explore the changing role of women in fairy tale cinema. Girls and women have been central protagonists of fairy tales for millennia, with the earliest recorded ‘Cinderella’ story dated to the year 7 BC. The experiences of women in fairy tales reveal much about the times in which they are told, as…

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For the love of it: Curator picks for 2024

Posted by QAGOMA ● 18 Mar 2024

On the last Wednesday of each month of 2024 the Australian Cinémathèque curatorial team present ‘For the love of it: A curator’s pick’ These films which have shaped the way they think about cinema — unbounded by theme, genre, or era, this eclectic selection ranges from guilty pleasures to Palme d’Or winners, most of which…

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Fairy Tales: Unmissable films & live music in March

Posted by Sophie Hopmeier ● 28 Feb 2024

In March we venture into the surreal outer reaches of fairy tale cinema. The enchantment of fairy tales lies in their fantastical elements, which conjure uncanny images like pumpkin carriages, magic carpets, or houses made of gingerbread. Fairy tales significantly influenced the development of Surrealism, with Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) acknowledged as…

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Fairy Tales: Unmissable films in February

Posted by Sophie Hopmeier ● 18 Feb 2024

In February, the Fairy Tales Cinema program explores the changing face of fairy tales and the ways they blend with other storytelling traditions to reflect particular moments in time. The fairy tale theorist and historian Jack Zipes has used the concept of the ‘meme’ to think about this ever-shifting continuity of storytelling, and the importance…

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Live Music & Film: Man with a Movie Camera meets Man with Violin

Posted by Rosie Hays ● 5 Feb 2024

Live Music & Film returns to the Australian Cinémathèque, GOMA at 11am on Sunday 25 February 2024 with the joyous Man with a Movie Camera 1929 and a live score played on stage by Jonny Ng from Camerata — Queensland’s Chamber Orchestra. Shot by a Polish filmmaker in Moscow as well as Odesa and Kyiv…

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