The Dunedin Film Society offers local film fans the chance to see retrospective seasons of films showcasing the work of major film-makers, styles, nations and eras.
The 2024 season features films from across the world, as the society marks its 77th season.
Two science fiction cult classics from the 1970s are both programmed early in the year and are certain to be highlights of the season. They are Robert Wise’s film of Michael Chrichton’s novel The Andromeda Strain and Andrei Tarkovsky’s popular Solaris, based on a work by Polish novelist Stanislaw Lem.
The season will also include a retrospective package of three Hollywood comedies from the 1980s — Martin Scorsese’s After Hours, Michael Lehmann’s Heathers, and Martha Coolidge’s Valley Girl.
There will also be two American indie films with female directors — Emma Seligmann’s contemporary comedy Shiva Baby and Kelly Reichardt’s settler-era First Cow.
Three films from Korea will be screened by the society this year, providing a rare opportunity to glimpse a very different culture. The three high-powered thrillers are Burning by Lee Chang-dog, Joint Security Area by Park Chan-wook, and Memories of Murder by Bong Joon-ho.
The film society programme features a selection of French films, including a rare chance to see India Song, by novelist, screen-writer and director Marguerite Duras. An earlier Cannes Grand Prix winning film for which Duras wrote the script, The Long Absence, will also be screened.
Other French titles in the season include Happening by Audrey Diwan, as well as Casablanca Beats from Morocco and Under the Fig Trees from Tunisia.
Film Society members will get the chance to experience a cinema classic on the big screen — Tod Browning’s notorious 1932 film, Freaks, as well his 1927 silent film The Unknown.
With the support of the New Zealand Film Commission, film society members will be able to see Jane Campion’s bio-pic of the novelist Janet Frame, drawing on her autobiography An Angel at My Table, and Christine Jeff’s screen version of Kirsty Gunn’s novel Rain.
Members of the Dunedin Film Society can also take advantage of generous discount prices on weekday seats at the Rialto cinema as well as at the New Zealand International Film Festival.
For more information, visit the website www.dunedinfilmsociety.org.nz
