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From Tehran to Thailand, this January Golden Age is showing groundbreaking films from around the world that you can't see anywhere else in Sydney.
SYDNEY EXCLUSIVES
Tehran Taxi – The ultimate rebel filmmaker, Jafar Panahi, has been banned by the Iranian government from making films, doing interviews or leaving the country for a massive 20 years. Despite this, Tehran Taxi is the third film that Panahi has made in secret – this time shooting with a camera affixed to his dashboard and posing as a taxi driver, taking passengers all over the streets of Tehran. The film took home the Golden Bear from the Berlin International Film Festival and Jury President Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan, Requiem for a Dream, Pi) called it "a love letter to cinema."
“★★★★★” – The Guardian
“★★★★★ [A] relentlessly clever middle finger to censorship.” – Time Out London
“★★★★ A cleverly subversive film.” – The Sydney Morning Herald
Friday 8 Jan, 6.30pm / Sunday 10 Jan, 5.30pm / Thursday 14 Jan, 6pm
Cemetery of Splendour – The latest film from award-winning indie Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, Tropical Malady), Cemetery of Splendour is a dreamlike and almost hallucinatory film investigating the boundaries between life, death and the spirit world. Jenjira is a lonely housewife who volunteers as a carer at a clinic for soldiers who have been struck by a mysterious sleeping sickness. Her fellow volunteer, Keng, uses her powers as a psychic medium to try and communicate with the slumbering soldiers in the hopes to establish the real reason behind the men's condition.
"Grade: A. I was spellbound." – Indiewire
"★★★★ There is something sublime in it." – The Guardian
"…like dreaming with your eyes wide open." – The Hollywood Reporter
Thursday 14 Jan, 8.30pm / Sunday 17 Jan, 5.30pm
Mavis! – A documentary for fans of Twenty Feet From Stardom, Mavis! looks at the stupendous 60-year career of Mavis Staples, the R&B/soul/gospel singer, actress and civil rights activist who got her start singing in family band The Staple Singers and then went on to work with Bob Dylan and Martin Luther King. The film features interviews with artists ranging from Dylan to Prince, Chuck D, Sharon Jones, Jeff Tweedy (Wilco), Bonnie Raitt and more.
Sunday 10 Jan, 8pm
HACKERS PRESENTED BY TWO THOUSAND
Sydney culture guide Two Thousand are taking Golden Age pre-Y2K, pre-Wikileaks, and pre-Reddit AMAs with a special screening of Hackers. Hackers follows Dade aka 'Zero Cool' aka 'Crash Override' (Jonny Lee Miller) who is on a mission with his group of fellow neoprene wearing, chain-smoking, tech-heads (Angelina Jolie, Matthew Lillard, Jesse Bradford) to take down a serious virus called 'Da Vinci'. Come for the incredibly intense '90s rave fashions (including Jolie's penchant for Quiksilver Rashies) and stay for the Boiler Room-esque soundtrack. Hack the planet!
Wednesday 13 Jan, 8.30pm
SYDNEY FESTIVAL – ARTHUR RUSSELL
To coincide with Sydney Festival's restaging of the original 1975 concert Arthur Russell's Instrumentals, there's no better time to revisit the warm and authentic documentary Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell. Just as much for fans as it is for newcomers, Wild Combination takes viewers on a journey though the (tragically short) life of the prolific musical polymath, whose life's work inspired such musicians as David Byrne, James Murphy and Sufjan Stevens.
Friday 15 Jan, 6.30pm
COMING UP AT GOLDEN AGE
Wed 6th Jan: 6pm – Tangerine; 8.30pm – Red Obsession presented by Handpicked Wines
Thurs 7th Jan: 6pm – Knight of Cups; 9pm – Backyard
Fri 8th Jan: 6.30pm – Tehran Taxi; 9pm – The Lobster
Sat 9th Jan: 6pm – Easy Rider; 8.30pm – Thelma & Louise
Sun 10th Jan: 3pm – Badlands; 5.30pm – Tehran Taxi; 8pm – Mavis!
Wed 13th Jan: 6pm – Knight of Cups; 8.30pm – Hackers presented by Two Thousand
Thurs 14th Jan: 6pm – Tehran Taxi; 8.30pm – Cemetery of Splendour
Fri 15th Jan: 6.30pm – Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell; 9pm – The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Sat 16th Jan: 6pm – Ghostbusters; 8.30pm – Ghostbusters II
Sun 17th Jan: 3pm – Moonrise Kingdom; 5.30pm – Cemetery of Splendour; 8pm – The Lobster |
