Inside the Open Air outdoor cinema program

What can people expect in this year’s Open Air outdoor cinema program, Ben?

This year’s film program is a wonderfully eclectic mix of genres and style that will hopefully introduce people to some bonafide classics, and inspire a new appreciation for these films among film-lovers.

From 2–5 February, we have our In Defence of Satire series that showcases a collection of films that speak to what is happening in our current political, media, music and film landscapes.

Then, from 16–20 February, we move onto our Silent Cinema with Live Scores program, featuring a variety of classic Australian and international silent films with contemporary original scores performed live by ensembles of musicians (and the scores’ composers) and local DJs.

What inspired your programming this year?

For those of us caught in the is-it-real-or-isn’t-it spiral of the current global news cycle, where the lines between satire and reality seem rather blurred, I wanted to reflect on the form of satire in film. In Defence of Satire showcases some truly great films from the final four decades of the twentieth century, that had a prophetic view of pop and political culture, that I think is worth looking at with a modern lens.

What has changed and what hasn’t? How do these films stand up? How has what we considered satire changed? And how does satire work to make us see power structures differently?

As for our Silent Cinema with Live Scores series, this has been a film and live music programming collaboration that we’ve presented as part of our summer offering for a number of years. This year, the team wanted to experiment with introducing DJ-driven electronic and hybrid live cinema scoring, alongside scores written by bands and contemporary musician-composer collaborations.

To that end, working with the artists, we selected films from a range of genres that invite diverse musical interpretation – such as the Australian classic For the Term of His Modern life (1927), Jean Epstein’s French gothic horror The Fall of the House of Usher (1928) and the Chinese film, The Goddess (1934).

What are you most excited about in the program?

Everything!

I’m excited about getting to turn it up to 11 in This is Spinal Tap (1984); seeing Howard Beale (played by Peter Finch) yelling ‘I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore’ in Network (1976); seeing Ken Adam’s darkly futuristic production design and Peter Sellars comedic genius in Dr Strangelove (1964); Buster Keaton’s incredible physical comedy in The General (1926); and the heartbreaking story of social injustice in The Goddess’ (1934), with live score by guzheng player Mindy Meng Wang and legendary German-Australian film composer Burkhard Dallwitz (who won the Golden Globe for Best Original Score for The Truman Show in 1998).

What’s the dark horse of the program? 

My dark horse is For The Term of His Natural Life (1927).

The film has been newly restored by the National Film and Sound Archive and the reconstructed print of the film was only released last year. At the time of release in 1927, For The Term of His Natural Life was the most expensive film made in Australia and is a epic tale of love, rivalry, freedom and redemption.

Along with a hybrid score by Melbourne-based DJ, Lori, I believe it’s going to be an incredible night.

Anything else you think we should watch out for as part of the program?

There are too many to choose from, but I would narrow it down to The Player (1992) and The General (1926).

The opening scene of The Player is a groundbreaking one-take scene, lasting for eight minutes, set on a movie studio lot, that not only sets the tone of the film, but it is a showcase of bravura filmmaking that’s rarely seen. With the recent success of the Apple TV show The Studio, it is a great opportunity to see one of the films that inspired it.

The 100th Anniversary of Buster Keaton’s The General (1926), is also sure to be a really popular one. With a great bluegrass score by local silent cinema-scoring legends, Blue Grassy Knoll, you really can’t miss the iconic train sequence from the film – which involved a real-life train being driven across a burning bridge before collapsing into a river. The film showcases Keaton’s renowned physical comedy prowess, and has influenced so many films, including mostly recently, Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning.

Open Air at the Square is on all throughout February. Check out the full Open Air at the Square outdoor cinema program.