Screening 1 - Friday 4 May at 7:30 pm

FIRST SESSION

The Story of the Kelly Gang

Australia, 1906, b/w, 17 min., Drama, silent.

Joan Hunt, a descendant of Frank Cullenane, thought to be one of the bushranger actors, will open the Festival.

Musical accompaniment from 7:15 pm, with Martin Scuffins on fiddle and Tahlia Barrett on flute.

Filmed in Victoria, first screened in Melbourne in December 1906, and billed as 'the world's longest film', this film had been lost until early in the 1970s when a restoration began. Now the National Film and Sound Archive has restored 17 minutes of the original almost one hour film. Print courtesy of the National Film and Sound Archive.

Hunt Angels

Australia, 2006, 85 mins, Documentary/Drama, Rating: M
Dir: Alec Morgan

We are given a whirlwind account of the life of Australian filmmaker and con man Rupert Kathner who took on the big guns of the film industry in the 1930s and lost.

Visually, the largely monochromatic film is a pleasure to behold as the actors walk through photographs and digitally composed backdrops and interact with archival materials. The techique of animating photos, pioneered by the director, breathes life into this forgotten, fabulous story.

- Jim Schembri, The Age

LATE NIGHT SESSION at 10:15 pm

Suburban Mayhem

Australia, 2006, 95 min, Comedy/Drama, Rating: MA 15+
Dir: Paul Goldman

Katrina Skinner, a single mum, lives in a world of petty crime. A master manipulator of men, she lives at home with her father and will stop at nothing to get what she wants - even murder ...

This anarchic black comedy is one of the best, if not the best Australian film of the year. You have to give credit to director and cast. They are all just superb, but Emily Barclay is simply mesmerising as the demon Cat.

- Margaret Pomeranz, At the Movies

Screening 2 - Saturday 5 May at 9.15am

Tsotsi

South Africa, 2005, 95 min, Drama, Rating: M
Dir: Gavin Hood. Based on the book by Athol Fugard

The stark inequalities and brutal realities of modern South Africa are laid bare in this searing tale of tragedy and redemption set in the sprawl of a black townnship.

Tsotsi maens thug and it's the nickname of a young hoodlum. Following an unexpected change in his circumstances, his eyes open to the brutalities of his life.

The acting is excellent and the central performance by Presley Chweneyagae is simply mesmerising.

- Michael Sainsbury, The Australian

Screening 3 - Saturday 5 May at 11.15am

Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles

China, 2006, 105 min, Drama, Rating: ??
Dir: Zhang Yimou

In an attempt to reconcile with his seriously ill son, an ageing Japanese fisherman (Ken Takakura) sets off to film a famous song from Chinese opera, titled "Riding alone for a thousand miles". Numerous obstacles confront him on his travels.

Zheng's gently affecting and occasionally very funny film revolves entirely around his character's discovery of ways of communicating. It strikes an especially optimistic note, celebrating how the distances between people can be bridged with goodwill and a little ingenuity.

- Tom Ryan, The Age

Screening 4 - Saturday 5 May at 4.00pm

Hidden

France, 2005, 112 min, Drama, Rating: M
Dir: Michael Haneke

Daniel Auteuil and Juliette Binoche play a well off Paris couple who find themselves under surveillance by persons unknown. The real and symbolic fortresses that they've built around themselves are shattered as the film points to the ways in which the personal is always deeply political. The result is an eloquent and deeply disturbing political thriller, and very much a story for our times.

- Tom Ryan, Preview

Screening 5 - Saturday 5 May at 8.00pm

The New World

USA, 2005, 135 min, Drama, Rating: M
Dir: Terence Malick

A profound achievement of directorial vision, this rapturously romantic and haunting film imagines how two civilisations met and began to communicate through the story of Pochohontas (beautifully played by Q'Orianka Kilcher).

Malick forges moments of staggering emotional power: moments of greatness, of incalculable historical importance and tragedy. Also stars Colin Farrell and Christian Bale.

- ACMI Progam notes