Canberra International Film Festival
The Canberra International Film Festival (CIFF) returns for an immersive three days of film classics and neglected gems from the past.
This year’s CIFF explores the work of two contrasting filmmakers: Mitchell Leisen, the maestro of high-energy 1930s Hollywood comedy, and Australian filmmaker Kathryn Millard, presenting two of her recently remastered documentary classics.
Mitchell Leisen
After designing sets and costumes for Cecil B DeMille and others, Mitchell Leisen emerged in the 1930s as a director for major studios. We have selected three of Leisen’s key films that are also some of the best Depression-era comedies to come from Hollywood. Leisen’s work belies the standard trope that Hollywood ignored the Depression and offered only light diversionary entertainment to its audiences.
In these films, we find Leisen returning repeatedly to stories of spirited and independent women who are driven by job insecurity, fear of homelessness and hunger, determined to make the most of any lucky break to survive. The films depict a daily working life where one has to live by one’s wits. Much of the comedy derives from the extreme gaps between the frivolous and extravagant lifestyle of the ultra-wealthy and the daily concerns of the working class.
We are also including Sullivan’s Travels, a Depression-era classic directed by Preston Sturges, who wrote screenplays for some of Mitchell Leisen’s best work.
Kathryn Millard
Kathryn Millard has directed both drama and long-form documentaries. Her dramas include Parklands (1996), with Cate Blanchett in her first film, and the feature Travelling Light (2003), both of which screened widely in festivals and won awards. Her documentaries (two of which are included in CIFF) have also been internationally recognised and much awarded.
Social history and resilience, the arts and psychology are recurring topics in Kathryn’s films. She is currently Emeritus Professor of Screen and Creative Arts at Macquarie University. She lives and works on unceded Gadigal land in Sydney’s inner west.
Program
Remember the Night (1940) - 20 October, 7:30pm
Easy Living (1937) - 21 October, 1:30pm
Light Years (1990) - 21 October, 4:15pm
Midnight (1939) - 21 October, 7:30pm
The Boot Cake (2009) - 22 October, 1:30pm
Sullivan's Travels (1941) - 22 October, 4pm
Tickets
FULL ADULT: $20 + booking fee
ALL CONCESSIONS including Friends of the NFSA: $16 + booking fee
GOLD PASS (all 6 sessions including concessions): $75.00 + booking fee
The Gold Pass is an economical way of gaining admission to any or all films in the festival at a significant saving, averaging only $12.50 per session (plus a single booking fee).
All seating at all sessions is unreserved – no fixed seating.
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