Outsiders in Australian Cinema Film Series

Larrikins, oddballs and loose cannons star in the AGNSW’s latest series of free screenings

First published on 23 Apr 2012. Updated on 25 Jun 2012.

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In the absence of an official cinematèque in Sydney, it’s a good thing the AGNSW continues to schedule fantastic programmes of free films every Wednesday and Sunday.

The latest, Outsiders in Australian Film, is a series inspired by the Australian Art Open Weekend (held on May 12-13 at the gallery). The concept is movies about marginalised people, but as always the films are selected for quality – you’re not watching out of a sense of obligation, but to be entertained.

The series kicks off on May 12 with a trio of great indigenous shorts: Tracey Moffatt’s legenday Night Cries, Ivan Sen’s thriller Wind and Darlene Johnson’s supernatural Crocodile Dreaming, with David Gulpilil and Tom E Lewis.

Time Out is especially excited by the chance to see obscure works by great Australian director Gillian Armstrong. Satdee Night is a groundbreaking short, made by Armstrong in 1973 while still at film school, about a gay man’s night out. Bingo, Bridesmaids and Braces (1988) is Armstrong’s third in a series of docs following three women at different stages of their lives.

Noni Hazlehurst stars in Glenda Hambly’s Fran (1985), a powerful story of a Perth mother doing it tough. Ray Argall’s Return Home (1991) is an underrated classic about brothers reuniting in a seaside community in Adelaide. And Jane Campion’s Sweetie (1989) might just be her masterpiece. A gothic comedy about two neurotic sisters, the film has a superb, off-kilter visual style.

We’re curious to see Rolf de Heer’s Dingo (1991) – jazz great Miles Davis plays a trumpeter who has an unlikely encounter with a kid in Western Australia that changes both their lives. But we are dying to watch Shirley Barrett’s 1987 Cherith – a black comedy short about growing up with Christian fundamentalists, screening with Mark Lewis’s oddball favourite Cane Toads: An Unnatural History.

The series winds up with a screening of all-time crime classic Animal Kingdom. Any chance to see David Michôd’s Oscar-nominated masterpiece on the big screen is one not to be missed.

Add these dates to your diary ASAP:

Crocodile Dreaming (2006) + Night Cries (1990) + Wind (1999) Sat May 12, 2pm

Dingo (1991) Sun May 13, 2pm

Cherith + Cane Toads: An Unnatural History (1987) Wed May 16, 2pm, 7.15pm; Sun May 20, 2pm

Bingo, Bridesmaids and Braces (1988) Wed May 23, noon, & Sun May 27, noon

Satdee Night (1973) + Love Letters from Teralba Road (1977) Wed May 23, 2pm, 7.15; Sun May 27, 2pm

Sweetie (1989) Wed May 30, 2pm, 7.15pm; Sun Jun 3, 2pm

Fran (1985) Wed Jun 6, 2pm, 7.15pm; Sun Jun 10, 2pm

Return Home (1990) Wed Jun 13, 2pm, 7.15pm; Sun Jun 17, 3pm

Animal Kingdom (2010) Wed Jun 20 2pm, 7.15pm; Sun Jun 24, 2pm

Words by Nick Dent |

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