Film Society

Thursday – Term 1

Film Society: 1.00 – 3.30 pm – Auditorium.

Co-ordinators: Rick Thompson and Aileen Harland

DATEFILM
Feb 09

*THE ZOOKEEPER’S WIFE, USA, 2017, 126 mins.
Directed by Niki Caro.
Starring Jessica Chastain and Johan Heldenbergh.
Based on a true happening, The Zookeepers Wife is a compelling WWII drama about the
effort to rescue Jews from the Nazi Holocaust. A remarkable tale of courage and sacrifice, 
in one of the darkest periods of history.

Feb 16

THE SEARCHERS, USA, 1956, 113 mins. 
Directed by John Ford.
With John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles, Ward Bond, Natalie Wood.
A western set in isolated Monument Valley; loner Wayne returns to his family after years away
in the Civil War. He — and they — must deal with many nuanced issues, including relations
with the Indians. Half a century later, the film is regarded as one of the greatest American films
for the elaborately organised relations of characters, space and time. An international classic.

Feb 23*BATTLE OF OKINAWA, Japan, 1971, 139 mins.
Directed by Kihachi Okamoto.
Starring Tatsuya Nakadai and Shin Kishida.
Told from the Japanese perspective, this war drama captures the events of World War11’s
Battle of Okinawa– a massive amphibious assault by US troops that left more than 150,000
Japanese civilians dead. Showcasing the horrors of war, specifically its effects on civilian
morale, Okamoto balances powerful drama with touches of a cynical, dark sense of humour.
Mar 02STORM BOY, Australia, 2019, 99 mins.
Directed by Shaun Seet
Starring Geoffrey Rush and Finn Little.
A pro-ecological tale about a boy’s love for an orphaned pelican and his awakening
to the importance of defending wildlife and protecting nature. The themes of family, friendship,
love, loss and loneliness are universal and rounded out with a message of hope for a better future. 
Mar 09STORM OVER ASIA Soviet Union, 1928, 120 mins.
Directed by Vsevolod Pudovkin.
Starring Valery Inkijnoff.
The last film in Pudovkin’s “crisis of conscience” trilogy {MOTHER and THE END OF
ST. PETERSBURG – earlier Parts 1 & 2}, STORM OVER ASIA is an epic, at once heroic
and ironic, of an exploited Mongolian hunter who eventually rises to rout out the occupying
British force. Pudovkin skilfully employs fade-in and out techniques to subtly indicate a
time lapse or location change.
Mar 16BIG WEDNESDAY, USA, 1978, 120 mins.
Directed by John Milius.
Starring, Jan- Michael Vincent, William Katt and Garey Busey. 
The film depicts an American coming of age. Milius constantly revisits the ocean’s churning
surf as a literal and metaphoric yardstick to underscore the movie’s themes of personal
responsibility, loyalty, and the pressures of unpredictable social change.
Mar 23*PIERROT LE FOU France, 1965, 110 minutes.
Written and directed by Jean-Luc Godard.
With Jean-Paul Belmondo, Anna Karina, English subtitles.
Leading French New Wave director. Ferdinand (Belmondo), bored with his social world,
finds himself in the arms of Anna Karina (herself fleeing a dark past): they flee to the
southern coast — and things do indeed change.
Mar 30BORN YESTERDAY USA, 1950, 102 mins.
Directed by George Cukor.
Starring Judy Holiday and William Holden. A romantic comedy about a crooked
businessman, Broderick Crawford, who hires a newspaper reporter, William Holden,
to educate his brassy girlfriend, played by Judy Holliday in an academy award winning
performance.