With the best new films from Germany, this year’s program, presented in collaboration with German Films, showcases festival favourites, works of auteurs as well as the brightest new talent.

The opening selection, BALLOON (Ballon) by Michael ‘Bully’ Herbig is a spectacular and thrilling true story of two ordinary families who extraordinarily escape from East to West Germany in a homemade hot air balloon. Starring Karoline Schuch, David Kross, Friedrich Mücke and Alicia von Rittberg the story of the 1979 flight from the GDR is perfectly timed for the 30th anniversary of the fall of the wall.

Other highlights include:

BAUHAUS SPIRIT: 100 YEARS OF BAUHAUS (Vom Bauen der Zukunft – 100 Jahre Bauhaus). Set against the backdrop of its 100th anniversary this documentary portrays the fascinating history of Walter Gropius’ Bauhaus, one of our century’s most influential architectural schools that still shapes our society today.

100 THINGS (100 Dinge), an hilarious comedy which sees childhood friends Paul (Florian David Fitz) and Toni (Matthias Schweighöfer) make an impossible vow to rid themselves of all possessions for 100 days.

Competing in both San Sebastián and Toronto Film Festivals, THE INNOCENT (Der Unschuldige) by Swiss director Simon Jaquemet is a psychological thriller, which boldly approaches spiritualism with a scepticism that both challenges and embraces people’s capacity to believe.

And straight from competition at the Berlin International Film Festival comes Austrian production THE GROUND BENEATH MY FEET (Der Boden unter den Füßen) in which Valerie Pachner delivers a standout performance as Lola, a workaholic torn between the corporate world and family in writer-director Marie Kreutzer’s pertinent psychological thriller-meets-drama.

The Goethe-Institut will again contribute the popular sidebar “Kino for Kids“, a program especially dedicated to children and teens. Director Sonja Griegoschewski said: “We congratulate our long-term partners Palace Cinemas and German Films on yet another exciting festival. For the Goethe-Institut, it is a fantastic opportunity to reach out to young audiences, schools and families. “Kino for Kids” makes learning German more fun and helps to keep multilingualism alive in Australia. Hopefully the festival will also inspire a new generation of cinema lovers.“

The German Film Festival 2019 will take place nationally from 21 May – 12 June, in the following cities:

German Film Festival 2019
Sydney: 21 May – 9 June 2019, Palace Norton St and Chauvel Cinema
Canberra: 22 May – 9 June 2019, Palace Electric
Melbourne: 23 May – 09 June 2019, Palace Cinema Como, The Kino Cinemas, Palace Balwyn, Palace Brighton Bay, The Astor Theatre
Perth: 28 May – 12 June 2019, Cinema Paradiso
Adelaide: 29 May – 12 June 2019, Palace Nova Eastend Cinemas, Palace Nova Prospect Cinemas
Brisbane: 30 May – 12 June 2019, Palace James St, Palace Barracks
Byron Bay: 29 May – 12 June 2019, Palace Byron Bay
www.germanfilmfestival.com.au

The eagerly-awaited new comedy from Philippe Le Guay, director of The Women On The 6th Floor, NORMANDY NUDE is a warm and wise tale of a proud farming community who must put their grievances aside in order to save their village.

The charming town of Mêle-sur-Sarthe, Normandy, is in crisis. Dairy and livestock prices are plummeting and farmers are being threatened with foreclosure.

Things seem hopeless until famous American photographer Newman (Toby Jones) passes through the village, discovering the perfect backdrop for his next shoot.

Mayor Georges Balbuzard (François Cluzet, The Intouchables) sees a rare opportunity to generate some publicity for their cause, and sets about convincing the townsfolk – the farmers, the butcher, the pharmacist, some 200 in all – to take part in the shoot. But, there’s one catch…

Normandy Nude is in Australian cinemas November 29!
www.palacefilms.com.au/normandynude

Sitting at the heart of the program are our SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS which include: The 2018 winner of Best Original Screenplay at Cannes Film Festival, HAPPY AS LAZZARO, Alice Rohrwacher’s (The Wonders LIFF14) enchanting third film; and from Matteo Garrone, the director of Gomorrah comes DOGMAN – the Cannes Film Festival award-winning tale of a dog-lover in desolate Southern Italy who is driven to terrifying extremes by a violent local bully.

Strong dramas are aplenty with films from much-loved directors featuring famous faces straight from the international circuit. Actress and director Valeria Golino (Rain Man), returns with EUPHORIA, a riveting drama about two brothers forced back into each other’s lives, starring Riccardo Scamarcio (Dalida LIFF17) and Valerio Mastandrea (Perfect Strangers LIFF16 Opening Night). Acclaimed crime-drama BOYS CRY in which two boys who have always existed on the fringes of Rome’s underworld are suddenly pulled into it, is directed by the D’Innocenzo Brothers and co-stars Luca Zingaretti (LIFF guest 2016) as the mafia boss. THE GIRL IN THE FOG, based on the eponymous bestselling novel, is a gripping thriller set amid a close-knit mountain village which follows the enigmatic Detective Vogel (Toni Servillo, Let Yourself Go! LIFF17 Opening Night) as he investigates the sudden disappearance of a young girl.  And a huge hit in Italy, singer Luciano Ligabue’s multi award-winning dramedy based on his album of the same name, MADE IN ITALY, stars Stefano Accorsi (Italian Race LIFF16) and Kasia Smutniak (Perfect Strangers LIFF16 Opening Night). Plus FERRANTE FEVER, a documentary about the mysterious author whose “Neapolitan Quartet” novels have attracted legions of fans worldwide. This in-depth investigation attempts to uncover not the mystery of Elena Ferrante’s identity, but what it is about her Neapolitan novels that have so captivated the world.

Italy is not only known for world-class drama and high-end filmmaking, but also for their love of outrageous comedies! This year we bring you the biggest hit comedies of the last 12 months including, MY BIG GAY ITALIAN WEDDING – based on the hit off-Broadway play, this is a chaotic, heart-warming trip to the altar as a young man travels to his conservative hometown to marry his fiancé. From the writer of Welcome to the North (LIFF12), PUT NONNA IN THE FREEZER stars Fabio De Luigi as the Tax Police’s most incorruptible officer whose world is upended when he falls for an unlikely scammer. Winner of Best Comedy at the Nastri d’Argento awards, LIKE A CAT ON A HIGHWAY sees two parents from different worlds suddenly united by a common cause: to stop their teenage children from dating one another! And LOVE & BULLETS, a 17-time international award-winner including Best Film at the Italian Academy Awards (David di Donatello), this hugely entertaining mafia musical follows a family of schemers whose latest plan is threatened by true love.

This year the Lavazza Italian Film Festival will celebrate the work of renowned and much lauded Turkish-Italian director and scriptwriter FERZAN ÖZPETEK with a special spotlight on his work including: the lush, Naples-set mystery NAPLES IN VEILS in which a medical examiner has a carnal affair with a man who later ends up at her examining table, starring Giovanna Mezzogiorno and Alessandro  (I Was a Dreamer LIFF17); winner of Best Film at the 2003 Italian Academy Awards FACING WINDOWS in which Giovanna Mezzogiorno and Raoul Bova star in this tale of a woman stuck in a failing marriage and the Holocaust survivor she cares for; the 2001 Italian Golden Globe winner IGNORANT FAIRIES which follows a woman who befriends her husband’s lover after she finds out about his affair (starring Margherita Buy and Stefano Accorsi); and LOOSE CANNONS, one of Ferzan Özpetek’s most awarded films, Riccardo Scamarcio stars in this amiable comedy about a son’s journey home to southern Italy, to finally come out to his family.

The Lavazza Italian Film Festival presented by Palace screens in the following locations:
Sydney: 11 Sept  – 7 Oct, Palace Norton Street, Palace Verona, Chauvel Cinemas, Palace Central
Canberra: 12 Sept – 7 Oct, Palace Electric Cinemas
Melbourne: 13 Sept – 7 Oct, Palace Cinema Como, Palace Westgarth, Palace Balwyn, Palace Brighton Bay, Kino Cinemas, The Astor Theatre
Brisbane: 19 Sept – 14 Oct, Palace Barracks and Palace Centro
Adelaide: 19 Sept – 14 Oct, Palace Nova Eastend Cinemas and Palace Nova Prospect Cinemas
Perth: 20 Sept – 10 Oct, Cinema Paradiso, Luna on SX
Hobart: 18 Oct – 24 Oct, The State Cinema
www.italianfilmfestival.com.au

For 16 days in between, the 23rd Brisbane International Film Festival offers cinema lovers the chance to indulge in a program of indie darlings, festival circuit award-winners, cinema masters, Australian, International and World premieres, family favourites and must-see documentaries.

The Festival’s opening night film The Square, fresh from taking out the prestigious Palme D’Or at this year’s 70th anniversary Cannes Film Festival, is one of the most darkly, funny new films on the festival circuit. Written and directed by one of cinemas’ contemporary masters, Ruben Östlund, this scathing black comedy – based loosely on some of Östlund’s own chequered experiences with art installations – takes aim at the self-obsessed and decadent art world, with its hunger for publicity and pretensions towards smug altruism.

Beloved by the critics and featuring a talented cast including Danish actor Claes Bang (The Bridge), Elisabeth Moss (Top of the Lake, The Handmaid’s Tale, Mad Men) and Dominic West (The Affair, The Wire), this highly-anticipated film is a must-see: by turns hilarious and horrifying, clever and surreal.

Opening Night will be at Palace Barracks Cinema on Thursday August 17 at 7pm. Tickets to the Opening Night film and party are $45 (or $40 for Palace Movie Club members). Ticket price includes a drink on arrival, and the after-party includes food, drink and entertainment.

The Go-Betweens: Right Now is a feature documentary directed by Kriv Stenders (Red Dog, Australia Day), which explores the melodramatic saga behind the rise and fall of one of the most artistically successful and influential Australian bands of the last 40 years. Former The Go-Betweens band member Lindy Morrison will be at Closing Night.

Kriv Stenders’ new feature film Australia Day, set in Brisbane and produced by Brisbane’s Hoodlum Entertainment team Nathan Mayfield, Leigh McGrath, Tracey Robertson and Edward Herbert, will also screen at the Festival.

Closing Night is at Palace Centro on Sunday September 3 at 6:30pm.
Ticket price of $40 ($35 Palace Movie Club members) includes after-party drinks, canapes and DJ.

The 23rd Brisbane International Film Festival, 2017 has also announced five special events.

CENTREPIECE GALA AND RETROSPECTIVE
The Centrepiece Gala, on Saturday August 26, is the masterful Russian film Loveless, winner of the Jury Prize at this year’s 70th Cannes Film Festival, directed by acclaimed Golden Globe Winner and Academy Award® nominated Andrey Zvyagintsev. Zvyagintsev uses a bitterly estranged couple’s desperate hunt for their missing son to frame a damning examination of modern Russia’s politics, oppression, corruption, and the culture’s dearth of empathy that is strangling any hope for a happy marriage.

The BIFF Retrospective will showcase Andrey Zvyagintsev’s acclaimed body of work.  This Russian director made an explosive debut entry into the international film scene in 2003 by taking home two Golden Lions at the Venice Film Festival with his first film Return.  BIFF will screen Return as well as The Banishment (Winner Best Actor-Konstantin Lavronenko, 60th Cannes Film Festival, 2007), Elena (Winner Special Jury Prize, Un Certain Regard, 64th Cannes Film Festival, 2011; Winner Best Performance by an Actress  – Nadezhda Markina –  and High Commendation, Achievement in Directing, 5th Asia Pacific Screen Awards, 2011) andLeviathan (Winner Best Screenplay, 67th Cannes Film Festival, 2014; Winner Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film, 2015; Nominated y Academy Awards®, Best Foreign Language Film, 2015; Winner Best Film, 8th Asia Pacific Screen Awards, 2014)

The Centrepiece will be held at Palace Barracks Cinema, Saturday August 26.  5:30pm for vodka and blinis on arrival, with the film to commence at 6.00pm.  Tickets are $30 (Palace Movie Club $26)

SHOWCASES
Four festival Showcases present and celebrate the best in contemporary world cinema with films from Hungary, Vietnam, France and Iran.

The first of the Festival’s four Showcases, on Saturday August 18, is On Body and Soul (Teströl és lélekröl), directed by Hungary’s Ildiko Enyedi, which won the Golden Bear award for best film at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival, 2017, and recently the Sydney Prize at the Sydney Film festival.

Friday August 18 at 6.15pm at Palace Centro Cinema.  Tickets $28 (Palace Movie Club $24) include drink and canapés.

From legendary director Agnès Varda, comes Faces Places (Visages Villages), winner of the Golden Eye Documentary Prize, 70th Cannes Film Festival, 2017. Eighty-nine year old Varda, who was central to the French New Wave film movement, joins creative and intellectual forces with renowned street artist JR (33-years old) to explore the nooks and crannies of rural France in JR’s van travelling through the backroads of France’s beautiful countryside. Spending time with miners, farmers, dock workers, itinerants and residents talking and joking whilst plotting like two naughty school children how to create lasting artworks of their impressions.  This Showcase event is co-presented by the Alliance Française de Brisbane.

Sunday August 20 at 6pm at Palace Centro Cinema.  Tickets $28 (Palace Movie Club $24) include pre-film soiree with wine and cheese tasting.

24 Frames is the final film from the celebrated Iranian master filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami, which had its world premiere at this year’s 70th Cannes Film Festival.  24 Frames is just one of the many invaluable legacies of one of the greatest artists of the modern world. The final work of this incredible auteur was made over three years, with a crew of Iranian technicians. It is more than a movie – it’s a haunting art installation and a moving meditation on nature, life and death.

Wednesday August 23 at 6.15pm at Palace Barracks Cinema. Event includes wine, cheese and Persian treats on arrival and a post-screening discussion about Kiarostami’s work and Iranian cinema with Iran film specialist Anne Demy-Geroe and BIFF Co-Director Maxine Williamson. Tickets $28 (Palace Movie Club $24).

The fourth showcase is the Australian premiere of The Way Station by Vietnamese director and Festival guest Pham Thi Hong Anh.  This haunting, seductive and intense drama won Best Film, Best Actor and Best Cinematography at the 2017:  Asean International Film Festival and Awards. Hong Anh is highly influenced by Hong Kong director Wong Kar-Wai and is one of Vietnam’s leading actresses.  Her sumptuous debut centres around a crumbling, isolated restaurant and the different lives of those who live and work there, all from disparate origins and gathered in this little village by the sea.

Wednesday August 30 at 6pm at Palace Barracks Cinema. Event includes Q&A with the director, Vietnamese finger food and a glass of wine.  Tickets $28 (Palace Movie Club $24).

There is a strong line-up of Australian talent who will be attending BIFF this year, including the World Premiere of the latest indie film to showcase Australians on the world stage, both in front of and behind the camera.  Broken Ghost is a US film helmed by Australian director Richard Gray and penned by Melbourne-based husband-and-wife screenwriting team Abe Pogos and Catherine Hill, who also wrote Gray’s last film, 2014’s Sugar Mountain.

Australia is also represented by Ali’s Wedding, directed by Brisbane-based Jeffrey Walker and winner of the Audience Award Best Feature at the 2017 Sydney Film Festival, Brissie boy Kriv Stender’s Australia Day set in Brisbane and featuring Bryan Brown and Shari Sebbens (The Sapphires), Indie comedy gem That’s Not Me written by Melbourne-filmmaking couple Gregory Erdstein and Alice Foulcher, directed by Erdstein and starring the delightful Foulcher – who studied drama at the Queensland University of Technology –  as twin sisters, the aspiring actor Polly and her successful actor sibling Amy; and the World Premiere of the documentary life is a very strange thing, produced and directed by Les McLaren and Annie Stiven.

Another Australian highlight is Namatjira Project, directed by Sera Davis. Filmmaker and cast members will be Festival guests and the Festival will host an original landscape watercolour exhibition by artists including Lenie Namatjira, Gloria Pannka, Mervyn Rubuntja.  Namatjira Project is just one of the pillars of a multidisciplinary project backing the great artist’s family in their fight for survival, justice, vindication – and to regain what is rightfully theirs.

Some of Australia’s most celebrated actors will also be seen in the Festival program.  Queenslander and Oscar®-winner Geoffrey Rush stars in Stanley Tucci’s Final Portrait, Cate Blanchett turns in an astonishing performance in Manifesto, which started out as a seven-screen gallery exhibition and is now a major feature film, in which she plays 12 utterly different characters;  Toni Collette stars in Alethea Jones’ feel-good comedy farce Fun Mom Dinner; and up-and-coming Australian Danielle Macdonald stars in Patti Cake$, one of the buzz films from this year’s Sundance Film Festival and a guaranteed crowd-pleaser.

The celebration of cinema masters continues with screenings of Polish director Andrzej Wajda’s final film Afterimage, Japanese director Takashi Miike’s 100th film, Blade of the Immortal(Mugen No Junin), Michael Haneke’s Happy End (Official Selection, 70th Cannes Film Festival 2017), Sally Potter’s The Party starring Kristin Scott Thomas, Patricia Clarkson, and Timothy Spall, Song to Song by Terrence Malick with the astonishing cast line-up of Ryan Gosling, Natalie Portman, Michael Fassbender and Rooney Mara as well as a surprising appearance from Patti Smith and Cate Blanchett, and Wonderstruck  (70th Cannes Film Festival, 2017) from Todd Haynes.

Families are welcome at BIFF with a screening of the charming and poignant  Oscar®-nominated animated feature My Life as a Zucchini officially selected to screen at this year’s 70th Cannes Film Festival. There’s also a program of free family animations on every BIFF weekend.

BIFF turns a critical eye to world concerns with the Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize  winner Last Men In Aleppo, directed by Syrian filmmaker Feras Fayyad, and the international premiere of an extraordinary series of short films from emerging Turkish directors, produced by Turkey’s Sabanci Foundation’s ‘short film, long impact’ project Refugee Women – History’s Silent Heroes.  An engaging discussion will follow the screening with a panel of extraordinary women from refugee backgrounds sharing their experiences and journeys.

One of the most compelling, urgent – and beautiful – recent Australian documentaries, Blue, is also a film that Queenslanders will not want to miss.  Directed by Karina Holden, Blue is a call to arms to save the world’s oceans.  This remarkable film rams home some inconvenient truths and asks us to consider the legacy we will leave for future generations. With a study last month putting a price tag of $56 billion on the Great Barrier Reef – more than double the value of a proposed Central Queensland mega-mine, which some say is the biggest threat to the reef in living memory – this film could not be more poignant nor more timely.

Brisbane-based Tibetan composer and musician Tenzin Choegyal will perform music he composed, alongside the legendary Philip Glass, for the The Last Dalai Lama? ahead of the Australian premiere screening of the film. Filmmaker Mickey Lemle has a friendship with His Holiness the Dalai Lama dating back to before the making of his 1991 documentary Compassion In Exile: The Story of The 14th Dalai Lama. In this remarkably intimate new film, Lemle uses his unprecedented access to weave together archival footage with new interviews with the exiled Buddhist leader, touching on the historic confrontation between Tibet and China; his worldwide political, spiritual, and educational influence; and his feelings on aging, dying and reincarnation.

Delve into the program to find many, many more must-see films and events. And stay tuned for Festival guest announcements!
General admission ticket prices $19.50 and $16.00 Palace Movie Club Members, Concessions and Seniors prices apply and a special discounted seniors ticket ($10) for 10.30am & 1pm Weekdays. Discounts available for multi-film passes and group bookings.

Brisbane International Film Festival 2017
17 August – 3 September 2017
Palace Barracks and Palace Centro – Brisbane
www.biff.net.au

The son, Casper (Jakob Oftebro), an artist himself operates in a less obvious manner under a secret identity known as The Ghost (similar to a Banksy type character). To say they clash is an understatement but Casper has a hidden agenda and the joy in discovering this is one of the film’s highlights.

This Man is a real treat for fans of both graffiti art and human stories told without unnecessary gloss and glamour.

The Man is screening around the country this July and August as part of the Scandinavian Film Festival.

The region of Scandinavia – culturally comprised of Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland and Denmark – has produced some of the most iconic films ever made. From the masterpieces of Ingmar Bergman, to the radical, back-to-basics guerrilla-style filmmaking of the Dogme revolution, to the contemporary and transnational diversity of Nordic cinema.

Palace Cinemas is proud to present this festival, created to offer a dedicated focus to an area of screen culture that has for too long been under-represented in Australia. Join us and celebrate the best in Nordic Cinema this July and August with the fourth Volvo Scandinavian Film Festival, exclusive to Palace Cinemas. Go North to the breathtaking coast of Iceland with the 26-time award winner Heartstone, discover the best in contemporary Nordic noir with A Conspiracy of Faith, or laugh out loud with stylish arts world satire The Man.

With 20 films, now’s the time to treat yourself to a hot chocolate, rug up in your winter favourites, and immerse yourself in the iconic style of Nordic cinema.

Scandinavian Film Festival 2017
Sydney – 11 July – 2 August 2017
Melbourne – 13 July – 2 August 2017
Canberra – 18 July – 2 August 2017
Adelaide – 19 July – 30 July 2017
Brisbane – 20 July – 6 August 2017
Perth – 20 July – 2 August 2017
Hobart – 20 July – 26 July 2017
www.scandinavianfilmfestival.com

The region of Scandinavia – culturally comprised of Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland and Denmark – has produced some of the most iconic films ever made. From the masterpieces of Ingmar Bergman, to the radical, back-to-basics guerrilla-style filmmaking of the Dogme revolution, to the contemporary and transnational diversity of Nordic cinema.

Palace Cinemas is proud to present this festival, created to offer a dedicated focus to an area of screen culture that has for too long been under-represented in Australia. Join us and celebrate the best in Nordic Cinema this July and August with the fourth Volvo Scandinavian Film Festival, exclusive to Palace Cinemas. Go North to the breathtaking coast of Iceland with the 26-time award winner Heartstone, discover the best in contemporary Nordic noir with A Conspiracy of Faith,  or laugh out loud with stylish arts world satire The Man.

With 20 films, now’s the time to treat yourself to a hot chocolate, rug up in your winter favourites, and immerse yourself in the iconic style of Nordic cinema.

Scandinavian Film Festival 2017
Sydney – 11 July – 2 August 2017
Melbourne – 13 July – 2 August 2017
Canberra – 18 July – 2 August 2017
Adelaide – 19 July – 30 July 2017
Brisbane – 20 July – 6 August 2017
Perth – 20 July – 2 August 2017
Hobart – 20 July – 26 July 2017
www.scandinavianfilmfestival.com

To enter this great competition just fill in the entry form below. Please note – these tickets are for a specific screening only and can not be exchanged or refunded. The winners will need to be available on Thursday July 6 at 6:30pm in Brisbane to be able to attend this screening at Palace Barracks Cinema, Brisbane.

Competition will be drawn 2 July 2017, winners will be notified by email.

This May, Palace Cinemas once again are bringing the best of American independent film to Australian screens with American Essentials. Twenty films make their Australian premiere—many hot on the heels of their world premieres at A-list festivals around the world—as the three-week festival tours five cities, celebrating the latest indie treasures in narrative feature and documentary, together with newly restored American classics.

Straddling styles from thriller to melodrama, comedy to body horror, symphonic documentary to visual art, American Essentials’ world-class program of thirty-one films curated by Artistic Director Richard Sowada reflects the remarkable breadth of contemporary independent cinema produced in the US.

Richard Sowada: “The 2017 American Essentials program showcases the vitality and incredible talent of some of the most exciting young directors today, such as Kentucker Audley & Albert Birney (Sylvio), Kogonada (Columbus) and Xander Robin (Are We Not Cats). These directors strive to present new perspectives and approaches, while honouring the rich traditions of American storytelling.

“These are bold works by filmmakers who are unquestionably voices we’ll hear well into the future – films that take no prisoners in their analysis of the current political environment, and films that dazzle in their capacity to entertain audiences of all shapes, sizes, tastes and ages.”

Highlights of the fifteen new American Essentials narrative features include Opening Night film,20th Century Women, Oscar-winning director Mike Mills’ moving tale of a mother doing her best to bring up a teenage son starring Annette Bening and Greta Gerwig; Are We Not Cats, a deliciously imaginative debut of romantic magical realism; Walking Out, an incredible wilderness drama; the lean and mean thriller Detour, and Ewan McGregor’s directorial debut, an adaptation of Philip Roth’s sprawling epic American Pastoral.

The line-up of eight new documentaries includes the festival centrepiece, Josh Greenbaum’sBecoming Bond, a laugh-out-loud docu-drama about Australia’s one-time-only Bond, George Lazenby; as well as Kevin Ford, Smriti Keshari and Eric Schlosser’s blistering symphonic political documentary The Bomb, which is composed of footage spanning the early days of atomic bomb development to deep space, and set against a thundering score from electronic outfit The Acid.

Reflecting a growing cinematic interest in literature, music and fine art, this year’s documentary stream includes David Lynch: The Art Life by Jon Nguyen, Rick Barnes, and Olivia Neergaard-Holm; G-Funk, Karam Gill’s star-studded exploration of West Coast hip-hop, featuring interviews with the likes of Snoop Dogg, Dr Dre, Warren G, the late Nate Dogg and Ice Cube; and You Never Had It: An Evening With Bukowski, a visual stream-of-consciousness documentary made up entirely of until recently lost U-matic tapes of writer Charles Bukowski interviewed by journalist Silvia Bizio.

Paying homage to iconic American works and cult rarities, the seven retrospective titles featured in the Masters and Masterpieces section include Andy Warhol’s Bad, David Lynch’sEraserhead and a new 4K restoration of Woody Allen’s Annie Hall, all in their 40th-anniversary year, as well as Postcards From The Edge, Mike Nichols’ 1990 adaptation of the late Carrie Fisher’s autobiography dealing with her struggles with drugs and alcohol in Hollywood, starring Meryl Streep.

Pairing old and new, American Essentials presents two unmissable double bills: Matteo Borgardt’s You Never Had It: An Evening With Bukowski with Barbet Schroeder’s Barfly in its 30th-anniversary screening; and David Lynch: The Art Life screening with a new restoration of Lynch’s 1977 masterpiece, Eraserhead.

American Essentials Film Festival
SYDNEY – Tuesday 9 May to Wednesday 24 May – Palace Verona and Palace Norton Street
MELBOURNE – Thursday 11 May to Wednesday 24 May –  Palace Cinema Como, Palace Westgarth and The Astor Theatre
CANBERRA – Tuesday 16 May to Sunday 28 May – Palace Electric Cinema
BRISBANE – Wednesday 17 May to Sunday 28 May – Palace Centro
ADELAIDE – Thursday 18 May to Sunday 28 May – Palace Nova Cinemas
www.americanessentials.com.au

Competition will be drawn 16 May 2017, winners will be notified by mail.

Experience the world’s greatest sporting passion, Latin American style, with a selection of comedy, drama and documentary in Back Four: Four films about Football.  The Hola Mexico Film Festival will present six of the best from Mexico including the bold bio pic GLORIA, which chronicles the life of the pop diva known as the ‘Mexican Madonna’ and the gripping I PROMISE YOU ANARCHY. Other program highlights include veteran Colombian director and Gabriel Garcia Marquez collaborator Lisandro Duque Naranjo’s THE BRIBE OF HEAVEN. the latest work from cult filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky, ENDLESS POETRY, a phantasmagorical memoir that played in official selection at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, and THE WOMB, Peru’s first bona fide horror film and box office smash hit. Pokemon Go

There are also several films that broach the complexities, humour and eroticism of modern love. From Puerto Rico comes the erotic drama FRAGMENTS OF LOVE; Argentina’s, AMOR ETC. examines the road to ‘grown up’ love, and the tragic and moving SEX LIFE OF PLANTS (Chile) questions whether love is ‘enough’.

Cine Latino Film Festival 2016
Sydney – 9 August, 2016 – 24 August, 2016 – Palace Verona, Palace Norton Street
Adelaide – 11 August, 2016 – 24 August, 2016 – Palace Nova Eastend
Brisbane – 12 August, 2016 – 24 August, 2016 – Palace Barracks
Canberra – 16 August, 2016 – 31 August, 2016 – Palace Electric Cinema
Melbourne – 17 August, 2016 – 31 August, 2016 – alace Westgarth, Palace Cinema Como
www.cinelatinofilmfestival.com.au

Competition will be drawn 11 August 2016, winners will be notified by mail.

Now a much anticipated fixture on the festival calendar, the third Volvo Scandinavian Film Festival presented by Palace will see some of the most exciting and fresh movies from Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Iceland grace Palace Cinema screens around Australia from 5 July.

National Festivals Director Elysia Zeccola Hill who has been running the festivals at Palace Cinemas for the last 18 years said: “Scandinavia has produced some of the most iconic films ever made. This festival screens the hottest talent from the most current crop of films. Over the past 10 days in Cannes I have locked in the final films for this edition and they will premiere on the big screen in Australia less than two months later.”

To whet cinema goers appetite, here is a preview of the 2016 program:
Finland’s official Oscar contender, and winner of Best Film at Finland’s 2016 Jussi Awards, THE FENCER, offers a fictionalised take on a real-life fencing teacher who took a stand against Stalinist oppression in Soviet-era Estonia. Fleeing from the Russian secret police, a young Estonian fencer is forced to return to his homeland, where he becomes a physical education teacher at a local school. However, the past catches up with him as he comes face to face with a difficult choice.

Meanwhile, more in the spirit of recent Nordic fare, tense suspense thriller ABSOLUTION starring the brilliant Laura Birn (2014 Festival guest) tackles the moral questions of guilt and revenge after a hit-and-run accident spirals out of control. Mari Rantasila (2015 Festival film Armi Alive!), took the Best Supporting Actress award for her performance in this film at Finland’s recent Jussi Awards

Also from Finland, OTHER GIRLS (Toiset Tytöt) is a survival story about those moments when life gives you a brutal kick, but you decide to kick back. HARD! Based on true events, it follows 18-year-old girls Jessica, Jenny, Taru and Aino who are on the verge of adulthood as they lose their innocence and, at times, their faith.

From Sweden, the documentary comedy NICE PEOPLE is a real-life “Cool Runnings” which has won over audiences’ hearts worldwide. The predominantly white community of the rural Swedish town of Borlänge are confronted by the influx of Somalis who have fled war. Integrating has proven difficult, so entrepreneur Patrik Andersson decides that all the Swedes and Somalis need is something to talk about together, and so he encourages them to learn Bandy (a cross between ice hockey and soccer). This highly entertaining and touching documentary follows the young Somalis’ long journey from their first hesitant steps on the ice to the very first goal in the history of their country, coached by legendary former bandy player Per Fosshaug and Cia Embretsen, and accompanied and commented on by the well-known Swedish duo of entertainers Fredrik Wikingsson and Filip Hammar.

Winner of the Audience Award at the Guldbagge Awards (Swedish Academy Awards) Staffan Lindberg’s LOVE IS THE DRUG is a comedy about super rich Veronica (played by international star Izabella Scorupco) and Mike, a carpenter, and all that stands between their love, including stepchildren, ex partners and new parents-in-law.

Danish Director Christina Rosendahl makes her mark with her second feature film THE IDEALIST (Idealisten) starring Peter Plaugborg, Søren Malling, Thomas Bo Larsen, Arly Jover and Jens Albinus. Based on real events of the 80s and 90s, THE IDEALIST deals with the conspiracies about Thule airbase during the cold war and a young journalist whistle-blower who tries to reveal the secrets behind a nuclear disaster.

The first feature film of Swedish-born Dane Daniel Dencik, GOLD COAST (Guldkysten) is a story of beauty and brutality, partly based on personal letters and diaries from the Danish botanist Wulff Joseph Wulff. In 1836, the young and visionary botanist (played by 2014 Berlin Film Festival Shooting Star award winner Jakob Oftebro) is sent to Africa by the King of Denmark to establish coffee plantations. What follows is an adventure into unknown territory that will change his young life forever.

Norway heralds Scandinavia’s first disaster movie THE WAVE (Bølgen). Starring Kristoffer Joner, Ane Dahl Torp, Jonas Hoff Oftebro and Fritjof Såheim, the action packed film is based on the real-life event of the 1934 tsunami which hit Norway’s Tafiord as two million cubic metres of rock from a landslide triggered a wave of more than 85 metres high, and left 40 people dead in communities along the shore.

Volvo Scandinavian Film Festival 2016
Sydney: Tues 5 – Wed 27 July Palace Norton Street, Palace Verona
Melbourne: Wed 6 – Wed 27 July Palace Cinema Como, Brighton Bay, Westgarth
Canberra: Tues 12 – Wed 27 July Palace Electric
Brisbane: Wed 13 – Wed 27 July Palace Centro & Barracks
Adelaide: Tues 19 – Wed 27 July Palace Nova Eastend
Hobart: Wed 20 – Wed 27 July State Cinema
Perth: Thu 21 – Wed 3 August Cinema Paradiso
www.scandinavianfilmfestival.com

Competition will be drawn 12 July 2016, winners will be notified by mail.

From Penelope Spheeris to Kelly Reichardt; from Woody Allen to Alex Ross Perry; from Martin Scorsese to Paul Thomas Anderson; from Sofia Coppola to Lynn Shelton, and from John Cassavetes to Richard Linklater, the American independent film community continues to flourish and produce people, ideas, and cinema with a profound impact on the craft internationally.
 

 
Highlights of the festival include Opening Night event screening of Time Out Of Mind, starring Richard Gere on May 19; our New York retrospective ‘Essential New York’, including a screening of Academy Award Winning Midnight Cowboy; our ‘Essential Originals’ chapter with 1st feature films from well-known filmmakers including Sofia Coppola’s The Virgin Suicides; and films featuring some of the biggest names in the industry today including James Franco in Yosemite, Natalie Portman in Jane Got A Gun, Sam Worthington in The Keeping Room and indie darling Sarah Silverman gives a career defining performance in I Smile Back.

Essential Independents: American Cinema, Now
17 May – 8 June – Palace Cinemas around the country

www.essentialindependents.com

Competition will be drawn 20 May 2016, winners will be notified by mail.