Wednesday 2 February & Sunday 6 February 2005
The bitter tears of Petra von Kant
Dir: Rainer Werner Fassbinder 1972
124 mins 16mm Colour Rated MA15+
Eva Mattes, Gisela Fackeldy
German with English subtitles

Making extended use of long, single camera shots and deep focus, this uncompromising drama is a film version of one of Fassbinder’s own plays. The action takes place entirely within the confines of fashion designer, Petra von Kant’s apartment. Imprisoned within this flowery, ornate set, three women act out a classical tragedy that explores the erotics of cruelty and the manipulation of sexual power.

Wednesday 9 February & Sunday 13 February 2005
The damned
Dir: Luchino Visconti 1969
155 mins 35mm Colour Rated M15+
Dirk Bogarde, Ingrid Thulin

Dark, grotesque tale of a powerful German family’s struggle to maintain control of its industrial empire at the beginning of the Nazi period. Chiaroscuro images, often accented with dazzling light effects, “paint” the film with the morbid colours of the Essenbeck family’s doomed predicament.

Wednesday 16 February & Sunday 20 February 2005
The magician
Dir: Ingmar Bergman 1959
102 mins 16mm B&W Rated PG
Max von Sydow, Ingrid Thulin
Swedish with English subtitles

If Vogler’s Magnetic Health Theatre comes to town, there’s bound to be a spectacle. But reports of supernatural disturbances at previous performances cause a local police chief and a sceptical scientist to request a preview before allowing Vogler’s show into their village. A dark and sombre parable exploring confrontation between science and the supernatural.

Wednesday 23 February & Sunday 27 February 2005
Aguirre: the wrath of God
Dir: Werner Herzog 1972
94 mins 16mm Colour Rated PG
Klaus Kinski, Ruy Guerra, Del Negro
German with English subtitles

An hypnotic epic of megalomania and delusional madness. Klaus Kinski plays a Spanish conquistador who leads an expedition on a quest for the lost city of El Dorado. In his lust for gold, power and fame he travels beyond the reality of the South American wilds into the realms of hallucination.

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Image: The damned 1969, couresty Roadshow.