independent cinema

since nineteen eleven

Note: As our capacity has now increased, we are no longer taking online pre-bookings for films, unless they are one-off screenings or special events. Visit our box office at 30 Hargraves St, Castlemaine, to purchase a ticket. Box office opens 30 minutes prior to each screening.

now playing.

the best from hollywood, and handpicked cinema from around the globe

Apr
28

ROYAL OPERA: MADAMA BUTTERFLY

RUNNING TIME: 2hr28min

STARRING Asmik Grigorian and Hrachuhí Bassénz

When the young geisha, Cio-Cio-San, marries American Naval Officer Pinkerton, she believes she is entering a real, binding marriage for life. Forsaking her religion and community, she learns all too late that for Pinkerton, their marriage is merely an illusion – with tragic consequences.

With a score that includes Butterfly’s aria, 'Un bel dì, vedremo' (‘One fine day’) and the Humming Chorus, Giacomo Puccini’s opera is entrancing and ultimately heart-breaking. Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier’s exquisite production takes inspiration from 19th-century European images of Japan.

Asmik Grigorian and Hrachuhí Bassénz share the role of Cio-Cio-San, with Kevin John Edusei conducting.

TICKETS VIA BOX OFFICE ONLY - $25 FULL / $22 CONC/LOYAL ROYAL MEMBERS

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May
2

SPECIAL EVENT: DAMAGE + Q&A

Join us for a special fundraiser screening of DAMAGE, followed by Q&A with director, Madeleine Blackwell and introduction by Mount Alexander Refugee Support (MARS).

Ali is not a citizen. He drives a taxi using another man’s license and relies on the GPS to negotiate his way around a city he doesn’t know. His passenger, Esther is an old woman who can’t remember where she is going. She is angry because she has been stripped of everything that is familiar to her and she doesn't recognise the world anymore. They travel through the night in search of a vague destination while surveillance cameras mark their journey, coldly redacting the human element, defining who belongs and who does not, who is safe and who is not. What they are left with is their damage – she can’t remember and he can't forget. 

Profits from ticket sales are being donated to Mount Alexander Refugee Support, a group of Mt Alexander Shire residents
wanting to assist a refugee family to settle in our amazing community.
See https://refugeesponsorship.org.au/ for more information about the program.

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Apr
24

THE ZONE OF INTEREST (ENCORE)

RATING: M for Holocaust themes

DURATION: 106mins

DIRECTOR: Jonathan Glazer

LANGUAGE: German and Polish Languages, English subtitles.


Winner of the Grand Prix and FIPRESCI prizes at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Under the Skin director Jonathan Glazer’s hypnotic drama ZONE OF INTEREST follows Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel), the Nazi commandant who designed Auschwitz, and his wife Hedwig (Sandra Hüller) as they strive to build a dream life for their family in a house adjacent to the death camp. Loosely based on the Martin Amis novel, Glazer’s film is an unsettling drama that exposes how family routine and luxury take priority over obvious atrocities.

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Apr
14

PALESTINIAN FILM FESTIVAL

ALL PROFITS WILL BE DONATED TO APAN — AUSTRALIA PALESTINE ADVOCACY NETWORK.

The very best of Palestinian cinema from around the globe, the Palestinian Film Festival Australia presents a unique opportunity to connect with and get to know Palestine and Palestinians through film.

3pm - ZOO (an 8 minute short film)

Wandering through the ‘worst Zoo in the world’, a boy is looking for his football when he encounters a little tiger who follows him on his quest to find a safe place to play.


Followed by ALAM –

Despite being part of a young generation of Palestinians whose families chose to stay and challenge the Israeli state after Al-Nakba, 17-year-old Tamer and his friends are just like any other group of teenage boys. They clumsily search for drugs, flirt with girls, play video games, and slack off at school. However, when an intriguing new student named Maysaa joins their class, Tamer immediately falls for her and is drawn into her political activism.

Together, they join fellow classmates in an operation to covertly raise the Palestinian flag at their school and peacefully disrupt the local celebrations planned for Israel’s Independence Day –
otherwise known to Palestinians as a day of mourning and memorialisation of their ethnic cleansing 70 years prior. Unsure of his own political convictions, Tamer must quickly determine what matters to him and what price he is willing to pay for freedom.

7pm – TOMORROW'S FREEDOM
TOMORROW’S FREEDOM, made over the course of 5 years, gains intimate access to the family of imprisoned Palestinian political leader Marwan Barghouthi. Through the Barghouthi family and a collage of in depth interviews from the people who know Marwan best, Tomorrow’s Freedom takes you on a brutally honest and transformative journey into the heart of the Israel Palestine conflict, speaking to Palestinians and Israelis.

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Apr
12

THE ZONE OF INTEREST (ENCORE)

RATING: M for Holocaust themes

DURATION: 106mins

DIRECTOR: Jonathan Glazer

LANGUAGE: German and Polish Languages, English subtitles.


Winner of the Grand Prix and FIPRESCI prizes at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Under the Skin director Jonathan Glazer’s hypnotic drama ZONE OF INTEREST follows Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel), the Nazi commandant who designed Auschwitz, and his wife Hedwig (Sandra Hüller) as they strive to build a dream life for their family in a house adjacent to the death camp. Loosely based on the Martin Amis novel, Glazer’s film is an unsettling drama that exposes how family routine and luxury take priority over obvious atrocities.

View Event →