Courtesy of FAM, a subsidiary of CQUniversity Mackay Library Society.

Venue:

CQUniversity Mackay Campus
Cook Lecture Theatre

Admission:

Members: $8.00
Non Members: $12.00
KUCOM Members: $10.00

Enquiries: 4940 7536

Email: CQUniversity Library Mackay

Film Suggestions:

We value suggestions for new films from our members. Our policy is that we aim to screen only arthouse/non-commercial films which aren't to be screened at local theatres. For any suggestions, please email the Library.

Me and Orsen Welles

Language: English
Genre: Drama

Starring:Zac Efron, Claire Danes, Christian McKay, Ben Chaplin, Zoe Kazan, Eddie Marsan, Kelly Reilly, James Tupper
Director: Richard Linklater

Set in 1937, this story centers on a high school student (Zac Efron) who, while strolling the streets of New York, happens upon the yet-to-open Mercury Theatre and is noticed by its mercurial founder, Orson Welles. The man lands a bit part in "Julius Caesar," the production that catapulted Welles to the top, and spends the next week learning about life and love. Claire Danes plays Sonja, a fast-talking, highly ambitious assistant to the maestro and British actor Christian McKay plays the monstrously arrogant, manipulative and talented Orson Welles.

This film is beautifully, factually detailed and not to be missed!

 The Kids Are All Right

Language: English

Genre: Comedy/Drama

Director: Lisa Cholodenko

Starring: Annette Benning, Mark Ruffalo, Julienne Moore

It's all about family. The Kids Are All Right combines wonderful comedy with warm-hearted emotion in a vibrant and richly drawn portrait of a modern family. The only difference is, this family has two mums. When their two children decide to seek out their biologoical sperm donor dad the household will never be the same again. Annette Benning was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in this film.

The Reluctant Infidel

Language: English
Genre: Comedy

Director: Josh Appignanesi

Starring: Omid Djalili, Archie Panjabi, Amit Shah, Richard Schiff

Mahmud (Omid Djalili) is a moderate Muslim living in London with his wife (Archie Panjabi) and son Rashid (Amit Shah). The girl that Rashid wants to marry has a stepfather who is a radical imam and he realises that he will need to be more serious about his religion in order to gain approval. Rashid is horrified when he learns that he was adopted, after going through his mother's papers after her death. His real name was Solly Shimshillewitz and he discovers that he needs to learn more about being Jewish instead. A cab driver named Lenny (Richard Schiff) guides him on all matters of Jewish life, including the proper way of saying 'Oy'.

This is an enjoyable comedy!

Sarah's Key

Lanaguage: French
Genre: Drama, Family

Director: Gilles Paquet-Brenner
Starring: Kristen Scott Thomas, Melusine Mayance, Niels Arestrup, Frederic Pierrot, Michael Duchaussoy

American journalist Julia (Kristen Scott Thomas) is married to Bertrand, a Frenchman and they live in Paris. She becomes obsessed with the story of a young Jewish girl named Sarah who lived in the apartment that Bertrand's family acquired in 1942. Sarah's along with her parents Wladyslaw and Rywka Starzynski are rounded up in Paris and deported during the German occupation, leaving four year old Michel hidden in a cupbaord. Sarah tries to give the key to the cupboard to a guard to ensure that her brother's fate is not worse than being deported. The story is an adaptation of a novel by Tatiana De Rosnay and is a compelling family drama with a superb performance by Kristen Scott Thomas.

Agora

Language: English
Genre: Historic Drama

Director: Alejandro Amenabar
Starring: Rachel Weisz, Max Minghella, Oscar Isaac, Rupert Evans, Ashraf Barhorn, Michael Lonsdale, Sammy Samir

Rachel Weisz plays the role of Hypatia, a brilliant scientist, mathematician, astronomer and philosopher in this 4th Century drama set in the city of Alexandria. The action revolves around the city's famous library, a repository for precious scrolls containing the wisdom of the ancient world. Social unrest between new Christians and the Roman pagans culminates in the ransacking of the Library and Hypatia siding with reason over religious zealotry, to the great annoyance of the Christian leaders. The film is a powerful story of politics, religion, loyalty and personal drama, which includes a love triangle involving Hypatia. Spanish director Alejandro Amenabar has made a film that is a fascinating story that transports us to another world.

Trailer .. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbuEhwselE0

How I Ended This Summer

Language: Russian
Genre: Drama

Director: Aleksei Popogrebsky
Starring: Grigory Dobrygin, Sergei Puskepalis

The story of a veteran meterologist Sergei and his student assistant Pavel who are working at a weather station in an isolated area of north-eastern Russia. Their only contact with the outside world is through two-way radio. Although it is summer, it is bitterly cold and while Sergei likes to go fishing and hunting, Pavel prefers to stay in the hut they share, with his iPod and video games. When young, naive Pavel receives news about Sergei's family being involved in an accident, he is at a loss to inform his authoritarian, overbearing boss. The stunning remote landscape is beautifully filmed and the movie was a deserved winner at the Berlin film festival.

My Afternoons With Marguerite

Language: French
Genre: Comedy

Director: Jean Becker
Starring: Gerard Depardieu, Gisele Casadesus, Francois Xavier-Demaison, Calire Maurier, Sophie Guillemin

Germain is a lonely 50 year old man who, in spite of the fact that he has a young and pretty girlfriend, finds it difficult to negotiate his way through life. Humiliated at school and demeaned by his mother because of his large size and the fact that he is semi-illiterate, Germain has spent his life taking care of his market garden. He loves visiting the pigeons in the local park and it is there one day that he meets Marguerite, a sweet, articulate 95 year old woman woman who likes books. When she decides to read to him, Germain's life is transformed through the experience and he begins the process of transforming the lives of those around him. A charming, sentimental and well-acted movie.

The Princess of Montpensier

Language: French (English subtitles)

Genre: Drama/History

Director: Bertrand Tavernier

Starring: Melanie Thierry, Lambert Wilson, Gregoire Leprince-Ringuet

Bertrand Tavernier is in top form with this gripping,superbly mounted drama set against the savage Catholic/Protestant wars that ripped France apart in the 16th century. Based on a novella by Madame de Lafayette, the action centres on the love of Marie de Mezieres for her dashing cousin Henri de Guise, thwarted when her father's political ambitions force her into marriage with the well-connected Philippe de Montpensier, who she has never met. When Philippe is called away to fight, she is left in the care of Count Chabannes, an aging nobleman with a disdain for warfare, and soon becomes exposed to the sexual and political intrigues of court. Written by Palm Springs International Film Festival

Mad Bastards

Language: English

Genre: Drama

Director: Brendan Fletcher

Starring: Dean Daly-Jones, Lucas Yeeda, Alex Lloyd, Douglas Maclae, Kelton Pell

Mad Bastards is an Australian film which tells the journey of TJ (Dean Daly-Jones, an ex-con from Perth, a man with a fiery temper especial when drunk. He is on a journey to see his son Bullet (Lucas Yeeda), whom he has never met before. Bullet lives with his mother, who also has an alcohol problem and displays her fiery temper when drunk. The most stable person in Bullet's life is his grandfather Tex, the local cop who hates the way his grandson is developing. TJ's trip to the Kimberley from Perth leads to encounters with all sorts of folk, many of them musical as with the Pigram family, but along with the music there are life lessons. Mad Bastards has, not coincidentally, the ring of truth about it. It was inspired by oral stories from people in the Kimberley and it's a wake-up call about the damaging nature of alcohol and about the lack of strong, decent male father figures. Bullet's two weeks in the outback with an elder on a boot camp for recalcitrant boys reveals another child beside the often sullen one we see at home. Young LUCAS YEEDA is fabulous as Bullet. Review by Margaret Pomeranz

Mozart's Sister

Language: French

Genre: Drama

Director: Rene Feret

Starring: Marie Feret, Marc Barbe, Delphine Chuillot, David Moreau, Clovis, Fouin Lisa Feret, Julien Feret

In 1763, Leopold Mozart, his wife, Anne-Marie, and their children, Nannerl, and Wolfgang, are touring Europe. Though Leopold isn't always truthful about the actual ages of his children, it seems that, at the age of 11, Wolfgang is already an accomplished violinist and composer; Nannerl, three years older, is equally talented, but her strict, controlling father is convinced that girls cannot play the violin or compose music, so Nannerl is relegated to being her younger brother's accompanist. While staying at an abbey while their coach is repaired, the Mozarts meet three of the daughters of the French King, confined to the abbey on the orders of the Cardinal. Nannerl and Louise, strike up a friendship and Nannerl agrees to take a letter to the man Louise is in love with, a friend of her brother, the Dauphin. Arriving at Versailles, dressed as a boy, because the court is in mourning and women aren't welcome, Nannerl meets the Dauphin, Louis, CLOVIS FOUIN, and there's an instant attraction between them.

This stunningly beautiful film was obviously a labour of love for writer-director Rene Feret, whose daughters play leading roles. Meticulously made, using natural light to exemplary effect - many scenes are lit only by candles - the film quietly and without pressing the point too hard, reveals the impact that society's conservative attitude towards women in the 18th century had on a talented, brilliant young woman who was maybe the equal of her much more famous brother. Review by David Stratton