A Programme of National Museum Cinémathèque
Co-presented by the National Museum of Singapore and the Singapore Film Society

Jun 10, Tue, 7.30pm

Gallery Theatre
National Museum of Singapore
93 Stamford Road

Tickets: $8 / $6.40 concession
(Free admission for Singapore Film Society members)

For programme details and booking, please visit www.nationalmuseum.sg.
General enquiries: (65) 6332 3659 / (65) 6332 5642

Director: Peter Weir
1975 / Australia / 115 min / 35mm / PG

"An elegant, mystical film... a marvellous blend of charm and suspense" Daily Mail

A film that spearheaded the Australian New Wave in the 1970s, Peter Weir's lyrical and haunting masterpiece remains as ineffable as the unanswerable mystery at its core. Based on the book of the same name by Australian author Joan Lindsay, the film tells the story of a group of girls who vanished without a trace while on expedition to an ancient volcanic outcropping called Hanging Rock on St. Valentine's Day in 1900.

Hypnotic and evocative, the film brilliantly captured the suffocating atmosphere of a strict boarding school, its simmering and suppressed sexuality, as well as the primal and unexplainable forces of the landscape. Like Michelangelo Antonioni's L'Avventura (1960) and Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon (1950), the mystery is open to numerous interpretations - both rational and illusory - and its allegorical overtones make it seem almost like a parable.

A testament to its enduring popularity and influence, every year the film is screened after twilight at the picnic grounds of Hanging Rock on St. Valentine's Day, and echoes of it can be found in films as diverse as The Blair Witch Project (1999) and The Virgin Suicides (1999).

A post screening discussion of the film will be led by David Stratton, a film critic for The Australian and lecturer at the University of Sydney. David is a former Director of the Sydney Film Festival, and has served as President of the International Critics Jury for the Cannes and Venice Film Festivals.

Post-screening discussion supported by the Australian High Commission

About World Cinema Series

World Cinema Series is a monthly screening of works by the boldest and most inventive auteurs in the history of cinema. From the early silent era to underground films, and new wave film movements around the world, this is a showcase of some of the greatest movie mavericks and artists.

World Cinema Series is shown every second Tuesday of the month at the National Museum of Singapore.