21st Century Cinema
To coincide with the major summer exhibition ‘21st Century: Art in the First Decade’ at GoMA, the Gallery’s Australian Cinémathèque presents three major cinema programs.The first is a major program of films that explores visions of the future throughout cinema history. A New Tomorrow: Visions of the Future in Cinema includes science fiction favourites and cult classics, charting alternative scenarios for civilisations to come and extraordinary explorations of new spaces, dimensions and frontiers in cinema.

Film classics such as 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Solaris (1972), ET: The Extra Terrestrial (1982) and The Matrix (1999) will be highlights of a major program of science fiction and related genre cinema exploring visions of the future at the Gallery of Modern Art from December 26 until February 27, 2011.

Queensland Art Gallery Director Tony Ellwood said ‘A New Tomorrow’ was one of three specially curated film programs at GoMA’s Australian Cinémathèque that would accompany the upcoming exhibition ‘21st Century: Art in the First Decade’, a groundbreaking and ambitious survey of international contemporary art since 2000.

‘The 56 films in the program visualise the blurring interface between human and machine, the consequences of environmental and biological change, anxieties over surveillance and the collapse of social orders. They also demonstrate humanity’s capacity to adapt, reinvent itself and find new solutions.

‘In addition to over 80 screenings of feature length and short films, ‘A New Tomorrow’ also includes a film discussion on February 19 exploring questions of ethics, human evolution and destiny in science fiction cinema, and a live audio-visual remix and rescoring of Ridley Scott’s masterpiece Blade Runner (1982) by Berlin-based filmmaker and sound artist Zan Lyons on the final weekend of the program.
‘On Friday 25 and Saturday 26 February Lyons will perform with viola, foot pedals and laptop while simultaneously remixing and reworking Blade Runner. Lyons has completely rewritten the film's electronic score by composer Vangelis and re-edited several scenes with his own visuals to achieve a dark and chaotic spectacle,’ Mr Ellwood said.

‘Blade Runner will also screen in its remastered 2007 “final cut” version with additional and extended scenes and enhanced special effects.
‘The program includes a new restoration of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927), incorporating over 25 minutes of lost footage discovered in Buenos Aires in 2009.

‘Other early screen visions of the future featured in the program include William Cameron Menzies’ Things to Come (1936), Robert Wise’s The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), Byron Haskin’s The War of the Worlds (1953) and La Jetée (1962), the French film which inspired Terry Gilliam’s Twelve Monkeys (1995).

‘On Australia Day, there will be a double bill of Australia’s most famous contribution to the genre, Mad Max (1979) and Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981).

‘Other cult favourites to screen include A Clockwork Orange (1971), Terry Gilliam’s Brazil (1985) and Kinji Fukasaku’s Battle Royale (2000).’

Recent titles to screen in the program will include Alfonso Cuarón’s Children of Men (2006), Neil Blomkamp’s District 9 (2009) and Duncan Jones’ Moon (2009). Also included are a double bill of James Cameron’s The Terminator (1984) and Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) and a focus on Japanese anime titles rarely screened in cinemas: Akira (1999), Ghost in the Shell (1995) and episodes of Astro Boy from 1963 and 1980. The Australian Cinémathèque offers a fully stocked candy bar and visitors can enjoy a drink in the surrounding Internet Meme Project lounge, a curated part of the ‘21st Century’ exhibition which invites interactive exploration of internet viral videos on over 200 screens.

21st Century Cinema
Venue: GoMA
Dates:  26/12/10–27/02/11
Official Site: www.qag.qld.gov.au or www.21cblog.com