About the Blacktown Libraries Film Club
The Film Club seeks to enhance the educational, recreational and cultural experience of city residents through exposure to an eclectic film selection. It involves the screening of a selected film followed by a group discussion on scenes and actors of interest, film anecdotes and trivia, and the historical context of the film just viewed.
Who can attend?
Film Club screenings are intended for mature library members. Please note the film classifications. Further information about film classifications is available here.
What kind of films are shown?
The films chosen have sufficient depth and complexity to support varied interpretations, responses and viewpoints.
All screenings are at 2.00 pm in the Library Function Centre, on the 3rd Saturday of each month, except December & January
Blacktown City Libraries Film Club 2016 program
Calvary
Showing Saturday 20th February 2016 at 2.00pm
Father James (Brendan Gleeson) is a good priest in a picturesque Irish town. When threatened with murder as payback for another priest’s failings, he continues to bravely perform his pastoral duties as troubling undercurrents and characters of the town close in around him in what could be his own personal crucifixion.
A blackly humorous drama from the director of ‘The Guard’.
MA15+ Strong violence, sexual references and coarse language
Screening rights: Roadshow
Robot & Frank
(Seniors’ Week tie-in 14-22 March)
Showing Saturday 19th March 2016 at 2.00pm
Recognised now by critics as a film that ‘slipped through the cracks’ in 2012, this feel-good charmer stars Frank Langella as a retired cat burglar who instead of going to a nursing home is given his own personal robot to assist him in his daily living. At first dismissive of this unwanted gift Frank soon thinks of other devious ways the obedient robot can assist in getting him what he really wants!
M Coarse language
Screening rights: Amalgamated Movies
Under the skin
Showing Saturday 16th April 2016 at 2.00pm
This subtle masterpiece of earth bound science fiction will flood your senses and primal fears as it journeys to the heart of what it is to be human, extra-terrestrial or something in between.
Scarlett Johansson is a voluptuous woman of unknown origin trawling Scottish towns in search of unattached men; luring a succession of lost souls to her otherworldly lair.
MA15+ Strong themes, violence, sex scenes and nudity
Screening rights: Roadshow
Mud
Showing Saturday 21st May 2016 at 2.00pm
This film is a modern take on the world of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer as two boys assist a mysterious fugitive (Matthew McConaughey) they find hiding out on a tree filled island in the middle of the river.
As the outlaw tells them stories of wild adventure and of a love so powerful as to make a man kill; the boys have their idealistic world view excited and then challenged by a growing awareness of damaged people and broken promises.
Praised by critics as a most insightful and complete coming of age story.
M Violence and sexual references
Screening rights: Roadshow
Leviathan
Showing Saturday 18th June 2016 at 2.00pm
The Leviathan is a gargantuan creature of the sea against which the feeble struggles of mortal men have little effect.
In a Russian coastal town, an ordinary man is drawn into an overwhelming struggle with a web of coercion spun by the local mayor who wants his house and land. He enlists the help of a lawyer from Moscow who has incriminating evidence about the Mayor’s past.
Featuring the mesmerising music of Philip Glass and a winner of numerous international prizes.
Spoken in Russian with English subtitles
M Mature themes, coarse language, sexual references, nudity and violence
Screening rights: Roadshow
All about Eve
Showing Saturday 16th July at 2.00pm
This classic 1950 film is said to have one of the best scripts ever written for a Hollywood film.
Bette Davis is an ageing star who sees her career and stage relationships threatened by an ambitious and younger actress.
This is the consummate expose of backstage Broadway: the egos, rivalries and temperamental conspiracies within the theatre world.
PG Adult themes, mild coarse language
Screening rights: Roadshow
The Railway Man
Showing Saturday 20th August 2016 at 2.00pm
In 1942 a prisoner of war is working on the Burma Railway.
Forty years later, still traumatised by his wartime experiences, he (Colin Firth) returns to Thailand where his Japanese torturer and nemesis is now a tour guide at the Death Railway Museum.
Their confrontation will have life changing consequences for both of them.
A feature film based on the best-selling memoir by Eric Lomax that shows the brutality of man and the possibility of redemption and forgiveness.
M Mature themes and violence
Screening rights: Roadshow
Blue Jasmine
Showing Saturday 17th September 2016 at 2.00pm
After everything in her privileged life falls to pieces, a fragile New York socialite (Cate Blanchett) moves to her sister’s modest apartment where she shows a lack of any practical skills necessary to support herself. But she soon meets a smooth talking diplomat and it seems her life is back on the level.
Blanchett gives a mesmerising performance as the troubled heroine of this Woody Allen social drama that is wise, insightful and funny in equal measure.
M Mature themes and coarse language
Screening rights: Roadshow
Love & Mercy
Showing Saturday 15th October 2016 at 2.00pm
In the late 1960s, The Beach Boys prepare to cap their chart success with a concert tour of Japan. Brian Wilson, the creative force of the band, stays behind to work in the studio on the ground breaking ‘Pet Sounds’ album but thanks to drug use begins to lose his grip on reality.
Paul Dano and John Cusack share the acting roles of the young and much older Brian Wilson and his eventual rescue from the oppressive care of his therapist by the love and mercy of Melinda Ledbetter.
M Mature themes and coarse language
Screening rights: Roadshow
Playtime
Showing Saturday 19th November 2016 at 2.00pm
The endearingly awkward Monsieur Hulot takes a trip to Paris and is awed by the maze of modern architecture and puzzled by the technical gadgets that have filled the 1950s French capital. He then falls in with some American tourists touring the capital. Meanwhile a nightclub prepares for its opening night but the restaurant is still under construction…
Come along and share the laughter while watching Jacques Tati’s last great comedy from 1967 in which he once again tries to reconcile the old ways with the confusion of the modern era.
Spoken in French with English subtitles
G For general exhibition
Screening rights: Amalgamated Movies
For further information go to their website
