April 15th: PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK (Peter Weir, 1975)
NOTE: This film will be shown in the high-definition Blu-ray format.
In turn-of-the-century Australia, a girls' school outing leads to a mysterious disappearance and subsequent hysteria.
Picnic At Hanging Rock is a novel written by Joan Lindsay in the late 1960s. Because of the way she formatted her story, Lindsay was asked repeatedly about whether it was based on actual event, and her refusal to confirm or deny helped build a mythology around the events.
Australian cinema was coming out of a decades-long low tide, with funding and training initiated by the federal government. One of its young talents included Peter Weir, whose second feature The Cars That Ate Paris would go on to become a cult classic. He was selected by the producers to direct Picnic.
With a script approved by Lindsay, the production shot on location in Victoria at the actual Hanging Rock formation but the bulk of the material was done in South Australia. Cinematographer Russell Boyd used diffusion to create a dream-like atmosphere for the picnic centerpiece.
Most of the cast was made up of young, untrained actresses from more provincial areas to better represent the characters from the book. The exception included Welsh actress (and Oscar nominee) Rachel Roberts as the stern headmistress, and television actress Anne-Louise Lambert, who became the "face" of the film from a marketing standpoint.
Many of the girls' voices were later dubbed by professional actors. The soundtrack includes the exotic sounds of Romanian pan flute player Gheorge Zamfir (whose work was later featured in films by Sergio Leone and Quentin Tarantino).
The film was a big hit locally and abroad with critics and audiences, and helped put the "Australian New Wave" on the map. Boyd won a BAFTA award for his work. Years later Weir would remove several minutes of scenes for a new director's cut.
Running time is approx. 100 minutes.
In turn-of-the-century Australia, a girls' school outing leads to a mysterious disappearance and subsequent hysteria.
Picnic At Hanging Rock is a novel written by Joan Lindsay in the late 1960s. Because of the way she formatted her story, Lindsay was asked repeatedly about whether it was based on actual event, and her refusal to confirm or deny helped build a mythology around the events.
Australian cinema was coming out of a decades-long low tide, with funding and training initiated by the federal government. One of its young talents included Peter Weir, whose second feature The Cars That Ate Paris would go on to become a cult classic. He was selected by the producers to direct Picnic.
With a script approved by Lindsay, the production shot on location in Victoria at the actual Hanging Rock formation but the bulk of the material was done in South Australia. Cinematographer Russell Boyd used diffusion to create a dream-like atmosphere for the picnic centerpiece.
Most of the cast was made up of young, untrained actresses from more provincial areas to better represent the characters from the book. The exception included Welsh actress (and Oscar nominee) Rachel Roberts as the stern headmistress, and television actress Anne-Louise Lambert, who became the "face" of the film from a marketing standpoint.
Many of the girls' voices were later dubbed by professional actors. The soundtrack includes the exotic sounds of Romanian pan flute player Gheorge Zamfir (whose work was later featured in films by Sergio Leone and Quentin Tarantino).
Running time is approx. 100 minutes.
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