WELCOME TO OUR NEXT SCREENING
Albert Serra’s
PACIFICTION
(Tourment sur le îles)
(France/Spain/Germany/Portugal | 2022 | 162 mins | M nudity & sexual content)
In co-operation with the Institut Français and the Embassy of France
Wednesday 15 October, 7.00PM, University of Otago’s Castle 1 Lecture Theatre**
(Please do note the early start!)
Arthouse maverick Albert Serra takes us on an unsettling tour of the French Polynesian tropics with this anti-epic tale of political paranoia set against a backdrop of picture postcard sunsets.
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| “Pushing against the grain of grand, exotic storytelling in strangely hypnotic ways, Catalan director Albert Serra has enhanced his singular cinematic résumé with a contemporary thriller echoing Graham Greene and John le Carré—but in a sensual and structural form all of his own unconventional making. Insidious in a tailored white suit and floral dress shirt, Benoît Magimel stars as De Roller, a shady high commissioner… The slow creep of Pacifiction’s commentary on imperial corruption and colonisation is deeply unnerving, while its mixing of prosaic documentary realism with vibrant widescreen visuals and deliberately opaque narrative—alongside occasional flourishes of chilling humour—is nothing short of uncanny” (Tim Wong, New Zealand International Film Festival 2023)
FURTHER REVIEW
"Admirers of Serra’s previous movies The Death of Louis XIV and Liberté will know what an uncompromisingly original and startling film-maker he is. That distinctiveness is certainly on display with this new spectacle, but with intriguing new hints of David Lynch and Nicolas Winding Refn... The setting is Tahiti, part of French Polynesia and thus part of the French republic; its lush coasts and landscapes are evoked with breathtaking flair, yet with something lowering in their beauty, something sinister imposed upon them from above or a haze they have had to generate from below" (Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian).
Finally, watch Albert Serra himself discuss Pacifiction! —View the video
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ABOUT THE DUNEDIN FILM SOCIETY
ADMISSION
Free to members.
TO JOIN
To purchase a Half Season membership:- complete a membership form from our website and pay by online bank transfer (06-0942-0696013-00)
- or join at the door before any screening (cash only)
- you can also join at the OUSA office reception at the University of Otago (cash only)
Alternatively, you can purchase a Three-Film sampler ($25), which can be also be shared to bring two friends to one screening. The sampler does not expire and can be used over multiple years.
Membership includes generous discounts at Rialto Cinemas (from Monday to Friday); and FREE entry to the 2025 screenings of all other affiliated New Zealand Film Societies. Each member is entitled to ONE FREE GUEST ADMISSION to a single screening.
**To get to the Castle 1 Theatre: walk up between the University of Otago’s Arts building (Burns) and Information Services building (Central Library), on Albany Street.
WE WELCOME YOUR FEEDBACK!... on this screening, or any other Dunedin Film Society showing, on dunedinfi...@gmail.com –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– |
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| | Dunedin Film Society
C/- 1 Crewe Street Maryhill Dunedin, Otago 9011
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