Throughout his career, James Gleeson has remained unwaveringly committed to Surrealism. The central themes of his work find an echo in this collection of feature films and documentaries: films that reveal the surprising nature of beauty, the inner workings of the body and mind and the links between desire and revulsion. Like Gleeson, these filmmakers explore scenarios and ideas emanating from the darkest depths of the imagination.

• Wednesday, 30 April 2003
  Sunday, 4 May 2003
  'Madame Sosostris' by James Gleeson and Robert Klippel 1979 Dir. David Muir, 16mm, 10 min.
  Gleeson and Klippel give an absorbing description of this collaborative work inspired by the character of Madame Sosostris from T.S. Eliot's poem "The Waste Land".
  Un Chien Andalou (An Analusian Dog) 1929 Dir. Luis Buñuel & Salvador Dalí, b&w, 16mm, 17 min.
  English subtitles.
  This famous, early surrealist film was seen by artist James Gleeson when he was living and working in London in 1948.
  Le Pink Grapefruit 1976 Dir. Lawrence Halprin, 16mm, 27 min.
  Environmental designer, Lawrence Halprin, commissioned to design the Dalî museum in Cleveland, Ohio, is invited by Salvador Dalí (1904-1989) to his home in Spain. Halprin gathers information and ideas, and documents the experience with this film.
   
• Wednesday, 7 May 2003
  Sunday, 11 May 2003
  La Belle et la Bête (Beauty and the Beast) 1946 Dir. Jean Cocteau, b&w, 16mm, 90 min.
  Cast: Josette Day, Jean Marais. French with English subtitles
  The tragic love story between beauty and the all-too-human Beast is told by Cocteau with an eerie visual beauty and surrealistic atmosphere that mark it as a genuine cinematic original.
   
• Wednesday, 14 May 2003
  Sunday, 18 May 2003
  Orphée 1949 Dir. Jean Cocteau, b&w, 35mm, 95 min.
  Cast: Jean Marais, François Perrier, Maria Casares. French with English subtitles.
  This has been called one of the most remarkable surrealist films ever made, with natural settings distorted by light and shade to suggest the mystical regions of Orpheus' underworld.
   
• Wednesday, 21 May 2003
  Sunday, 25 May 2003
  Alien 1979 Dir. Ridley Scott, 35mm, 117 min.
  Cast: Sigourney Weaver, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt.
  With alien decor and creatures inspired by the designs of surrealist H.R. Giger, Ridley Scott broke new ground with this science fiction/horror. In contrast to the technology-dominated world of the space freighter Nostromo, on which the action is set, the horror of the invading alien lies in its very organic nature and bodily habituations.
   
• Wednesday, 28 May 2003
  Sunday, 1 June 2003
  Mad Max 2 - The Road Warrior 1981 Dir. George Miller, 35mm, 94 min.
  Cast: Mel Gibson, Bruce Spence
  The second of the Mad max trology is set amongst the violence of a post-apocalyptic, outback Australian landscape. A classic conflict exists between civilisation, or what is left of it, and the "barbaric savages". Utilises surreal and fantastique imagery.
   
• Wednesday, 4 June 2003
  Sunday, 8 June 2003
  The Cars that Ate Paris 1974 Dir. Peter Weir, 35mm, 84 min.
  Cast: John Meillon, Terry Camilleri, Chris Haywood
  In Peter Weir's first feature film, a car crashes on an Australian country road near the lonely town of Paris. Arthur survives the crash, but the town he finds himself in is not as innocent as it seems. In the surreal climax a fleet of monstrous vehicles attack the town causing widespread destruction.

Scene from Un Chien Andalou - 30 April, 4 May