Hot Summer Nights makes a triumphant return, once again transforming the NFSA courtyard into an open-air lounge with cold drinks and live sets. Photo: Monique Lewis.
From twilight courtyard cocktails to neon-drenched cinema, one national institution is gearing up to be Canberra’s ultimate summer refuge.
Whether escaping a scorcher in the blissfully air-conditioned Arc Cinema or settling into a deck chair with a Dom’s Deli graze board and live music drifting on the air, the National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA) has designed a season to keep locals lingering well past sundown.
The program centres on an eclectic, technicolour film retrospective, the triumphant return of courtyard gigs and a healthy dose of Aussie nostalgia.
A cinema season steeped in colour (and shadow)
The flagship film program explores the central theme of colour — but not just in aesthetics, according to NFSA creative producer and programming coordinator Alice Taylor.
“It allows us to look into the cinematic language of colour in film, the way that filmmakers use colour – or sometimes, the lack thereof – to tell their stories,” she says.
Titles range from literal hues – A Clockwork Orange, The Red Shoes, David Lynch’s moody Blue Velvet and classic coming-of-age film Pretty in Pink – to chromatic heavyweights like Tarsem Singh’s lavish The Fall and Krzysztof Kieślowski’s revered Three Colours trilogy.
Stephan Elliott’s vibrantly costumed The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert kicks things off for the monthly Queer Flicks strand, while December marks a quarter century of the ‘Bend and Snap’ with a silver jubilee screening of Legally Blonde.
“Many people may not realise that Legally Blonde has an Australian director, Robert Luketic, so we’re keen to celebrate that,” Alice says.
To balance out this colour saturation, January Sundays belong to shadowy Film Noir classics, launching with John Huston’s The Maltese Falcon. That energy spills into February with a modern Neo-Noir series, culminating in Gaspar Noé’s hypnotic fever dream, Enter the Void (2009).
“Neo Noir is built on the same principles of Film Noir, usually having a detective that’s discovering something. But these are newer films, and some of them have a really strong use of colour. Take Enter the Void, which is set in the neon-saturated streets of Tokyo,” Alice says.
Courtyard sounds meet big-screen icons
Following its runaway success last summer, the Hot Summer Nights series returns every Friday and Saturday evening across January and February. From 6 pm, the courtyard transforms into an open-air lounge with cold drinks and live sets, before audiences head inside at 8 pm for a curated feature.
The musical acts have been deliberately matched to the vibe on screen.
Former Fun Machine frontman Endrey (aka Chris Endrey) makes a rare homecoming from Hungary to warm up the crowd for Prince’s high-voltage Purple Rain. Local swing outfit Rhythm Capital and the Swing Cats dancers set the tempo for 90s favourite Swingers, while rising hip-hop act Saint Kwe primes the room for Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing.
In a standout pairing, acclaimed guzheng virtuoso Mindy Meng Wang joins electronic producer Tim Shiel for an evocative live fusion set ahead of Wong Kar-wai’s ravishing romance, In the Mood for Love.
“We’re really lucky and excited to have that duo perform as part of Hot Summer Nights,” Alice says.
DJs, a pre-Christmas festive debate and a cure for the post-Christmas lull
If you’re looking to ditch the generic pub gathering for your end-of-year gatherings, the Christmas Party Mix (17 to 19 December) serves up group passes for $12.
DJs spin holiday tunes in the courtyard from 6 pm, leading into back-to-back crowd-pleasers at Arc Cinema. There, eternal holiday debate plays out on screen between Love Actually and Die Hard, balanced by Satoshi Kon’s poignant, wintry anime masterpiece Tokyo Godfathers.
Then, to inject some colour into that sleepy, post-Christmas lull between Boxing Day and New Year’s Eve, daily afternoon screenings showcase quintessential Australian storytelling. Along with a Boxing Day showing of the family favourite Red Dog, the program heavily features the NFSA Restores collection — digitally preserved, pristine prints of groundbreaking local cinema.
Catch Rachel Perkins’ vibrant musical Bran Nue Dae, PJ Hogan’s timeless Muriel’s Wedding and First Nations rock-and-roll classic Wrong Side of the Road.
Even outside ticketed events, the archive remains an easy summer drop-in.
“We love seeing people spend their afternoons and evenings in the shady, cool courtyard,” Alice says.
“We’ve got Dom’s deli and bar where they can grab a coffee and a toastie, and there’s lots to see. Installations in the gallery, audiovisual treasures from the archive on display in the Library and really interesting curated TV and film clips on loop in the Mediatheque space. Visitors can also catch free Drop-In Docos every weekend inside the Theatrette.”
Tickets and season schedules are available via the NFSA.
