A Roman Polanski Film Retrospective Is Touring Australia

The Australian Centre for the Moving Image has announced its latest filmmaker retrospective — and in good news for cinephiles living in other cities, it won't just be screening at ACMI or within Melbourne. Setting their sights on the movie classics crafted by Roman Polanski, they've teamed up with Palace Cinemas to take the eleven-film lineup to Canberra, Sydney and Brisbane too, with the program travelling around the country in November and December.

ROMAN: 10 X Polanski will feature ten of the Franco-Polish director's features, ranging from his Polish New Wave debut, Knife in the Water, to his 2010 political thriller, The Ghost Writer. In between, the showcase will also give audiences a chance to see masterpieces such as the film noir-infused Chinatown and supernatural horror Rosemary's Baby on the big screen, which is no mean feat. Plus, it'll step through the British-made likes of Repulsion and Cul-de-sac, as well as the European-set The Tenant, Frantic and Bitter Moon — and present his co-starring role, alongside his late second wife Sharon Tate, in undead spoof The Fearless Vampire Killers.

As for that eleventh title we mentioned, it comes in the form of Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, which is clearly the retrospective's way of addressing the director's infamy beyond his helming career. Any celebration of Polanski's work can't ignore his well-publicised flight from the United States in 1978 after being charged with sexually assaulting a minor, aka the main topic of Marina Zenovich's 2008 documentary. Polanski has still worked steadily and even won an Oscar for 2002's The Pianist in the nearly four decades since; however championing his filmmaking prowess is bound to cause some discomfort, even if the touring season does try to put the movies, rather than the man behind them, front and centre.

ROMAN: 10 X Polanski screens at ACMI in Melbourne from November 5 to 20, Palace Electric in Canberra from November 24 to 30, the Chauvel Cinema in Sydney from December 1 to 7, and Palace Centro in Brisbane from December 1 to 7. For more information, visit the ACMI and Palace websites.