Melting Into Air

Overview

It's surrounded by white walls inside and out. It's roomy indoors and catches the river breeze outside. So, when it comes to hosting an exhibition all about the substance that floats around us, Brisbane's Gallery of Modern Art is indeed a particularly apt location. But big summer showcase Air isn't just about paintings, sculptures and installations. Inside GOMA's black box, aka its Australian Cinémathèque, films about the essential element are also gracing the silver screen.

Free movie program Melting Into Air runs until Sunday, April 23, 2023 with a lineup that traces the history of cinema — including old and new titles, plus beloved classics and recent hits, and also plenty of under-loved gems in-between. Here, Studio Ghibli flicks sit alongside sci-fi standouts and David Lynch wonders. That means everything from Porco Rosso, Videodrome and the OG Total Recall (yes, the Arnold Schwarzenegger-starring version) through to The Wizard of Oz, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, and the one and only Blue Velvet.

A guaranteed thrilling time at the cinema: the screenings of 1977's Sorcerer, about trying to transport explosives through tricky jungle terrain to a Colombian village, and an absolute triumph from The Exorcist filmmaker William Friedkin.

The list of highlights goes on because the entire bill is stacked with them, Australia's own Spirits of the Air, Gremlins of the Clouds, Italian masterpiece Il deserto rosso, surreal soccer-star satire Diamantino, psychosexual must-see In the Realm of the Senses, the austere and involving The Turin Horse, and the phenomenal Ethan Hawke-led First Reformed all among them.

Films screen on Wednesday and Friday nights, and Saturday during the day — with two sessions per day.