Hear My Eyes: 'Wake in Fright'

Overview

Think about Broken Hill and movies, and one of three films likely comes to mind. Mad Max 2 is one of them. The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is another. Wake in Fright should be the third. Before road warriors and drag queens helped bring the outback city to the big screen, this stone-cold classic got there first. It was back in 1971 that the iconic Australian page-to-screen thriller turned the remote patch of New South Wales — well, the fictional Bundanyabba in the narrative — into a hotbed of small-town small-mindedness, toxic masculinity and a dim view of outsiders.

If you've never thought that ochre soil as far as the eye can see could be a vision of claustrophobia, then you haven't seen this, which sits on Canadian director Ted Kotcheff's extremely diverse resume alongside everything from First Blood to Weekend at Bernies. Here's your next change to redress that: a Hear My Eyes session at the 2024 Melbourne International Film Festival, where the movie-and-music series will give Wake in Fright a new soundtrack.

For Hear My Eyes first-timers — so, those who've missed Hellraiser, Good Time, Pan's Labyrinth, Chopper, Two Hands, Drive, Girlhood and Suspiria sessions in the past, to name a few prior shows — the event brings a must-see flick back to the big screen accompanied by a live, all-new and completely original score that's played while film lovers sit, watch and listen. Doing the musical honours for Wake in Fright is Surprise Chef, who'll be playing to a freshly unveiled 4K restoration of the feature.

Hitting up Hamer Hall at Arts Centre Melbourne on Friday, August 16, the MIFF Hear My Eyes screening narks the world-premiere of the 4K version of the film. Whether they pop up as part of festivals or on their own — and no matter the movie, too — these events are always popular, so getting tickets quickly is recommended.