Fantastic Fridays

Overview

Earlier in 2020, Sydney became home to a brand new film festival, with Fantastic Film Festival Australia serving up a lineup of out-there genre flicks. Watching weird and wonderful movies on a big screen isn't just a once-a-year activity, though. And, while you might've streamed plenty of mind-benders as this strange year has ticked by, you can now make a Friday night date with a few cinematic curiosities.

Every Friday evening in October, Randwick's Ritz Cinemas is hosting Fantastic Fridays sessions in conjunction with FFFA. Each week, cinephiles can sit down to a different retro or new movie — kicking off with Russian sci-fi film Sputnik, which has been compared to Alien, from 8.30pm on October 2.

At 9pm on October 9, The Batwoman will flicker across the screen, courtesy of a newly restored version of the 1968 Mexican classic about a masked crime-fighter and a mad scientist who is taking the glands of wrestlers. Then, at the same time on October 16, Night of the Bloody Apes will continue in a similar way — this time following a surgeon who transplants the heart of an ape into his unwell son.

Next, at 8.30pm on October 23, comes the Austrian-German film The Trouble with Being Born, which follows an android that looks like a child (and picked up an award at this year's Berlinale). Finally, come 9pm on October 30, Stranger Things' Joe Keery will play a rideshare driver who is desperate to go viral in Spree — and someone sporting an eye-catching head of hair, presumably.

Fantastic Fridays screens at the Ritz Cinemas, Randwick every Friday in October.