The Directors' Cuts

Overview

Sometimes, when a movie hits cinemas, it doesn't always play out exactly as the person behind it had hoped. The flick you're watching mightn't match the filmmaker's vision for a hefty number of reasons — but that's where director's cuts come in.

We live in an age where a filmmaker can be replaced, have someone else take over, fans can complain about the finished product and the original director can then step back in and make a new four-hour version — see: the upcoming new version of Justice League — so of course we also live in a world where film festivals can celebrate these kinds of revised flicks. That's what The Directors' Cuts is all about, with Dendy Newtown showing a heap of familiar titles, but in iterations you mightn't have seen before.

Blade Runner's director's cut is one of the most famous, and it's on the bill. 2o19's Apocalypse Now: Final Cut falls into both categories, too. You can also check out 2020's The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone, longer versions of the vastly dissimilar Midsommar and Lion, plus The Exorcist, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Blood Simple, The Wicker Man, and both Alien and Aliens.

The Directors' Cuts runs from Friday, February 26–Wednesday, March 17, with different films screening at different dates and times — so check out the full rundown for session details.