The first weekend of June Cinematek celebrates the combat of women, female artists and filmmakers, feminists and their commitment. A weekend focus on female pioneers who have brought new representations of women to the screen, made the camera a weapon for emancipation and have innovated film language: From Les Insoumuses, Carole Roussopoulos & Delphine Seyrig, to Barbara Hammer, and Carolee Schneemann. Four screenings that are remarkably intertwined.

Avant-garde filmmaker Stan Brakhage moved to New York in 1954, a stay which culminated in the seminal film Anticipation of the Night. Brakhage broke with the idea that film should record and tell a story acted out for the camera. Here, there is no on-screen protagonist; the protagonist is the director, the images on screen communicate his subjectivity. To do so, Brakhage developed an array of strategies and techniques, including fluid handheld camera movements, rapid editing, and the use of abstract imagery.

Over a period of more than 60 years now, Arthur and Corinne Cantrill have created a filmic cosmos that is unrivaled in its polymorphic experimental visual and tonal abundance. Their works range from documentaries to experimental films, from multi-screen installations to performances and sound art. Between 1971 and 2000, they also edited and published Cantrill Filmnotes, an international journal about experimental film, video and the applied arts. Their oeuvre explores artists, social movements and particularly Australia’s landscape.