Fairy Tales: Unmissable films in January

Production still from What Do We See When We Look at the Sky? 2021 / Director: Aleksandre Koberidze / Image courtesy: Static Vision

Production still from What Do We See When We Look at the Sky? 2021 / Director: Aleksandre Koberidze / Image courtesy: Static Vision / View full image

‘Fairy Tales Cinema: Truth, Power and Enchantment’ continues to expand our ideas about fairy tales this month with free screenings on Fridays and Sundays.

Screening this week & upcoming

January brings together a selection of films which reflect the far reach of fairy tales. Adapting to different contexts, fairy tales such as ‘Hansel and Gretel’ and the ‘Arabian Nights’ find new resonance in settings such as the Australian outback and a prison in Côte d’Ivoire. Meanwhile directors such as Guy Maddin, Rob Reiner, and Aleksandre Koberidze reconfigure familiar fairy-tale elements to create new stories which range from wild pastiche to a comforting rediscovery of wonder in the everyday.

‘Fairy Tales Cinema’ is presented in conjunction with Brisbane’s Gallery of Modern Art’s (GOMA) blockbuster summer exhibition ‘Fairy Tales’. ‘Fairy Tales’ unfolds across three themed chapters. ‘Into the Woods’ which explores the conventions and characters of traditional fairy tales alongside their contemporary retellings. ‘Through the Looking Glass’ presents newer tales of parallel worlds that are filled with unexpected ideas and paths. ‘Ever After’ brings together classic and current tales to celebrate aspirations, challenge convention and forge new directions.

Travel with us in our weekly series through each room and theme of the ‘Fairy Tales’ exhibition as we introduce you to some of the works while curator Sophie Hopmeier picks five of her unmissable films each month during the program… Here are five films screening in January you won’t want to miss.

RELATED: Journey through the ‘Fairy Tales’ exhibition with our weekly series

#1
Night of the Kings (2020) M

Set in ‘La Maca’, a prison deep in the forest of Côte d’Ivoire, where the prisoners rule, a new inmate must survive the night of the red moon by becoming the new ‘Roman’ or storyteller and enthralling his fellow prisoners until dawn. Drawing on the figure of Scheherazade from ‘Arabian Nights’ as well as West African griot traditions, Night of the Kings effortlessly blends social commentary with folktale.

6.00pm, Friday 5 January 2024

Production still from Night of the Kings 2020 / Director: Philippe Lacôte / Image courtesy: Rialto Distribution

Production still from Night of the Kings 2020 / Director: Philippe Lacôte / Image courtesy: Rialto Distribution / View full image

#2
Careful (1992) M

In a fictional mountain town, wary villagers live in fear of avalanches triggered by the slightest noise, or even strong emotions. In this landscape infused with repression and rules, oedipal frenzies simmer just below the surface. An early masterwork by Guy Maddin, Careful is a rampant and hilarious melodrama, which reflects both the power and pitfalls of cautionary morality.

8.00pm, Friday 12 January 2024
Careful will screen from an imported 35mm print

Production still from Careful 1992 / Director: Guy Maddin / Image courtesy: Guy Maddin

Production still from Careful 1992 / Director: Guy Maddin / Image courtesy: Guy Maddin / View full image

#3
The Princess Bride (1987) PG

This beloved fairy-tale pastiche tells the swashbuckling tale of the farmhand Westley (Cary Elwes) and the princess Buttercup (Robin Wright) who must triumph over giant rodents and a murderous prince with the help of three unlikely kidnappers. Adapted for the screen by William Goldman, the story is framed by a grandfather’s tale read to his sick grandson. This family favourite is sure to delight on the big screen.

8.15pm, Friday 19 January 2024
The Princess Bride will screen from a 35mm print

Production still from The Princess Bride 1987 / Director: Rob Reiner / Image courtesy: Roadshow Entertainment

Production still from The Princess Bride 1987 / Director: Rob Reiner / Image courtesy: Roadshow Entertainment / View full image

#4
What Do We See When We Look at the Sky? (2021) G

In the town of Kutaisi, Lisa (Ani Karseladze and Oliko Barbakadze) and Giorgi (Giorgi Ambroladze and Giorgi Bochorishvili) fall in love at first sight in a chance encounter, but are thwarted by a curse, which magically transforms their appearance, so they cannot recognise each other. This dreamlike contemporary Georgian fairy tale is a gentle and heart-warming reflection on love, and the possibility of magic in the present day.

2.30pm, Sunday 21 January 2024

Production still from What Do We See When We Look at the Sky? 2021 / Director: Aleksandre Koberidze / Image courtesy: Static Vision

Production still from What Do We See When We Look at the Sky? 2021 / Director: Aleksandre Koberidze / Image courtesy: Static Vision / View full image

#5
Walkabout (1971) M

In his hypnotic and scorching masterpiece Walkabout Nicolas Roeg transposes the ‘Hansel and Gretel’ theme of child abandonment to the outback, highlighting colonial anxieties about the Australian landscape, and the cruelty of Indigenous dispossession under the settler state. Following two children (Jenny Agutter and Luc Roeg) who are abandoned by their father in the desert and are helped by an Indigenous youth (David Gulpilil) on his initiatory walkabout, the film’s provocative beauty and horror still prompts meditation on the injustices of contemporary Australian society today.

3.00pm, Friday 26 January 2024
Walkabout will screen from an archival 35mm print.

Production still from Walkabout 1971 / Director: Nicolas Roeg / Image courtesy: Umbrella Entertainment

Production still from Walkabout 1971 / Director: Nicolas Roeg / Image courtesy: Umbrella Entertainment / View full image

View the full program (2 Dec 2023 – 28 Apr 2024)

Alice 1988
Alice in Wonderland 2010
Barbe bleue 2009
Beauty and the Beast 2017
Blancanieves 2012
Blaze 2022
Border 2018
Careful 1992
Cinderella 2015
Cinderella Moon 2010
Claire 2001 Live Music & Film / 11.00am, Sunday 3 March 2024 | Tickets on sale now
Crumbs 2015
Donkey Skin 1970
Dreams 1990
Häxan 1922 Live Music & Film / 6.30pm, Friday 5 April 2024 | Tickets on sale now
Kummatty 1979
La Belle et la Bête 1946
Labyrinth 1986
Mirror Mirror 2012
Night of the Kings 2020
Pan’s Labyrinth 2006
Petite Maman 2021
Picnic at Hanging Rock 1975
The Adventures of Goopy and Bagha 1969
The Adventures of Prince Achmed 1926 Live Music & Film / 11.00am, Sunday 3 December 2023
The Company of Wolves 1984
The Fall 2006
The Juniper Tree 1990
The Lure 2015
The Match Factory Girl 1990
The Night of the Hunter 1955
The Princess Bride 1987
The Tale of Princess Kaguya 2013
The Vanquishing of the Witch Baba Yaga 2014
The White Reindeer 1952
The Wizard of Oz 1939
Three Thousand Years of Longing 2022
Thrilling Bloody Sword 1981
Walkabout 1971
Wanderers of the Desert 1984
What Do We See When We Look at the Sky? 2021
Where the Wild Things Are 2009
Wild at Heart 1990

The ‘Fairy Tales’ exhibition is at Brisbane’s Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA), Australia from 2 December 2023 until 28 April 2024.

‘Fairy Tales Cinema: Truth, Power and Enchantment‘ presented in conjunction with GOMA’s blockbuster summer exhibition screens at the Australian Cinémathèque, GOMA from 2 December 2023 until 28 April 2024.

The major publication ‘Fairy Tales in Art and Film’ available at the QAGOMA Store and online explores how fairy tales have held our fascination for centuries through art and culture.

‘Fairy Tales’ merchandise available at the GOMA exhibition shop or online.

‘Fairy Tales’ merchandise available at the GOMA exhibition shop or online. / View full image

The Australian Cinémathèque
The Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) is the only Australian art gallery with purpose-built facilities dedicated to film and the moving image. The Australian Cinémathèque at GOMA provides an ongoing program of film and video that you’re unlikely to see elsewhere, offering a rich and diverse experience of the moving image, showcasing the work of influential filmmakers and international cinema, rare 35mm prints, recent restorations and silent films with live musical accompaniment by local musicians or on the Gallery’s Wurlitzer organ originally installed in Brisbane’s Regent Theatre in November 1929.

Dr Sophie Hopmeier is ‘Fairy Tales’ Assistant Curator and Assistant Curator, Australian Cinémathèque, QAGOMA

Related Stories

  •
    Read •

    Artists announced for the 11th Asia Pacific Triennial

    Seventy artists, collectives and projects from more than thirty countries (full list of Triennial artists below) will feature in the 11th chapter of the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) flagship exhibition series, ‘The Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art‘, opening on Saturday 30 November 2024. Artists including Dana Awartani (illustrated), Brett Graham (illustrated), D Harding, Mit Jai Inn (illustrated), Kikik Kollektive, Saodat Ismailova, Dawn Ng, Yeung Tong Lung and Haus Yuriyal will continue the Asia Pacific Triennial’s commitment to representing the region’s most dynamic and exciting contemporary art. Dana Awartani Brett Graham Mit Jai Inn The much-anticipated Asia Pacific Triennial has showcased an evolving mix of the most important developments in contemporary art from across Australia, Asia and the Pacific for more than three decades. As the Gallery works towards presenting an exhibition of key works acquired by QAGOMA through the thirty-year Asia Pacific Triennial series at the V&A Museum, London in early 2026, it has reflected closely on the significant cultural impact of the Triennial regionally and globally. Wardha Shabbir As with previous Triennials, the eleventh chapter will be presented throughout both the Queensland Art Gallery (QAG) and Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) and include works produced across vast geographies and cultural contexts, offering audiences a multiplicity of experiences, perspectives and diverse approaches to both contemporary and community-based customary art practices. Kawita Vatanajyankur Developed and researched by QAGOMA’s specialist Asian and Pacific curatorial team, with collaboration from co-curators and interlocutors in the region, this Triennial will feature over 500 artworks including major new commissions by artists Jasmine Togo-Brisby, Kawita Vatanajyankur (illustrated), Trương Công Tùng, Paemanu Contemporary Art Collective, ‘Aunofo Havea Funaki and the Lepamahanga Women’s Group, Mele Kahalepuna Chun and Mai Nguyễn-Long. Rithika Merchant Artists in the exhibition consider knowledge in its many forms, following thematic threads such as care for natural and urban environments, intergenerational experiences of migration and labour, and nuanced approaches to storytelling, materials and technique. For the first time in the series, this Triennial will include artists and works from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Timor-Leste and Uzbekistan. Dawn Ng Among the many highlights in the 11th Asia Pacific Triennial will be: A vibrant multi-part project by Haus Yuriyal, a collective of 28 artists living and working in Jiwaka/Simbu Province, Papua New Guinea, led by Brisbane-based artist Yuriyal Eric Bridgeman. Kuman (fighting shields) paintings, carved tree fern sculptures, embroideries and a range of innovative bilum designs will be shown alongside a video picture house and a lush harvest garden in QAG’s sculpture courtyard. Leading Thai artist Mit Jai Inn’s three-dimensional installation reimagining painting and abstraction in a dramatic interactive environment on the QAG Watermall. With suspended tunnels, cascading curtains and towering scroIls, the work will encourage visitors to enter and explore its maze-like structures. An evocative installation of monumental sculptures and video by Aotearoa New Zealand artist Brett Graham. Occupying the full length of GOMA’s Long Gallery, Tai Moana Tai Tangata will represent the relationship between Taranaki and Tainui Māori and the pact of solidarity they forged during the New Zealand Wars. A large-scale mural by Kikik Kollektive from Iloilo Province in the central Tul-an sang aton kamal-aman (Bones of our elders) will reframe the stories that have formed the history and culture of Iloilo, depicting a sinuous serpent deity associated with the moon alongside imagery of local figures, community traditions, ancient cultivation practices and spiritual beliefs. Standing by the Ruins, a stunning floor-based installation by Dana Awartani (Saudi Arabia/Palestine) combining the artist’s knowledge of Islamic geometry and craft techniques with tropes of Arabic ruin poetry to address war, cultural destruction and healing. A mesmerising new multi-channel video installation by Singaporean artist Dawn Ng, capturing a timelapse of a large sculptural block of frozen pigment melting and disintegrating sublimely representing the ephemerality of time, beauty, destruction, love and loss (illustrated). Innovative portraits of everyday life in Hong Kong by senior painter Yeung Tong Lung, deploying unusual perspectives with an affectionate eye for detail. The paintings range from intimate vignettes to an epic 20-metre, multi-panel panoramic view of the city. Asia Pacific Triennial Cinema Five Asia Pacific Triennial Cinema programs exploring central Asian cinema ‘Children of Independence: The Rise of Central Asian Cinema‘ and futurism on screen ‘Future Visions‘, alongside comprehensive career surveys of prominent film directors Tsai Ming-liang, Kamila Andini, and Ryusuke Hamaguchi and a live music and film event with composer and musician Eiko Ishibashi. Director: Tsai Ming-liang Director: Kamila Andini Director: Ryusuke Hamaguchi The Triennial also includes four projects co-curated to enable a deeper investigation into rarely platformed regions, artworks and cultural contexts: TAMBA, a project co-curated with Sheelasha Rajbhandari and Hit Man Gurung, and featuring artists, activists, and Indigenous communities from Nepal and the surrounding region. It encompasses diverse narratives across video, woodcut prints, textiles, installation, photography, music and poetry. Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago, co-curated with Abraham Ambo Garcia Jr with the assistance of Al-Nezzar Ali and Emi Englis. Recent customary and ceremonial works by Indigenous and Islamic communities will be shown alongside painting, video and sculpture. Highlights include abaca ‘dream weavings’ by the T’boli people, ochre paintings by Talaandig cultural leader Salima Saway Agra’an; and okir (botanic) kite sculptures by Tausug artist Rameer Tawasil, as well as works by Kiri Dalena, Adjani Arumpac, Cian Dayrit and others. An immersive sound and video installation created by Dreamcast Theatre and the KAWAKI women’s collective from The Solomon Islands, co-developed with The Nature Conservancy to highlight KAWAKI’s ongoing relationship to their natural environment and custodianship of the Arnavon Islands. A showcase of customary and innovative weavings by artists from across five of Torba Province’s islands, curated by Dely Roy Nalo. Kim Ah Sam The 11th Asia Pacific Triennial artists Kim Ah Sam Kalkadoon, Kuku Yalanji people. b.1967, Brisbane, Australia / Lives and works in Brisbane (illustrated) ...