We are thrilled to invite Movie Club Members to an exclusive advance preview screening of the Academy Award nominated film EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE [CTC].

"This is a daring film that should be seen. It will be controversial, but then again, so is life." – Vanity Fair

Adapted from the acclaimed bestseller by Jonathan Safran Foer, EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE [CTC] is a story that unfolds from inside the young mind of Oskar Schell, an inventive eleven year-old New Yorker whose discovery of a key in his deceased father’s belongings sets him off on an urgent search across the city for the lock it will open.  A year after his father died in the World Trade Center on what Oskar calls “The Worst Day,” he is determined to keep his vital connection to the man who playfully cajoled him into confronting his wildest fears. Now, as Oskar crosses the five New York boroughs in quest of the missing lock – encountering an eclectic assortment of people who are each survivors in their own way – he begins to uncover unseen links to the father he misses, to the mother who seems so far away from him and to the whole noisy, dangerous, discombobulating world around him.

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Premiere Season of EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE [CTC] commences February 23rd at Palace Balwyn, Dendy Brighton, Kino and Westgarth

We are delighted to invite our Movie Club Members to see the charming comedy drama THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL [PG] at Palace Cinemas from March 10-12.

THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL [PG] tells the story of a group of misfit British pensioners who are enticed to retire to a fabulous hotel in Jaipur, India, where they are promised to live a life of luxury for a bargain price. Upon their arrival, they are dismayed to find that restoration of the once elegant Marigold Hotel has stalled. There is water…sometimes. And electricity…sometimes. The hotel’s eager manager, a young Indian entrepreneur, is quick to tell them that his ambitious renovation is going to turn the place around. Surprisingly, the retirees find themselves settling into this strange new world and creating bonds with each other. What their new life lacks in luxury they come to find is plentiful in adventure, stunning beauty, peace and love.

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The premiere season for THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL [PG]  commences March 22nd at Palace Balwyn, Brighton Bay, Cinema Como, Dendy Brighton, Kino and Westgarth

We are delighted to invite our Golden Club Members to see an advance preview of the warm and romantic comedy LATE BLOOMERS [PG] starring the inestimable Isabella Rossellini and Academy Award winner William Hurt on Valentine's Day at 11am.
Our Movie Club Members will also have the chance to see this delightful film on Valentine's Day at 6.30pm with a complimentary Connoisseur Gourmet Ice Cream to enjoy during the film.

In writer/director Julie Gavras’ delightfully warm and wise romantic comedy, Rossellini and Hurt play a couple whose 30-year marriage is starting to run into trouble.
Hurt is Adam, a London-based architect horrified to find himself the recipient of awards that suggest he’s reached the end of his career, while wife Mary (Rossellini), taken aback by an unexpected health scare, sets a course of radical action in league with her vivacious best friend Charlotte (Joanna Lumley). As Adam & Mary respond to these challenges in completely opposite and unpredictable ways (successfully infuriating each other in the process), their three adult children plot to find ways to keep them together…

With luminous supporting performances from a mix of established and upcoming British acting talent (including Simon Callow, Kate Ashfield and Luke Treadaway), LATE BLOOMERS [PG] is an elegant and engaging portrait of marriage, and the joys & realities of getting on.

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GOLDEN CLUB SCREENING
Date: February 14th, 2012
Time: 11am
Where: Palace Balwyn, Brighton Bay, Cinema Como and Kino Cinemas
Price: Golden Club $6

Palace Balwyn      Brighton Bay

Cinema Como     Kino Cinemas

MOVIE CLUB SCREENING
Date: 14th February, 2012
Time: 6.30pm
Where: Palace Balwyn, Brighton Bay and Cinema Como
Price: $12 Movie Club, $15 General Public
*Includes a complimentary Connoisseur Gourmet Ice Cream.

Palace Balwyn     Brighton Bay     Cinema Como

Premiere season commences February 23rd at Palace Balwyn, Brighton Bay, Cinema Como and Kino Cinemas.

The Festival with that certain ‘je ne sais quoi’ returns to Palace Cinema Como, Brighton Bay, Balwyn, Westgarth and Kino Cinemas from Wednesday 7 March to Sunday 25 March, 2012.

Launching the 2012 Festival will be DECLARATION OF WAR (La guerre est déclarée) - a powerful tale selected as France’s official submission for the 2012 Academy Awards. Based on real-life events, DECLARATION OF WAR is the compelling tale of a young Parisian couple whose carefree existence is suddenly shattered by an unexpected twist of fate. A massive box office success in its native France, this is just one of the fantastic 45 films and documentaries on offer in this year’s line-up.

OPENING NIGHT FILM & PARTY
Melbourne Première of DECLARATION OF WAR followed by the official
Opening Night Gala.
Wednesday 7 March 7pm, Palace Cinema Como.
Members $50 / Non-Members $55

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Download the Programme

The 2012 programme incorporates 9 eclectic sections dedicated to a host of universal themes, certain to entice the ‘bon vivant’ in us all!

 For more details, visit the Festival's official website at: http://www.affrenchfilmfestival.org

LEONARDO LIVE, a preview of the UK's National Gallery landmark exhibition Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan, captured live and broadcast on a delayed basis to movie screens around the world.

This never-before-seen exhibition brings together the largest number of Leonardo’s rare surviving paintings ever assembled in one collection.

Art lovers globally will have the chance to be part of this highly-anticipated gallery opening, the first-ever captured live for global movie theater audiences. The program will be presented by internationally acclaimed art historians and broadcasters Tim Marlow and Mariella Frostrup.

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The limited season of LEONARDO LIVE is showing February 18 and 19 at Cinema Como

In the early summer of 1956, 23 year-old Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne) is determined to make his way in the film business. Gaining employment on the UK set of The Prince And The Showgirl, the film that famously united Sir Laurence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh) and Marilyn Monroe (Michelle Williams), Clark could never anticipate the job that lay ahead of him. When Monroe’s husband Arthur Miller leaves England, the coast is clear for the American star to enjoy some of the pleasures of British life. Upon the publication of Clark's diary forty years later, a single week was missing from the text. This is the incredible true story of that week. Co-starring Emma Watson (Harry Potter series) and Julia Ormand.

"What matters is the performance by Michelle Williams. She evokes so many Marilyn’s, public and private, real and make-believe. We didn't know Monroe, but we believe she must have been something like this."
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

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Commencing February 16th at Palace Balwyn, Brighton Bay, Cinema Como, Kino and Westgarth

Brandon (Michael Fassbender) is a young successful thirty-something living comfortably in his apartment in New York. As a distraction from day-to-day cubicle life, he seduces women, juggling a string of doomed romances and one-night stands.

The tightly controlled rhythm of Brandon’s life begins to collapse, however, when his wayward, unruly sister Sissy (Carey Mulligan) arrives for an unannounced visit. Her disruptive presence in his life propels Brandon further into New York’s dark underbelly as he tries to escape her need for connection and the memories she stands for.

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Now Showing at Palace Brighton Bay and Kino Cinemas

The hotly anticipated new comedy from the creators of The Castle and The Dish, Any Questions for Ben? asks what’s to question when life is perfect.

For 27-year-old Ben (Lawson), life couldn’t be better. A well paid job, friends, parties, girls and nothing to tie him down. But when he’s invited back to his old school to join several other ex-students talking about their personal achievements, something goes wrong. Ben is the only speaker whose accomplishments fail to trigger a question from the school kids. This launches a year of soul-searching and looking for answers in all the wrong places. 

Of course, it’s not easy seeking enlightenment in nightclubs, or on the ski fields of New Zealand, and when you start dating a Russian tennis star things can get really complicated. As the poster boy for a generation desperate to tick every box, Ben begins to suspect that the meaning of life may well reside in the things he’s already doing – and a girl he used to know.

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Now Showing at Palace Balwyn, Dendy Brighton, Kino and Westgarth

Palace Opera & Ballet  in conjunction with CinemaLive presents Opera Australia's Don Giovanni
Göran Järvefelt’s 1991 Don Giovanni is a stylish, timeless production, and although many singers have played the title role, no one has inhabited it as memorably as Teddy Tahu Rhodes. Mozart paints the light and shade of his character brilliantly. Sung in Italian with English subtitles.

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Now Showing at Palace Balwyn, Brighton Bay and Cinema Como