Movies in the open

Film lovers, rejoice! Combining my two favourite activities – being outdoors and enjoying good cinema – I am stoked that Moonlight Cinema (in Centennial Park) and Open Air Cinema (in the beautiful Royal Botanic Gardens), have announced their summer screening programs last week. Let me tell you, which ever you prefer, you won’t be disappointed. It’s a chance to watch all the missed new releases and enjoy your favourite classics.

Moonlight has already kicked off last week and has its last screening scheduled for Sunday 20 March, while Open Air starts on Wednesday 12 January and ends on Saturday 19 February. Screenings generally start about 8pm, but check the websites for more details like screening times, exact locations and ticket prices. Tickets are still available for many sessions for both outdoor cinemas, however if you’ve got your heart set on a movie, I’d suggest you be quick.

The American

Moonlight Cinema
Based on the novel by pulp fiction writer Jim Thompson, The Killer Inside Me, is a confronting psychotic thriller that won’t please the faint-hearted. Released earlier this year, the film is directed by Michael Winterbottom (Genova, A Mighty Heart, 9 Songs, 24 Hour Party People) and stars Casey Affleck, Kate Hudson and Jessica Alba. The Killer Inside Me screens this Sunday 19 December.

For anyone who missed Christopher Nolan’s complex and mostly confusing sci-fi thriller Inception, you have a choice of two nights to see it on: Thursday 30 December and Wednesday 16 February. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page and Ken Watanabe, earlier this week Inception was nominated for four awards at the 68th Golden Globe Awards, including Best Picture (Drama), Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Original Score.

In the new year, Moonlight will be screening many new releases like: Oliver Stone’s 1987 Wall Street sequel Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (Tuesday 4 January); the highly engaging story about the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, The Social Network (Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 January); Anton Corbijn’s impressive drama set in Italy and starring George Clooney The American (Saturday 29 January); Gainsbourg (Tuesday 8 February), the odyssey of the father of French pop; Sofia Coppola’s gorgeous new film Somewhere (Friday 4 March); Blue Valentine (Tuesday 8 March) starring Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams; Black Swan (Wednesday 16 March) with Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis and Vincent Cassel; and so on and on. A full list of features can be found here.

Highly acclaimed documentary Force of Nature: The David Suzuki Movie will be showing on Monday 28 February and the musical Burlesque with Cher and Christina Aguilera is scheduled for Tuesday 15 March. Classics like Pulp Fiction (Tuesday 1 March), The Godfather (Thursday 3 March) and Breakfast at Tiffany’s (Tuesday 22 February) to name a few, will also screen.

Desert Flower

Open Air Cinema
Open Air has decided to open the season in style with a premier of the very anticipated Burlesque musical (Wednesday 12 January). Also premiering will be the autobiographical Desert Flower (Sunday 16 January). This inspirational film is a true life story of the Somalian born Waris Dirie who fled to London aged 13, in order to escape an arranged marriage, becoming a supermodel and later a human rights activist – a UN spokeswoman against female circumcision, which she underwent in her native country at the age of three.

In February, Open Air will premier two outstanding features. A US drama Conviction (Tuesday 1 February) based on a true story of a working mother and her incredible commitment to save her brother from being wrongfully convicted of murder, and a beautiful French documentary about the life under water, Oceans (Sunday 6 February).

Other new releases worth highlighting are The Tourist (Tuesday 8 and 15 February), a spy thriller/drama set in Paris and Venice and starring Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp; the amazing 127 Hours (Monday 7 February) based on a true story of an adventurer’s efforts to survive; The King’s Speech (Wednesday 16 February) starring the exceptional Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush. Multi-award winning Australian drama Animal Kingdom will be showing on Australia Day, Tuesday 25 January, thus expect fireworks as a backdrop.

Pre-sale tickets to Open Air Cinema went on sale this morning, Thursday 16 December, and almost all have sold out. Check here for more ticket releases.

Summer festivals sideshows and beyond

The National

Every year, New Year’s festivals like Falls and Southbound bring a bunch of really awesome bands to our far-away land. For those of us staying local over the summer, first half of January is loaded with sideshows by some really awesome international bands.

New York City indie rockers Interpol are touring their fourth self-titled album and aside from the New Year’s festivals, will also be making an appearance at the Enmore Theatre on Tuesday 4 January. Tickets are still available from the venue. The Californian four-piece Cold War Kids will also play at the Enmore Theatre. Limited number of tickets are left for their Thursday 6 January show.

Another American indie rock band I am super excited about is The National. Their fifth and highly acclaimed album High Violet has been a highlight of this year for me, so I just can’t wait to see them. They will play two sold-out shows at the Enmore Theatre, on Friday 7 and Saturday 8 January.

Old school rock queen Joan Jett will be doing a very intimate sold-out sideshow at the Annandale Hotel on Friday 7 January. Canadians Hot Hot Heat will rock the Factory Theatre on Thursday 6 January. Tickets still available from the venue. Dance-punk New York City trio The Rapture will take on the Metro Theatre on Thursday 6 January, and tickets are still around.

Big Day Out will make sure our second half of January is also well spent. Sideshows not to miss are Grinderman, who play on Friday 28 January, and The Black Keys on Saturday 29 January, both at the Enmore Theatre. The multi-member Californian band Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros are back in the country and will bring their indie folk sounds to the Forum on Friday 28 January. Also on Friday, if you scored yourself some tickets already, you can catch the colourful British artist M.I.A at the Metro Theatre.

The sold-out St Jerome’s Laneway Festival, happening on the first Sunday in February, has some sweet, sweet international and local acts on the bill. A few of those partake in the Sydney Festival too, like Beach House and Gotye who will perform their sideshows in late January. See my previous post for dates. On Saturday 29,  you can also catch the American dream-pop trio Blonde Redhead at Sydney Opera House.

The rest of the sideshows are all pretty much lined up for the first half of February. Upbeat electro-pop Irish band Two Door Cinema Club are back with a sideshow at the Enmore Theatre on Monday 7 February. Brooklyn-based trio Yeasayer also play on Monday 7 February at the Metro Theatre. Atlanta (Georgia) four-piece Deerhunter will take on the Metro Theatre on Tuesday 8 February. New Yorkers Les Savy Fav will bring the house down on Thursday 10 February at Sydney Uni’s Manning Bar. Also on Thursday, catch the five-piece LA band Local Natives in action at the Metro Theatre. Tickets available from the venue.

Playground Weekender is on in the second half of February at the Wisemans Ferry, just under two hours north of Sydney. Manchester-based rock band Doves are headlining the festival, and you can also see them at the Enmore Theatre on Thursday 17 February.

Belle & Sebastian will be Down Under in March for the Golden Plains festival in Victoria and will do a side gig at Sydney Opera House on Thursday 10 March. If you’re lucky, you may still find good seats available by the time you’re finished reading this.

Little further down into the year 2011, you can anticipate more amazing sideshows courtesy of the Byron Bay Bluesfest, happening over the Easter long weekend, from Thursday 21 until Monday 25 April. The complete line-up is pretty incredible and if you’re heading up to enjoy it, well, lucky you. Bob Dylan, B.B. King, Elvis Costello, Ben Harper and Relentless7, Toots and the Maytals, ZZ Top just to name a few.

A sideshow for the king of blues, B.B. King, has been announced for Tuesday 12 April at the State Theatre. Tickets go on sale in a few days here. ZZ Top will take on the Enmore Theatre on Wednesday 27 April. Tickets to the show go on sale tomorrow. Stay tuned for more Bluesfest sideshows as they get announced closer to the date.

Update on Bluesfest sideshows: Bob Dylan’s sideshow is booked for Wednesday 27 April at the Entertainment Centre. Tickets go on sale on Monday 24 January from this website. Elvis Costello will take on the State Theatre on Tuesday 19 April, get your tickets from here. For the reggae fans, Toots and the Maytals are teaming up with some buddies for a night to remember at the Enmore Thetare. For more details and to get your tickets, go here. Also at the Enmore Theatre, the legendary Texan trio ZZ Top have booked two nights – Wednesday 27 and Thursday 28 April. For tickets, go here.

P.S. Not related to any of the summer festivals, Cat Power also returns to Sydney in January. Only one performance is scheduled for Sunday 30 January at Sydney Opera House. Tickets on sale Thursday 10 December. And Kings of Leon return to Australia in the new year as well. As expected, they will do stadium shows across the country and have scheduled Tuesday 8 and Thursday 10 March for Acer Arena in Sydney’s Olympic Park. Tickets are on sale now.

Sydney Festival 2011

Beach House © Sydney Festival

My absolutely favourite time of the year is nearing and I thought it’d be nice to share with you my best-loved events for everyone staying in Sydney over summer.

Just like every January, Sydney Festival will light up our city with over 80 events across venues like the Sydney Opera House, Sydney Theatre, CarriageWorks and temporary venues like Beck’s Festival Bar and The Famous Spiegeltent. We will have the opportunity to see a very diverse and attractive mix of Australian and international artists covering dance, theatre, music, visual arts and more over three weeks of the festival.

Firstly, let me tell you how stoked I am about the Baltimore-based dream-pop duo Beach House hitting our shores this summer. With its atmospheric and dreamy marvel, the band’s third and highly acclaimed album Teen Dream has received outstanding reviews and won them a ‘band to watch in 2010’ tag from big industry guns. They are here for the sold-out St Jerome’s Laneway Festival in February and will do a few side gigs at the Sydney Festival. They play Beck’s Festival Bar with Parades on Wednesday 26 January and City Recital Hall Angel Place on Thursday 27 January.

Wire is a 70s English post-punk band whose live performances are said to be “full of urgency and vitality”. The band has been around for over 30 years and has over 10 studio albums, and has influenced the likes of Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party and REM. Wire will play with the Los Angeles four-piece HEALTH at the Beck’s Festival Bar on Thursday 20 January.

Catching Brooklyn-based Sufjan Stevens and Holly Miranda this time around would also be good. It’s their second visit to Sydney and both will be playing material from their new albums, The Age of Adz and The Magician’s Private Library, respectively. Set in the beautiful Sydney Opera House and backed by a large orchestra and video projections, Sufjan’s performance should be a treat for the senses. Dates to look out for are Thursday 27 and Friday 28 January. Holly Miranda will play at The Famous Spiegeltent on Saturday 15, Sunday 16 and Tuesday 18 January.

I am also very excited about seeing two of my favourite Australian acts, Paul Kelly and Gotye. Both will be on stage at the City Recital Hall Angel Place, Gotye with one show on Thursday 27 January, and Paul Kelly with a few from Thursday 20 to Sunday 23 January.

Live: An intimate video study of the art of performing is precisely that … a large-scale video installation showing a collection of performances of over 20 of the world’s best singers and musicians—Jarvis Cocker, Peaches, Róisín Murphy, Sarah Blasko, Warren Ellis, Rufus Wainwright to name a few. Its purposes is to create an intimate connection between the performer and their audience, and offer a profound, larger-than-life front row experience. Live will be showing from Friday 14 to Sunday 23 January at Sydney Town Hall.

Free Sydney Festival events are always great fun. For photography lovers like myself, Exposed will be a delight. It’s an engaging and diverse collection of images showing the role photography has played in capturing different interpretations of the classic nude. Works included are by some of the greatest photographers like Max Dupan, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Doisneau. Exposed will be on from Tuesday 4 January until Friday 11 March at The Nicholson Museum, University of Sydney.

And if you’re into large-scale picnics in the park with some form of music or entertainment in the background, then head to Festival in The Domain. Especially if you are fond of Latin beats and rhythms and don’t mind a bit of a dance to the late 80s hit La Bamba! Catch the East-LA Chicano rock legends Los Lobos and the Sydney-based mariachi band The Real Mexico for a true fiesta experience on Saturday 15 January, in the Domain.

If Latino isn’t quite your cup of tea, what about a Symphony in The Domain instead? Bring your picnic rug and set up camp early to get the best spot for a night of Sydney Symphony with Bell Shakespeare and Sydney Philharmonia Choirs under the stars. Relax to tunes from Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet. Then watch John Bell enact scenes from Shakespeare’s Henry V, accompanied by the mesmerizing Sydney Symphony and Sydney Philharmonia Choirs. Symphony in The Domain is happening on Saturday 22 January.

Well, so much to see and do and so little … Enjoy!