THE MERCURY CINEMA

The Mercury and Iris Cinemas are run by the Media Resource Centre to enhance screen culture and to give screening opportunities to emerging South Australian film, video and digital media artists.

Cinemas are also available for hire. For more information CLICK HERE.

CONTACT
Operations Manager, Jeremy Chance e-mail  

Exhibition Manager, Toby Bramwell e-mail
Ph. (08) 8410 0979

This webpage is a work in progress - comments?


CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST MERCURY CINEMA CALENDAR!

 

JOIN OUR MAILING LIST!
Be among the first to see our quarterly program - email us your name and contact details, including postal address.

 

TICKET SALES

Call 8410 0979 9-5:30 Mon to Fri with you credit Card handy.
Call into the MRC 13 Morphett St Adelaide (behind the Mercury) 8-5:30 Mon-Fri
Buy tickets at the box office from one hour prior to the advertised screening time.

 

useful links

MERCURY for hire

The Mercury and Iris Cinemas are available for hire. We offer highly competitive rates for your screening, conference, lecture or party. We can screen just about anything from 35mm CinemaScope to your Powerpoint or web based presentation. AND we can look after your catering and liquor requirements with the minimum of fuss!

sponsors

Government Sponsors

SAFC

ArtsSA

AFC

Sponsor

Barossa Valley Brewing

SCREENINGS CINEMATHEQUE CINEMA HIRE ARCHIVE ABOUT US MRC

BEYOND BLACK & WHITE

24 September – 1 October

When addressing the sensitive and sometimes taboo issue of race relations, American filmmakers have often had to tread a fine line. For white directors, finding a place for black characters and their lives while avoiding condescension or dismissal has at times been troubled. For black directors it has often been difficult to escape the legacy of the Blaxploitation explosion that perpetuated their own pop culture stereotypes. Some filmmakers however, both black and white, have managed to step back and capture a candid snapshot of the shifting social landscape.

 

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD || THE COOL WORLD
KILLER OF SHEEP || JOE'S BED-STUY BARBERSHOP

 

7:30pm Thursday 24 September

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (PG)

Dir: Robert Mulligan
US 1962 129mins 16mm
Set in a small Alabama town in the 1930s, this lyrical portrait of childish innocence and racial prejudice is told from the perspective of feisty six-year-old Scout. Spending carefree days playing with her brother, and keeping her distance from the sinister Boo Radley, Scout sees more disturbing aspects of the adult world when her widowed father Atticus Finch, a lawyer, is employed to defend a black man accused of raping a white girl. Adapted from the only Pulitzer Prize winning novel by author Harper Lee. Stars Gregory Peck and Robert Duvall in his screen debut. Print courtesy of the National Film & Sound Archive.

Winner Oscar Best Actor (Gregory Peck) 1963
Listed in 1001 Films You Must See Before You Die


7:30pm Monday 28 September

THE COOL WORLD (18+)

Dir: Shirley Clarke
US 1964 106mins 16mm
A fourteen-year-old boy searches for a gun so that he can assume leadership of his street gang in this seminal study of power struggles and violence among urban black youths. Shot on location around Harlem and using mainly non-professional actors, this view of daily life in the ghetto possesses a rough, documentary styled authenticity. Clarke’s own background in experimental dance films lends a rhythmic pattern to the filming and editing, tied together by a powerful jazz soundtrack. Print courtesy of the National Film & Sound Archive.

Listed in 1001 Films You Must See Before You Die


7:30pm Thursday 1 October

killer of sheep (18+)

Dir: Charles Burnett
US 1977 83mins 16mm
Stan, a sensitive working man living in south central Los Angeles, is conflicted by his job in an abattoir that numbs his emotions, alienating him from family and friends. He has no illusions that hard work will win the rewards of the American Dream but cannot bring himself to take up easier, and more destructive, alternatives. Running against the grain of the Blaxploitation phenomenon of the day, Burnett shot this unsensationalised portrait of the African American experience on weekends while a student at UCLA film school. Print courtesy of the National Film & Sound Archive.

Listed in 1001 Films You Must See Before You Die

 

9:00pm Thursday 1 October

JOE’S BED-STUY BARBERSHOP: WE CUT HEADS (18+)

Dir: Spike Lee
US 1983 61mins 16mm
Zack inherits a barbershop, a local meeting place for the black community, and tries to break away from the local gangster-controlled numbers racket, in this engaging perspective on inner city life. Made by Spike Lee as part of his NYU Film School thesis. Print courtesy of the National Film & Sound Archive.