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.

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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!

STILL LIVES: THE FILMS OF PEDRO COSTA
SPECIALLY IMPORTED PRINTS

17 November – 27 November

The films of Portuguese filmmaker Pedro Costa (b.1959) are largely concerned with the harsh realities of poverty. Costa dwells contentedly on the outer realms of filmmaking, questioning the nature and purpose of cinema while producing idiosyncratic, experimental and philosophical films which make knowing references to the Hollywood greats. With each subsequent film, critical appreciation of Costa's cinema has begun to swell, making this the right time to introduce his compelling and deeply humanist work to Adelaide’s Cinémathèque audience.

BONES || THE BLOOD || CASA DE LAVA || WHERE DOES YOUR HIDDEN SMILE LIE?

7:30pm Monday 17 November

BONES (18+)

Dir: Pedro Costa
Portugal 1997 94mins 35mm
A young mother loses her barely wanted newborn to her boyfriend, who tries to sell it in the shantytown district of Lisbon where they live. The mother enlists her best friend to help her find the infant on the perilous streets of the neighbourhood, without luck. This devastating, bleak, highly stylised and minimalist work also wields the power to amaze, gaining the director much praise for his ascetic style.

7:30pm Thursday 20 November

THE BLOOD (18+)

Dir: Pedro Costa
Portugal 1989 95mins 35mm
Two brothers and a young kindergarten teacher flee the boys' malevolent uncle and his gang of vicious criminals. In a desperate attempt to keep a secret, they decide to separate. With its nocturnal, dream-like black & white cinematography, this lushly stylized fable evokes many classic films, particularly the low budget B pictures from RKO. One of the great debuts of eighties European cinema.

7:30pm Monday 24 November

CASA DE LAVA (18+)

Dir: Pedro Costa
Portugal 1995 110mins 35mm
Delving into the haunted colonial past of Cape Verde, Costa’s second film invokes I Walked with a Zombie. A Portuguese nurse travels the volcanic islands with a comatose local who has suffered a worksite accident in Lisbon. She finds herself lost in a strange and enigmatic world of striking faces, amazing landscapes and island music in this visually poetic and intensely played film.

7:30pm Thursday 27 November

WHERE DOES YOUR HIDDEN SMILE LIE? (18+)

Dir: Pedro Costa
Portugal 2001 104mins 35mm
Hailed as one of the best portrayals of the cinematic process, Costa’s understated documentary on Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet treats their creative partnership with insight and sensitivity. Centring on the exacting processes undertaken during the editing of their film Sicilia!, the pair recount personal anecdotes and professional ruminations over their significantly collaborative cinema. An affectionate, humorous and indelible image of profound kinship and creative symbiosis.

Brews & Reviews proudly sponsored by Barossa Valley Brewing.