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8 9 ARTLINES 4 | 2020 NEWS BIFF ROUND-UP This year’s Brisbane International Film Festival was a socially distanced success, with film lovers eager to reconnect with great international cinema at venues across Brisbane. Opening with the Australian premiere of the thrilling outback Western, High Ground , BIFF welcomed director Stephen Maxwell Johnson, producer Maggie Miles, producer and actor Witiyana Marika, and actors Jacob Junior Nayinggul and Maximillian Johnson. Other season highlights included a sold-out Food + Film event alongside the charming documentary The Truffle Hunters , an all-new Wurlitzer organ soundtrack for the classic sci-fi silent Filibus , and the BIFF Short Film Awards, which recognised talented emerging filmmakers from around the world. REALITY AND INVENTION In 2021, a new exhibition from the Gallery’s contemporary Asian art collection will include lesser seen works of major significance, following Asian art’s entry into the international mainstream from the 1960s to today. ‘Reality and Invention’ tracks the evolution of a global contemporary art from across the region and the emergence of realism as a prevailing attitude in Asian art from the 1990s onwards. Framed by experiments in form, content and the role of art in society, produced by such foundational figures as Yayoi Kusama, Nam June Paik and Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian, the exhibition will highlight the legacies of social realism, figurative–narrative traditions and feminisms in Asian art, as well as engagement with popular culture, politics and everyday life. ‘Reality and Invention: Contemporary Asian Art’ is at GOMA from 8 May to 19 September 2021. CINÉMATHÈQUE PROGRAMS The Australian Cinémathèque comes to life in the new year with two exciting programs for cinephiles. In partnership with the Japan Foundation’s annual Japanese Film Festival in January, the Cinémathèque will present classic Japanese film on 16mm and 35mm from the Film Archives in Tokyo, featuring some of the most daring voices in postwar Japanese cinema, including Nobuhiko Obayashi ( Hausu 1977) and Seijun Suzuki ( Pistol Opera 2001). In March, a retrospective of the six films of acclaimed Soviet filmmaker Aleksei German will highlight the underappreciated director’s stunning black-and-white visuals and textured depiction of Soviet life, across multiple genres, from postwar drama ( The Seventh Companion 1967) to black comedy (the newly restored Khrustalyov, My Car! 1998) and science- fiction ( Hard to be a God 2013), along with a documentary shot on the set of his final film. ‘Japanese Film Festival: Japanese Classics’ is at the Australian Cinémathèque from 16 to 27 January 2021, followed by ‘Aleksei German’ from 10 to 24 March 2021). Top Sanggawa / Palo-sebo 1995 / Purchased 1995 with a special allocation from the Queensland Government. Celebrating the Queensland Art Gallery's Centenary 1895–1995 Above Production stills from Hausu 1977 / Director: Nobuhiko Ôbayashi / Image courtesy: Japan Foundation Left Production still from Khrustalyov, My Car! 1998 / Director: Aleksei German / Image courtesy: Seagull Films NEWS Local, regional and international news about QAGOMA, the Collection and its artists Clockwise from above left Producers Tai Dixon (left) and Emma Randall accepted the BIFF Short Film Award for Earl’s Town ; and the Wurlitzer in action during Filibus / Photographs: Marc Pricop; stars Witiyana Marika and Jacob Junior Nayinggul with the director (centre) of High Ground / Photograph: Chloë Callistemon; and guests at the Food + Film dining event / Photograph: Katie Bennett