About

The actor, director John Cassavetes is celebrated for his role in shaping the world of independent American cinema, influencing its aesthetic for decades and pioneering new means of production and distribution. Cassavetes created daring human dramas suffused with empathy and passion, shooting them with a dynamic, free-wheeling style introducing a new kind of realism to American cinema. His extraordinary partnership with artistic collaborator and wife Gena Rowlands led to some of his most acclaimed dramas with Rowlands crafting electrifying and indelible onscreen performances across A Woman Under the Influence 1974, Opening Night 1977 and Love Streams 1984. His work as director has influenced countless filmmakers from Martin Scorsese to the Safdie Brothers and Japanese auteur Ryusuke Hamaguchi. This program will present his 12 feature films as director, alongside a selection of his key credits as an actor including The Dirty Dozen 1967 and Rosemary’s Baby 1968.

QAGOMA acknowledges the generous assistance of the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia, Canberra; the American Genre Film Archive, Austin; the British Film Institute, London; the NBCUniversal Archives & Collections, Los Angeles; the UCLA Film & Television Archive, Los Angeles; the Paramount Pictures Archive, Los Angeles and the Sony Pictures Repertory, Los Angeles in providing materials for this program. Program curated by Rosie Hays, Australian Cinémathèque.