We acknowledge the Gadigal of the Eora Nation, the traditional custodians of the Country on which the Art Gallery of New South Wales stands.

Film series: Identities 27 April – 26 June 2011

By Robert Herbert, curator, film (until June 2017)
Still from Psycho 1960, photo: courtesy of Universal Pictures

Still from Psycho 1960, photo: courtesy Universal Pictures

The Archibald Prize is one of Australia’s oldest and most prestigious art awards. Since the prize was first awarded in 1921, portraiture has evolved from an often static and highly formal genre to a fluid and interpretive one, exploring identity, culture and environment.

Screened in conjunction with the 2011 Archibald Prize, this film series explored the essential elements of humanity – questions of self-image, individuality and psychological identity. What are the sources of identity? Is it your name, your status, your career, your environment? In engaging with those questions, these films delved into mistaken identity, memory loss, deception and gender-bending in stories of espionage, crime, theatre, politics and romantic love.

Films

  • 27 April, 1 May – North by northwest (director Alfred Hitchcock, United States, 1959, 35mm)

  • 4, 8 May – The Manchurican candidate (director John Frankenheimer, United States, 1962, 35mm)

  • 11, 15 May – Memento (director Christopher Nolan, United States, 2000, 35mm)

  • 18, 22 May – Paris is burning (director Jennie Livingston, United States, 1990, 35mm)

  • 21 May – I shot Andy Warhol (director Mary Harron, United Kingdom/United States, 1996, 35mm)

  • 21 May – Basquiat (director Julien Schnabel, United States, 1996, 35mm)

  • 25, 29 May – The man without a past (director Aki Kaurismaki, Finland, 2002, 35mm)

  • 1, 5 June – The shop around the corner (director Ernst Lubitsch, United States, 1940, 35mm)

  • 8, 12 June – The lady Eve (director Preston Sturges, United States, 1941, 35mm)

  • 15, 19 June – Psycho (director Alfred Hitchcock, United States, 1960, 35mm)

  • 22, 26 June – Eyes without a face / Les yeux sans visage (director Georges Franju, France, 1960, 35mm)

Still from Eyes without a face 1960, photo: courtesy of Gaumont

Still from Eyes without a face 1960, photo: courtesy of Gaumont

Still from Manchurian candidate 1962 photo: courtesy of Chapel Distribution

Still from Manchurian candidate 1962, photo: courtesy of Chapel Distribution

Still from North by northwest 1959, photo: courtesy Chapel Distribution

Still from North by northwest 1959, photo: courtesy Chapel Distribution

Still from Paris is burning 1990, photo: courtesy Premium Films

Still from Paris is burning 1990, photo: courtesy Premium Films

Still from Psycho 1960, photo: courtesy of Universal Pictures

Still from Psycho 1960, photo: courtesy of Universal Pictures

Still from The lady Eve 1941, photo: courtesy of Universal Pictures

Still from The lady Eve 1941, photo: courtesy of Universal Pictures