Summer at the NFSA
NFSA Ghost Tour
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Nov 25, 7:30pm
Join Tim the Yowie Man for a rare look behind the spooky history of the NFSA building. Only 20 places and must be 18+ to attend. $70.
The Vinyl Lounge
Dec 2, Feb 3, 5:30-7pm
Bring your favourite records, share your musical stories, and enjoy classic songs on the big speakers. Free entry.
Friday Nights at the NFSA
Dec 2, 9, 16, Feb 10, 14, 24, 5:30pm
The stylish courtyard comes alive with after-work drinks, DJs, and tasty treats. Join the fun and stay for the screening. Free entry.
Oyster Farmer Film and Tasting
Dec 16, 7pm
Watch the popular 2004 drama by Anna Reeves and enjoy a tasting of succulent south coast oysters and local beers. $20
Pixar-Palooza
Jan 10 - 20
Daily animation films from Pixar during the school holidays. $8 each
Friday 13th Horror Double
Jan 13, 7pm
Rosemary's Baby (1968) and Stephen King's Pet Sematary (1989). $14
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Jan 29, 2pm
Classic 1956 sci-fi film. $14
Lost Horizon
Feb 5, 4:30pm
The original 1937 Frank Capra film about the life of plane crash survivors in a Himalayan wonderland. On 35mm print from UCLA. $14
Under Electric Clouds
Feb 17, 7pm
A 2015 sci-fi epic that looks at the planet being on the brink of another world war. $14
Archive a hidden treasure in the city
It's a Friday night and we're listening to the virtuoso guitar licks and fancy fingerwork of Joe Satriani being delivered through a massive pair of vintage Tannoy speakers. Around us, more than 60 music lovers are also savouring the sound, with some doing the full body rock, while others opt for low-key foot tapping.
We could be inside a Civic nightclub, or party venue, but we're not.
Instead, we're at one of the city's hidden treasures, the National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA), which is next to the ANU School of Art on McCoy Circuit, and this is the night of The Vinyl Lounge.
Happening on the first Friday of every month, it attracts enthusiasts from all over Canberra who want to listen to music as it sounded before digital technology took over: played on black vinyl records, using a turntable.
The event takes place in the refurbished 114-seat theatrette and is run by the archive's sound curators, Rod Butler and Thorsten Kaeding, who spin disks chosen by audience members from milk crates laden with records. As each person's request is played, they tell the audience why they chose that song.
"I fell in love with this band in 1996; I went to see them in concert and found myself crying afterwards, I was 13 back then and it changed my life, I've even got a tattoo of their lyrics," says a young woman displaying her tattooed arm as she requests Tombstone by Crowded House.
To cheers and applause, Rod plays the track, with an occasional crackle reminding us that we're listening to genuine vinyl.
Later, a man up the back requests the 7-minute album version of All Right Now by Free and shares his story. "I used to see these guys when I was at uni in the UK and really want to hear them on the big speakers; I usually just get to listen on earbuds."
The surprise song of the night comes from Rahman of the Blue Mountains, who has brought in a record he created himself, on which he performs his own original song called Sun Sign 48, that receives enthusiastic audience applause.
Running way past the scheduled end time, we listen to songs by acts including David Essex, Simon and Garfunkel, Jimi Hendrix, the Eurythmics, ELO, Ludovico Einaudi, Jean-Michel Jarre, and even the Ukrainian Male Chorus.
The Vinyl Lounge is just one of the events happening at the NFSA, many of which are free, and support the organisation's mission of being "Australia's Living Archive" and preserving and sharing its collection.
In the realm of motion pictures, the NFSA offers an ongoing free program of archived films and documentaries, which are screened continuously between 9:15am and 5pm from Monday to Friday in the magnificent Arc Cinema.
With more than 2.3 million items in storage, and with the film collection dating back to 1896 and including the world's first feature film, The Story of the Kelly Gang, made in Australia in 1906, visitors can see material that is not available anywhere else.
The Arc Cinema's daily screening program comprises back-to-back films and the 250-seat facility features the last remaining film projectors in Canberra, with all other cinemas now having gone digital.
For the NFSA Manager of Community Engagement and long-time film aficionado, Mr Cris Kennedy, being able to project film is a huge advantage.
"There's something magical about film, similar to vinyl records, in that it's such an organic experience, from the clack-clack-clack of the projector to the way the image looks on the screen," says Cris.
"The technical staff also say it's a richer experience than digital because film has a three dimensional quality in that there are actual layers of silver emulsion on the celluloid that give it some physical depth and a certain textuality."
Until the end of November the theme of the daily film program is Australian identity, reflecting the harsh beauty of the Australian landscape and the people who have made it their home. Then, from December to February, the Arc Cinema program will take a global view as it screens films of international significance from the UNESCO Memory of the World Register.
Apart from The Vinyl Lounge and Arc Cinema, the NFSA also features a large range of programs, events, and temporary exhibitions, houses the Bench Room Café, contains a library, and has a "Front Room" where people can relax and enjoy a constantly changing selection of CDs, radio segments, and TV classics.
So what is it like to work at a place that contains such a vast collection of audio and video in a variety of formats, as well as memorabilia?
"Absolutely amazing," says Cris. "We have 37 kms of storage vaults and as I walk through the warehouse I know that the dress of Priscilla is stored safely, along with items including Graham Kennedy's crown from his 1960s TV show, or the split-in-half car from Malcolm. It's all this history that you grow up with and in this place it's physical and tangible."
Somewhat less physical and tangible is an NFSA feature that has been attracting increasing interest over the years: ghosts. Before housing the NFSA, the imposing art deco building was home to the Australian Institute of Anatomy, which opened in 1931.
The Institute housed a large collection of dissected specimens and body parts, sometimes from people who died violently, and some NFSA staff and visitors have reported spooky experiences.
"Just a few weeks ago we had a Bench Room Café staff member doing some work in the basement and when she turned away, the trolley on which she had stacked some boxes, had mysteriously moved to the end of a long corridor. And the boxes were stacked neatly against the wall."
Cris is in the process of completing an OH&S report about this incident, but the ghostly presences can sometimes be helpful.
"When my arms are full carrying items from the basement and I need to use the lift, it can be hard to push the 'call' button. In this case, on a few occasions, the button has lit up all by itself even though the lift is 60 years old and there are no motion sensors. Helpful but spooky," says Cris.
The claims of hauntings have been investigated by various ghost hunting groups, and this is all explained in the monthly NFSA Ghost Tours hosted by Tim the Yowie Man.
"There's always lots going on at the NFSA, we even run school holiday programs, and we'd encourage people to look at our website to see what's coming up and visit us to share in Australia's Living Archive," says Cris.
See: www.nfsa.gov.au.
