Cinema in the Playhouse Just announced
28 Oct 2025 10th Anniversary Screening
Max Richter’s Sleep
Originally released in 2015, Max Richter’s epic eight-hour album Sleep is a meditative respite from the rush and chaos of the modern world - a study of the universal experience of sleep that unites us all.
Depeche Mode: M
28 Oct 2025
United States, Mexico | 2025 | English | Music Documentary DEPECHE MODE: M is a cinematic journey into the heart of Mexican culture's relationship with death, framed by the iconic performances of Depeche Mode during their 2023 Memento Mori tour. Conceived and directed by award-winning Mexican filmmaker Fernando Frías, the film captures the band's three sold-out shows in Mexico City, attended by over 200,000 fans, blending concert footage with interpretive interstitials and archival material.
Left-Handed Girl
1 Nov 2025
Taiwan l 2025 l Mandarin & Taiwanese with English subtitles l Drama A single mother and her two daughters return to Taipei after several years of living in the countryside to open a stand at a buzzing night market. Each in their way will have to adapt to this new environment to make ends meet and maintain the family unity. But when their traditional grandfather forbids his youngest left-handed granddaughter from using her "devil hand," generations of family secrets begin to unravel. Image credit: © 2025 LEFT-HANDED GIRL FILM PRODUCTION CO, LTD.
Met Opera: La Sonnambula
30 Oct 2025
United States l 2025 l Italian with English Titles l Opera Following triumphant performances in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, Verdi’s La Traviata, and Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, Nadine Sierra summits another peak of the soprano repertoire as Amina, who sleepwalks her way into audiences’ hearts in Bellini’s poignant tale of love lost and found.
The Shining
31 Oct 2025
United States | 1980 | English | Horror, Mystery Academy Award winner Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall star in Kubrick's disturbing adaptation of Stephen King's blockbuster horror novel. Celebrating its 45th anniversary, this special Halloween screening features the original U.S. theatrical cut (aka the Extended Version) in a stunning 4k restoration.
Saturday Film Club: Bram Stoker’s Dracula
1 Nov 2025
United States l 1992 l English l Horror/Romance Join us for the next in our regular Saturday Film Club screenings, pairing a contemporary classic with an in-depth discussion featuring Alexei Toliopoulos and special guests. Step inside the shadows as Francis Ford Coppola’s acclaimed vision of Dracula is brought to life with an all-star cast led by Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder and Keanu Reeves.
NT Live: The Fifth Step
2 Nov 2025
United Kingdom | 2025 | English | Drama Olivier Award-winner Jack Lowden (Slow Horses, Dunkirk) is joined by Emmy and BAFTA-winner Martin Freeman (The Hobbit, The Responder) in the critically acclaimed and subversively funny new play by David Ireland.
Clueless
1 Nov 2025
United States | 1995 | English | Comedy, Romance Shallow, rich and socially successful Cher (Alicia Silverstone) is at the top of her Beverly Hills high school’s pecking scale. Although she may be the envy of scheming Betties (female babes) and persistent Barneys (unattractive guys), she has an innate drive to help those less fortunate, especially when it comes to love. Despite her total confidence in knowing what’s best for others, Cher is totally clueless when it comes to her own heart.
Somersault
1 Nov 2025
Australia | 2004 | English | Romance, Drama The 2004 debut feature from acclaimed Australian filmmaker Cate Shortland arrives with a brand new 4K restoration to celebrate its 21st anniversary. Winner of 13 AFI Awards, Somersault helped launch the careers of stars Abbie Cornish and Sam Worthington and endures as a beguiling and tender story of personal transformation and courage.
Best of Bloodfest Shorts 2025
29 Oct 2025
Australia l Various l English l Horror Australia’s only horror film festival for high school students, Bloodfest unleashes teen talent with terrifying five-minute shorts. Come see the Best of Bloodfest at the red carpet gala.
Koyaanisqatsi
2 Nov 2025
America | 1982 | Experimental Documentary Drawing its title from the Hopi word meaning "life out of balance," this renowned documentary reveals how humanity has grown apart from nature. Mapped with an exhilarating minimalist soundtrack by Philip Glass, director Godfrey Reggio’s prescient film weaves extensive footage of natural landscapes and elemental force, with scenes of modern civilisation and technology.
Garden Reflexxx Presents: Music
29 Oct 2025
Various| 2025 | English, with occasional Tagalog | Experimental, Drama, Memoir Film studio Garden Reflexxx presents a night of grassroots-filmmaking with an ear to the ground. This special session of ‘sound’ movies features a silent lightshow by Apichatpong Weerasethakul, a musical from Fitch Trecartin Studio, a Kulintang enchantment by Bhenji Ra and much more.
2025 Blacktown Shorts Film Festival
30 Oct 2025
Join us for the premiere evening at the Sydney Opera House where 3 newly commissioned films, a selection of curated films and a new experimental moving image piece will be on show. Blacktown Shorts Film Festival is now in its 4th year and is a platform that supports and celebrates the growth of western Sydney filmmaking. This years cohort are supported by Festival Curator, Vonne Patiag and the newly appointed Associate Curator, Chidiebube Uba. Image Credit: Behind the Scenes of ‘After Class’ by Baro Lee, Gerard Cabellon and LoneFish Productions, Photo by Justin Cueno
As Tears Go By
31 Oct 2025
Hong Kong | 1995 | Cantonese language with Chinese and English subtitles | Action/Drama/Romance | R18+ Wong Kar Wai’s scintillating debut feature is a kinetic, hyper-cool crime thriller graced with flashes of the impressionistic, daydream visual style for which he would become renowned.
Donnie Darko
2 Nov 2025
United States | 2001 | English | Sci-fi/Thriller Director Richard Kelly’s searing debut earned him countless accolades, and immediately catapulted his outre psychological sci-fi thriller into the realms of bona fide cult classics. 25 years later, it has lost none of its ability to provoke, shock and confound audiences; a glorious, independent masterpiece, luring us into a mad, multi-versal world of apocalyptic angst. 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes, 12 seconds… that is when the world will end.
Happy Together
23 Jan 2026
Hong Kong | 1997 | Cantonese language with Chinese and English subtitles | Romance/Drama | M One of the most searing romances of the 1990s, Wong Kar Wai’s emotionally raw, lushly stylized portrait of a relationship in breakdown casts Hong Kong superstars Tony Leung and Leslie Cheung as a couple locked in a turbulent cycle of infatuation and destructive jealousy.
Laputa: Castle in the Sky
24 Jan 2026
Japan | 1986 | English (Dubbed) | Adventure/Fantasy | G Studio Ghibli’s first feature, Laputa: Castle in the Sky, is a soaring adventure that blends fantasy, science fiction, and heartfelt coming-of-age. Join Sheeta and Pazu as they race sky pirates and military forces to uncover the secrets of a lost floating city.
Days of Being Wild
1 May 2026
Hong Kong | 1990 | Cantonese language with Chinese and English subtitles | Romance/Crime | M Wong Kar Wai’s breakthrough second feature represents the first full flowering of his swooning signature style. The first film in a loosely connected, ongoing cycle that includes In the Mood for Love and 2046.
Porco Rosso
3 May 2026
Japan | 1992 | English (Dubbed) | Fantasy/Adventure | PG Above the golden waters of the Adriatic, a world-weary pilot cursed with the face of a pig roams the skies in search of lost honour and forgotten dreams. Porco Rosso is Hayao Miyazaki’s wry and wistful tale of love, flight, and the price of staying true to yourself.
