Summer at NFSA: The Summer Film Series, Hot Summer Nights + FREE Heaven's Gate Installation

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Thu 04 Dec 2025 - Mon 09 Mar 2026

This summer, Arc Cinema invites you to experience ‘A Summer of Love,’ a bold cinematic journey through peace, love, and revolution - from the rebellious spirit of the 1960s to visionary works created in 2025.

Spanning decades and genres, the Summer Film Series reveals how we love, protest, dream, and evolve. The hand-picked selection of films that challenge and inspire, where beatniks meet cyberpunks, auteurs rewrite the rules, and the screen comes alive with iconic masterpieces and daring new voices. PLUS don't miss the return of Hot Summer Nights, offering an unforgettable blend of live local music and classic cinema for the ultimate summer evening and the Australian Premiere of Heaven's Gate, a spectacular video installation by internationally acclaimed artist Marco Brambilla.

Summer Film Series Program Highlights:

From revolutionary cinema to radical love stories, animated adventures to absurdist feminist farce,
the NFSA's summer program offers something for all kinds of film lovers.

From complex sibling bonds in the new documentary Whoopee Blues: The Life and Times of the Conway Brothers (2025) to love found everywhere and all at once in the holiday favourite Love Actually (2003). There's the bittersweet pang of teenage love in The Year My Voice Broke (1987), which launched Ben Mendelsohn's career, and the vibrant energy of Monsoon Wedding (2001), a colourful celebration of family and romance in modern India. Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell dazzle as showgirls with wildly different views on love in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), while Ponyo (2008) brings Studio Ghibli's magical touch to an ocean-swept tale of love and friendship. Let Elvis serenade you in the sun-drenched musical Blue Hawaii (1961) while a wild detour takes you through the French Riviera in Jean-Luc Godard's genre-defying ode to doomed romance, Pierrot le Fou (1965).

Tennessee Williams Spotlight

The season also pays tribute to cinema’s great visionaries, with spotlights on some of the most influential and boundary-pushing filmmakers of the 20th century. One spotlight features film adaptations of Tennessee Williams' acclaimed stage plays, bringing four of his celebrated works to the screen: A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), Suddenly, Last Summer (1959), and The Night of the Iguana (1964), each brimming with desire, repression, and family tension.

Cyberpunk (Pass)

Not feeling the summer of love? You can plug into the hand-selected Cyberpunk series instead and explore existential questions of identity, surveillance, and control in a world shaped by machines and mega corporations. The Cyberpunk spotlight dives into gritty dystopias like RoboCop (1987), The Matrix (1999), Blade Runner: The Final Cut (1982), and Akira (1988).

Spanning the French New Wave, Czech New Wave, and Cinéma du look, the European Avant- Garde program is sure to delight even the most selective cinephiles. The NFSA is bringing audiences a visually rich and intellectually daring exploration of film as art, including the surreal rebellion of Daisies (1966), and the stylish spectacle of Diva (1981).

School Holiday Favourites

For kids big and small, the school holiday program delivers a lineup of animal adventures bursting with heart and humour, all at convenient 1 pm matinees. Enjoy heartwarming stories featuring creatures great and small - from a mischievous mouse in Mouse Hunt (1997), a sweet pig in Babe (1995), and clever chickens in Chicken Run (2000), to a determined rat in Ratatouille (2007), and a young Maori girl's bond with whales in Whale Rider (2002).

Xmas Party Mix

Get into the festive spirit with the NFSA’s very own Xmas Party Mix - the perfect end-of-year outing combining cocktails by Dom's in the heritage courtyard and festive favourites in the cinema like Love Actually (2003), and the unmissable action classic Die Hard (1988).

Iconic Australia - NFSA Restores

Australian cinema shines bright, with screenings of iconic films including Toni Collette’s breakout role in Muriel's Wedding (1994), among other favourites. And if you'd rather take a trip abroad from the comfort of a cinema seat, you can head to Hollywood for appearances by Al Pacino, Elizabeth Taylor, Keanu Reeves, Robert De Niro, Meryl Streep, Marilyn Monroe and Marlon Brando. Continue your travels to Taiwan with the 25th anniversary of Edward Yang's luminous family epic Yi Yi (2000), returning to the screen in a new 4K restoration, followed by the darkly comic and surreal French animation The Triplets of Belleville (2003). And finally, journey to the rugged Scottish coast with Local Hero (1983), Bill Forsyth's charming comedy-drama.

Hot Summer Nights Returns

Hot Summer Nights returns for its second year with a hand-picked selection of the hottest live music in the NFSA courtyard, curated to complement films in a single-ticket experience to set the perfect summer vibe. Every Friday and Saturday between January 9 and February 14, enjoy live music followed by sensual classics, gritty dramas and beloved musicals in Arc Cinema.

Settle in from 6 pm and enjoy local wines, summer cocktails and charcuterie, available for purchase onsite from Dom’s deli & bar. Whether you’re into the soul-stirring songs of Wallabindi, folk-infused Americana from The Burley Griffin, the swinging grooves of The Belco Jazz Band, the cross-cultural fusion of Karisha & The FunKaars, high-energy indie rock from ARCHIE, raw blues grit from James Southwell, or the magnetic “Balkan Elvis” persona of Mikelangelo, there’s live music for every taste this summer.

Australian Premiere of Heaven's Gate

From December 12, NFSA presents the Australian premiere of Heaven’s Gate, a spectacular free video installation by internationally acclaimed artist Marco Brambilla. Open to everyone, this work immerses audiences in a captivating fusion of Hollywood glamour and contemporary culture.

Brambilla is internationally recognised as a leading figure in contemporary video art, celebrated for his pioneering use of digital imaging technologies and immersive moving-image installations. The latest chapter in Brambilla's ambitious Megaplex series exploring the spectacle and excess of the modern world, Heaven's Gate takes viewers on a vivid cinematic journey. Through a dazzling cascade of collaged film imagery featuring stars such as Beyoncé, Audrey Hepburn, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Christopher Walken, the installation creates a multifaceted dreamscape that blurs the line between celebration and critique.



Heaven's Gate first premiered at Frieze New York in 2021 and was subsequently exhibited at the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM). The installation then toured internationally, including at Art Basel Miami (2021), PHI Centre in Montreal (2022), Outernet Arts in London (2023), and the MSG Sphere in Las Vegas (2023), to name just a few. Now, audiences in Canberra can embark on a rich sensory journey and experience Heaven’s Gate first-hand, exclusively at the NFSA in Acton.

PLAN YOUR VISIT

"Canberrans embraced the NFSA last summer, and this year we're offering even more," says Greg Lissaman, the NFSA's Head of Programs and Operations. "With a refreshed deli and bar, immersive free audiovisual installations, and such a vibrant film and live music series, the NFSA continues to be a hub for connection, conversation and shared experiences. It’s all part of our mission to create a cultural space that’s welcoming, inclusive and always offering something new."

Discover what's on this summer at NFSA and book tickets at https://tickets.nfsa.gov.au/events
Follow @NFSA on Facebook and Instagram for all the latest.

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