I have loved the big exhibitions I have seen at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image. I am not a big cinema fan but they do a great job of educating me even when I know little.
The current exhibition features the remarkable work in film of Martin Scorsese. I have only seen a few of his films and know he is not my favourite. The exhibition was a surprise in the way it played to the context in which I saw it. Migration has been a big part of my life even though my direct lines arrived by the1870s. I feel distressed about the reversal in our national enthusiasm for it in the last couple of decades.
Scorsese had grandparents who arrived in the USA and spoke no English and lived in Italian communities in New York. All of Scorsese’s family and community feed the films he has created which reflect the contribution of Italians to the fabric of mainstream life in the 20th century.
As I walked through and read all the materials it led me to reflect on what an enormous contribution this migrant community has given to its’ wider society. Who could have known when they arrived? Our society is giving several newly arrived different cultures a hard time but who can guess the contribution they will make?
I love it when people judiciously collect stuff. There was something marvelous in seeing the set of storyboards the 11 year old Scorsese created for a film he wanted to create.I loved several gorgeous costumes and lots of the ephemera that is generated in film making. If you are a fan of cinema this would build a deeper understanding of a champion in the field.
The great ACMI website for Scorsese is below. I have included some phone pics as well.
https://www.acmi.net.au/scorsese?gclid=CO7cvsfD3c0CFYMrvQodu3AD5A

