WAKE IN FRIGHT: Desert Visions Film Week at FOMO Cinema Tbilisi
Saturday 27. June at 16:00 - 17:49
FOMO Secret Cinema, Tbilisi
June 16-21 FOMO presents Desert Visions, a journey through some of cinema's most unforgettable deserts. From Australian outback nightmares and American road movies to spaghetti westerns, Soviet science fiction, spiritual quests, and stories of people searching for meaning at the edge of civilisation. These are films about vast landscapes, strange encounters, reinvention, survival, and what happens when the familiar world falls away.
WAKE IN FRIGHT
Ted Kotcheff | 1971 | Australia | 1h49m | Presented in the original English audio with English subtitles
Last time I screened WAKE IN FRIGHT I asked my guests what kind of film they thought they just watched. Some described it as a thriller, others a horror film and a black comedy. One guest went so far to describe it as documentary about why no-one should ever visit Australia 🤣
I've watched it maybe half a dozen times myself and somehow the answer is all of the above.
The film follows John Grant, a schoolteacher stranded in The Yabba, a remote Australian mining town in South Australia. What should be a brief stopover for John gradually turns into a nightmare of gambling, drinking, excess, and increasingly poor decisions as he begins to fall deeper into a trap of his own making.
I'm Australian. I've lived in four states and visited outback communities many times and I can assure you almost nothing in WAKE IN FRIGHT feels exaggerated. The people John encounters aren't movie villains. They're often gregarious and eager to include him, which is probably why his predicament feels all the more terrifying. Instead, he slowly become complicit in his own downfall.
On the surface it's a story about an outsider trapped in an unfamiliar environment. Beneath that, it's a film about masculinity, conformity, self-destruction, and the strange social pressures that can make seemingly intelligent people do things they know they shouldn't.
The Australian outback has rarely been photographed more beautifully. Ted Kotcheff captures both its grandeur and its hostility. The horizons stretch forever. You can feel the blinding heat through the screen with every sweat drop on close-up.
If you've never seen WAKE IN FRIGHT before, prepare for one of the most unforgettable debuts to Australian cinema imaginable. If you have seen it before, strap yourself in and let's take this ride together again!
FOOD AND DRINK POLICY: FOMO Cinema Lounge Bar opens 1 hour before the first screening of the day and closes at 02:00,.serving a wide selection of beer, wine, cocktails, and non-alcoholic refreshments including coffee and tea, as well as fresh hot popcorn! Outside food is allowed in the bar but not in the cinema. No alcohol from outside allowed. All guests are invited to arrive early and stay late!
LOCATION: FOMO Secret Cinema, Bazari Orbeliani, Tbilisi. A five minute walk from Liberty Square metro.
HOW TO FIND FOMO: Enter Bazari Orbeliani via Atoneli St above Carrefour and take the stairs on your left to Level 1. Signage on the door. You can also check our Instagram story highlights for a video showing exactly how to find us: https://www.instagram.com/s/aGlnaGxpZ2h0OjE3OTMzMTA2Mjk0MDI5MjM1
FOMO Secret Cinema • Bazari Orbeliani, 0105 Tbilisi, Georgia
