Strictly Ballroom

30th Anniversary Screening

Dir. Baz Luhrmann. 1992, 94 mins. Archival 35mm print courtesy the UCLA Film & TV Archive. With Paul Mercurio, Tara Morice, Bill Hunter, Pat Thomson, Gia Carides, Peter Whitford, Barry Otto. One of the most successful Australian films of all time, Strictly Ballroom premiered 30 years ago at the Cannes Film Festival, where it introduced the world to the signature stylings of 29-year-old Baz Lurhmann. Employing a mockumentary framework yet gleefully busting beyond any constraints of realism, the film follows Scott Hastings, a scion of competitive ballroom dancing royalty who bucks tradition and defies his own family with a flashy, contemporary performance style. Based on a culture he grew up within, and adapted from own University-penned stage production, Luhrmann’s debut is a remarkably apt first film for a director whose fast, frisky, frenzied, populist, and carnivalesque impulses segued seamlessly into Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge, and The Great Gatsby. Three decades later, it’s clear that while Strictly Ballroom’s budget was much smaller, his ambition was anything but. 

Tickets: $15 / $11 senior and students / $9 youth (ages 3–17) / Free or discounted for MoMI members ($11). Order tickets. Please pick up tickets at the Museum’s admissions desk upon arrival. All seating is general admission. Review safety protocols before your visit.