CAT3 FILMS Presents: DANGEROUS CINEMA
The creation of 'Dangerous Cinema' lies in our obsession with those frantic eras, the times when cinematic creation knew almost no bounds. We are haunted by the surrealist rebellion of the 30s, marked by Un Chien Andalou/An Andalusian Dog (1929); the quest-for-meaning counter-cinema born from the New Wave and its aftermath; and the transgressive American works that surged once the Hays Code crumbled. From the golden age of European cult films centered in Italy and Spain, to the visceral wave of Hong Kong’s Category III started from later 80s, and the subsequent rise of Asian extreme cinema led by the likes of Takashi Miike and Park Chan wook. We are possessed by a deep nostalgia for the films that dared to cross the line.
Based in Australia, we want to bring that era back to the big screen for today’s audience. While such an endeavour may seem "out of time" in a world of sanitised content, we do not advocate darkness or violence. We are only bored by the "perfect" films tailored by algorithms and the relentless pursuit of box-office maximisation.
Cinema should be an expression of primal vitality, an extreme manifestation of human emotions, the unapologetic bravery to engage with societal discourse and challenge censorship. The cinema exists precisely so we can reflect or escape the mundane and step into another life experience. That experience can be warm, feverish, or dangerous, and extreme.
They say film industry is in decline; they say cinema is dying because the world has grown accustomed to solo viewing at home. We disagree. The cinematic experience is irreplaceable. The shared breath of a crowd, the collective joy, the gasps of awe, the grief, and the cold spike of fear, all these cannot be replicated at home.
By bringing "Dangerous Cinema" back to the audience monthly in Australia, we hope that when you walk out of the cinema, your thoughts, your perspective, and your world will have shifted, if only by a fraction. This change might be unsettling, but it is necessary. As a collective dreaming spaceship, cinema’s purpose was never merely to please.
Through "Dangerous Cinema," we invite you back to an era when film was dedicated to "offending" you, and in doing so, making you feel truly alive again.
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