Hear My Eyes is back for MIFF’s 70th: Melbourne supergroup Springtime (The Drones’ Gareth Liddiard, Dirty Three’s Jim White and The Necks’ Chris Abrahams) joins Chopper composer Mick Harvey in performing an all-new score to Andrew Dominik’s unforgettable debut starring an even more unforgettable Eric Bana as local crime legend Mark “Chopper” Read.

Notoriously controversial at the time – Victoria Police urged a public boycott! – Dominik’s dynamite debut about the infamous life and crimes of the titular crook exploded into the national consciousness upon its release in 2000, propelled as much by the film’s audacious humour as it was by Bana’s extraordinary performance. So scarily convincing and oddly sympathetic is Bana’s gold-grilled goon that it’s little wonder he was handpicked for the part by the real Uncle Chop Chop, whose knack for self-mythologising is perfectly matched by the actor’s charisma and Dominik’s clever script (based on Read’s apparently autobiographical tabloid tales).

Chopper justifiably won Dominik and Bana the Best Director and Best Actor trophies at that year’s AFI Awards, while Harvey picked up a nomination for his haunting original score. For this special Hear My Eyes screening, bona fide local legends Liddiard, White and Abrahams – as the collective Springtime – collaborate with Harvey (Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds / The Birthday Party) to write and perform a brand-new score for the film. Their eccentric musical mood swings will offer a unique backdrop for the brilliantly unhinged abandon onscreen, guaranteeing an unforgettable night of sound and cinema.

“Chopper is more than a vehicle for Bana’s extraordinary performance; it’s an immaculately crafted masterpiece of Australian cinema that feels as fresh, energetic and provocative today as it was the day it was released.” – ABC

Springtime
Announcing their arrival in 2021 with a self-titled debut album of avant-garde post-rock sounds, Springtime brings together the prodigious talents of Gareth Liddiard (The Drones / Tropical Fuckstorm), Jim White (Dirty Three) and Chris Abrahams (The Necks). Among the country’s most venerated musicians, their individual mastery makes for a combined chemistry that’s superlative. With just one album and a single national tour to their name so far, this genre-defying supergroup creates a playful fusion of improvisational free jazz and experimental noise that promises to electrify the Hear My Eyes screen.

Mick Harvey
Mick Harvey is renowned as a musician, record producer and composer who has been active for the last 45 years, and is perhaps best known as a member of The Birthday Party and The Bad Seeds and for his long-term collaborative work with PJ Harvey and Nick Cave. Aside from scoring a dozen feature films and numerous short films and documentaries, split almost evenly between Australia and Europe, Harvey has also released eight solo albums in the last two decades and been the recipient of several Australian industry awards, including AFI Best Original Score for Suburban Mayhem in 2006, and in 2011 took out British Producer of the Year for his co-production on PJ Harvey’s Let England Shake.

Hear My Eyes
Hear My Eyes events are an untapped, hybrid artform. We ask highly creative contemporary musicians to write a new score to a pre-existing, artful piece of cinema. The result? A completely fresh, indescribable cinema and sound experience.
Relying on years of experience in curating and directing live score events, each Hear My Eyes production reframes the film sonically, creating an entirely new presentation of the work and a rare musical journey. Sitting somewhere between a film screening and a live concert, these events invite audiences into a new sensory realm.

Credits
Gareth Liddiard – guitar, vocals
Jim White – drums
Chris Abrahams – piano
Mick Harvey – bass
Hear My Eyes productions are curated and directed by Haydn Green

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Shows on Wednesday 17 August include a Q&A with Chopper director Andrew Dominik (post-performance for the 6.15pm session, pre-performance for the 9pm session).