sub category of eventseries
Cult Classics: Sex, Lies and Videotape
Subterfuge in suburbia in the four-hander that launched 90s indie cinema
10:00 AM
Cult Classics: Desperately Seeking Susan
Madonna sparkles in the iconic ‘80s celebration of personal reinvention
Arc Cinema
8:00PM
$19.50 Full / $16.50 Concession (+$1.50 booking fee)
17 April, 2026
Cult Classics: Desperately Seeking Susan 17 April, 2026
1985 | M | 4K DCP | USA | D: Susan Seidelman
The NFSA presents a series of irreverent, Friday night filmic feasts, curated and hosted by drag artist and culture warrior Venus Mantrap.
Cult Classics with Venus Mantrap dives into the world of sharp, edgy films and beloved fan favourites. Each event features a pre-screening live performance by Venus in our beautiful art deco Arc Cinema.
Our Cult Classics screenings are often interactive and always full of laughs and surprises. Leave your serious side at home and enjoy a movie night with a twist. And probably a shimmy.
When a bored suburban housewife (Rosanna Arquette) suffering amnesia is mistaken for a free-spirited New York drifter (Madonna), she embraces the role.
Susan Seidelman’s joyous tale of liberation through defining your own identity plays out via screwball comedy and a celebration of pop culture.
‘Madonna has never found a better fit than the role of Susan, a thrift-store free spirit - and even then Arquette gives as good as she gets with a deliciously kooky comic turn.’ – Time Out London
Includes pre-screening introduction and live performance by Venus Mantrap.
Cult Classics presents a retrospective of director Susan Seidelman’s work with She-Devil in February, Making Mr. Right in March, and Desperately Seeking Susan in April.
Coming up in Cult Classics: Sex, Lies and Videotape, Blood Simple (Directors Cut), Scanners, Body Double, Strange Days, The Lair of the White Worm, Death Becomes Her, and Showgirls.
Arc Cinema
We are situated in the heart of Canberra on McCoy Circuit, Acton, between the shores of Lake Burley Griffin and the grounds of the Australian National University. Just a 10-minute walk from the city and state bus interchanges.
1 McCoy Circuit, Acton, ACT 2601
Film Details
Year
1985
Details
4K DCP 103 mins M
Director
Susan Seidelman
Countries
USA
Events in this series
View full series
sub category of eventseries
Cult Classics: Blood Simple (Directors Cut)
The Coen Brothers’ grimly comic debut feature follows a double-crossing Texas detective
10:00 AM
sub category of eventseries
Cult Classics: Scanners
Psychic powers and corporate dystopia in a Cronenberg body-horror classic
10:00 AM