Medieval to Metal Rockumentary Film Series: ‘This is Spinal Tap’ 1984

Curated by BMI Heritage Curator – Ellen Becker

January 15 @ 7:00 pm - 8:45 pm

Bar open at 6pm

$15 – $35

Minerva Theatre

This is Spinal Tap

Director: Rob Reiner, 1984 (1hr 22m)

To celebrate the Art Gallery of Ballarat’s Medieval to Metal exhibition, the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute is screening three iconic rock films in our historic Minerva Theatre.

Clear your palette of the recent serving of slick music documentaries with quintessential films of the ‘direct cinema’ genre.

Cult mockumentary This is Spinal Tap (Rob Reiner, 1984), which parodies its direct cinema predecessors in a film Dave Grohl dubbed “the only rock movie worth watching.”

In 1982, the legendary English heavy metal band Spinal Tap attempt an American comeback tour accompanied by a fan who is also a film-maker. The resulting documentary, interspersed with powerful performances of Tap’s pivotal music and profound lyrics, candidly follows a rock group heading towards crisis, culminating in the infamous affair of the eighteen-inch-high Stonehenge stage prop.

Tickets and Bookings

Tickets $10 BMI members & Ballarat Film Society members ($30 Season Pass). Plus booking fee.

$15 general admittance ($35 Season Pass). Plus booking fee.

Art Gallery of Ballarat - Exhibition

Medieval to Metal

For those who rock, we salute you! Medieval to Metal: The Art & Evolution of the Guitar tours to Ballarat, Victoria this October. Exclusive to the Art Gallery of Ballarat, the exhibition features 40 iconic guitars on loan from the National Guitar Museum (USA) alongside an awe-inspiring assemblage of photographs, paintings, drawings, illustrative designs, and objects.