Ballarat Film Society – Heroic Losers

BMI - Minerva Space 117-119 Sturt Street, Ballarat Central, VIC

We begin with a comedy to start the year on a happy note. Set in 2001, when Argentina was at a low point economically, retired soccer star Fermin joins with other locals to finance a grain co-operative that falls prey to a deceptive banker. Consequently, they band together to steal back the money. Revenge has never felt so […]

Ballarat Film Society – De Gaulle

BMI - Minerva Space 117-119 Sturt Street, Ballarat Central, VIC

To celebrate the 32nd Alliance Françoise French Film Festival in Melbourne, we are screening the latest spectacularly mounted biopic on Charles de Gaulle. In Paris, 1940, France is facing military and political collapse as World War 11 intensifies. The government panics and considers accepting defeat however on June 18th the BBC provides 4 minutes of […]

Ballarat Film Society – White Riot

BMI - Minerva Space 117-119 Sturt Street, Ballarat Central, VIC

In late 1970s Britain, fascists and racists were gaining ground, extending their influence across popular culture. This film documents a vital London protest movement established in response. Rock Against Racism (RAR) was formed in 1976, during a hostile environment of anti-immigrant hysteria and National Front marches. As neo-Nazis recruited the nation's youth, RAR's multicultural punk and […]

Ballarat Film Society – Lamb

BMI - Minerva Space 117-119 Sturt Street, Ballarat Central, VIC

An unhappy couple living on a remote Icelandic farm are reinvigorated by a miraculous discovery in their sheep shed. Filling the void with a bizarre animal-human hybrid lamb, a passionate attachment begins after naming the new lamb Ada after their lost daughter. Troubles and family strain ensues resulting in extreme drama and weirdness. Cinematographer Eli […]

Ballarat Film Society – Herself

BMI - Minerva Space 117-119 Sturt Street, Ballarat Central, VIC

Stars: Clare Dunne, Harriet Walter, Conleth Hill and Ian Lloyd Anderson. Sandra, (Clare Dunne), is a young mum struggling to provide her two daughters with a warm, safe and happy home in which to grow up. With very little income and no savings, Sandra perservers to build a house from scratch in Dublin: an ambitious dream whilst trying to escape the […]

Ballarat Film Society – High Ground

BMI - Minerva Space 117-119 Sturt Street, Ballarat Central, VIC

Stars: Guruwuk Mununggurr, Wakarra Gondarra, Jack Thompson, Simon Baker, Callan Mulvey and Aaron Pedersen. We present this film to celebrate NAIDOC Week, 2022. This is the first film that director Stephen Maxwell Johnson has made since Yolngu Boy, 20 years ago. Set in the 1930s Northern Territory, where two cultures collide in the violence perpetuated […]

Ballarat Film Society – Little Woods

BMI - Minerva Space 117-119 Sturt Street, Ballarat Central, VIC

Set in the border-crossing town of Little Woods, between North Dakota and Canada, two reunited sisters struggle to survive in circumstances of economic injustice largely not of their own making. Confronted with urgent personal decisions, warring personalities, opioid-driven traumas and small-town economic downturn, the two have a week to settle a mortgage on their mother’s […]

Ballarat Film Society – Quo Vadis, Aida?

BMI - Minerva Space 117-119 Sturt Street, Ballarat Central, VIC

​Quo Vadis, Aida? is inspired by true events.  In Bosnia, 1995, middle-aged Aida is a United Nations translator located in the small mountain town of Srebrenica when the Serbian army ignores a UN peace ultimatum and begins a series of round-ups. Aida’s translation skills come into action when Aida and her family find themselves among 30,000 […]

Ballarat Film Society – First Cow

BMI - Minerva Space 117-119 Sturt Street, Ballarat Central, VIC

With a similar ‘feel’ to McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971), First Cow reveals, surprisingly, an America built on racial and social diversity during the birth of American enterprise. Two travellers on the run in the 1820s dream of striking it rich, relying on a wealthy landowner’s cow which is the first cow to ever reach Oregon. Cookie […]

Ballarat Winter Festival

Events at BMI

5 July – 27 July 

Ballarat Heritage Festival Events at the BMI

16 to 25 May 

Tax Deductible 

Your gift will be tax-deductible this financial year if you make it before June 30.

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2024 End of Financial Year Appeal 

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Our Challenge

Like many organisations the BMI faces significant funding challenges. 

We thank you for your support.
The Ballaarat Mechanics' Institute 2025 Calendar

Featuring the BMI Image Collection | Now $20

Devonshire Tea & Fashion Parade

Bubbly on arrival & Featuring quality items from our Vintage Shop | $60

Christmas Holiday Closures | Library

Monday 23 December – Sunday 5 January

Dame Nellie Melba Birthday Celebration

  Performance – 18 May.

Australian Heritage Festival Events at the BMI

18 April to 18 May

Connections to War from a Ballarat Perspective

Wed 2-30 April, 5.30pm

Dame Nellie Melba Birthday Celebration

  Performance – 18 May.

Ballarat Pride Month

Events at BMI

The Month of June 

portrait of author with book cover

Australian Heritage Festival

Natasha Lester in conversation

1 May at 6pm

guides dressed in period costum

Australian Heritage Festival

Minerva's Secrets

25 April – Tour 1 at 7.30pm – fully booked
Tour 2 at 9.30pm – still tickets. 

portrait of author with book cover

Australian Heritage Festival

Natasha Lester in conversation

1 May at 6pm

Ballarat Heritage Festival BMI Day Tours

Two tours  on 20 &  21 May 

 

with Nicole Alexander

28 May at 6pm

with Gail Holmes

 Wed 4 June at 6pm

with Kylie Ladd

 Wed 25 June at 6pm

BMI Fundraiser

Featuring:
The Hideaways,
The Harmonies &
Surf Shadows. 

2 course dinner & lots
of dancing