BFI Distribution has announced a 50th anniversary re-release of Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), director Peter Weir’s haunting adaptation of Joan Lindsay’s celebrated novel, which will return to the big screen in the UK and Ireland on 21 February 2025in a dazzling 4K restoration of the Director’s Cut.
Prior to the full re-release, BFI Southbank will host special Valentine’s Day previews on 14 and 15 February 2025.
On Valentine’s Day 1900, students from Appleyard College, a girls’ private school in Victoria, Australia, embark on a picnic to an unusual but scenic volcanic formation called Hanging Rock. Despite the rules against it, several of the girls wander off. It’s not until the end of the day that the group realise that some of their party have mysteriously disappeared.
British star of stage and screen Rachel Roberts ( Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, This Sporting Life) was cast in the lead role of strict headmistress Mrs Appleyard. Another British actor, Dominic Guard who had starred in The Go-Between with Alan Bates and Julie Christie, played Michael Fitzhubert, the young Englishman visiting relatives, who happens to see the schoolgirls and, entranced by Miranda (Anne Lambert, The Draughtsman’s Contract), follows them to the rock. Australian TV, stage and screen actors Helen Morse and Jacki Weaver had key roles as the French mistress and the school’s maid respectively.
Picnic at Hanging Rock was shot on location at Hanging Rock, a famous picnic site some miles out of Melbourne. The volcanic outcrop, most likely the core of an ancient volcano, is around 500 feet high. The other main setting was Martindale Hall, a massive Georgian-style mansion built in the 1870s.
-The BAFTA-winning cinematography was by leading Australian photographer Russell Boyd who went on to work with Peter Weir again on Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (for which he won an Oscar) and Gallipoli. He gave the film a shimmering, romantic effect, perfectly in keeping with the period setting and storyline.
The distinctive and memorable score contributed to the dreamy yet ominous, mysterious feel of the film and featured two traditional panpipe pieces played by Romanian folk musician Gheorghe Zamfirwith Swiss born Marcel Cellier playing the organ. Australian composer Bruce Smeaton contributed several original compositions for the film.
Picnic at Hanging Rock was restored in 4K in 2022 by Acid Pictures in collaboration with Second Sight Films at The Grainery laboratory, from the original camera negative preserved by Australian National Film and Sound Archive.
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