This month’s program provides a little something for everyone!

Have you booked your tickets to Mervyn Bishop: The Exhibition yet? It's time to discover the photographer behind some of Australia's most iconic moments. We have extended opening hours and free entry to the exhibition on International Museum Day (18 May) and we also have a special slide night hosted by Mervyn during National Reconciliation Week (28 May). 

We're excited to present a live performance of The Surge – a multi-layered feast of music, ideas and lessons inspired by the 1990s and performed by the Offspring Ensemble (pictured) with special guests (21 May).

We're celebrating the end of awards season with three recent Oscar winners and nominees. First up is Nomadland, a powerful character study about a disenfranchised widow who finds new life on the road (1 May), and the winner of Best Picture, Best Director (Chloé Zhao) and Best Actress (Frances McDormand). Then we have the documentary Collective, a newsroom thriller about corruption in the Romanian healthcare system (20 May). And later in the month, we feature Thomas Vinterberg's Another Round. Winner of Best International Film, Another Round is a beautifully shot – and surprising – film that centres on four middle-aged friends experimenting with alcohol (29 May). 

Speaking of awards, May is also Eurovision month! We're hosting a Eurovision Grand Final watch party – and you're invited (23 May)! Come in costume, play Eurovision bingo, sign up for group karaoke and cheer on your favourites. Who will win? Current favourites include a female empowerment banger from Malta ('Je Me Casse'), an existential ballad from Switzerland ('Tout l'univers'), quirky pop from Lithuania ('Discoteque') and a flashy rock song from Italy ('Zitti e buoni'). 

Following its huge premiere at Sydney’s Westpac OpenAir is a special screening of The Sentimental Bloke, with a new pre-recorded score composed by ARIA award-winning musician Paul Mac. Mac injects new sonic life into this classic silent film, recently restored by the NFSA (22 May). 

Our kids and family program includes one of the great works from the Pixar canon: the clever, funny and delightfully creative Monsters, Inc. (1 May). 

Our monthly Friday matinee features Philip Noyce's Rabbit-Proof Fence. Based on Doris Pilkington Garimara's novel, the film follows the extraordinary true story of Molly, Gracie and Daisy – three Aboriginal girls in Western Australia who are forcibly removed from their families (28 May).

Other gems in the program include Raise the Red Lantern, a wise and skilfully made drama that profiles the tensions among four wives in a Chinese household (15 May).

Continuing our series of interactive, ‘Arc out loud’ screenings we present the hilariously absurd and wickedly twisted cult classic Serial Mom (7 May).

And for our Aussie Indies season, there is Jo-Anne Brechin's Paper Champions, a quirky, uplifting comedy about a young man who wants to find love but first needs to get in contact with his ‘mana’ – the life force ascribed to people and living beings in Melanesian and Polynesian cultures (8 May).

And there is so much more! 

Join us for a month of special screenings and events - and grab your Club NFSA loyalty card when you arrive.

THE FULL LINE-UP:

Saturday Morning Cartoons: Monsters Inc. – 1 May, 10:30am

Nomadland – 1 May, 6pm

The Vinyl Lounge Side 1 / Track 1 – 7 May, 5pm

Arc Out Loud: Serial Mom – 7 May, 8pm

Aussie Indies: Paper Champions – 8 May, 2pm

Mother's Day: All About My Mother – 9 May, 2pm

NFSA Livestream: Creativity in the Time of COVID – 13 May, 6pm

NFSA Building History: If These Walls Could Talk – 14 May, 10.30am

The Story of Film: Fight the Power – Protest in Film – 15 May, 1pm

Raise the Red Lantern – 15 May, 2:30pm

International Museum Day: Mervyn Bishop – 18 May, 10am to 7pm

Doco of the Month: Collective – 20 May, 6pm

The Surge – 21 May, 6pm

NFSA Restores: The Sentimental Bloke + Q&A with Paul Mac – 22 May, 2pm

Eurovision Song Contest 2021 – 23 May, 7.30pm

Matinee: Rabbit-Proof Fence – 28 May, 10.30am

NFSA Ghost Tour  – 28 May, 8pm SOLD OUT

Slide Night with Uncle Mervyn Bishop – 28 May, 7pm

Another Round – 29 May, 6pm