2011 Festival Highlights

Looking for full details of this year's festival? Go to the Seniors Festival page to download the program.

Highlights of the 2011 Victorian Seniors Festival include:

• Free public transport for Seniors
• State Trustees Country Concert Series
• Down South Exhibition
• Films at ACMI

Free Public Transport for Seniors

The Victorian Government is pleased to provide Victorian Seniors Card holders with free public transport during the 2011 Festival.

8 days of free metropolitan transport

• Metropolitan trams, buses and trains are free for Victorian Seniors Card holders from Sun 2 October to Sun 9 October 2011.
• Free metropolitan travel includes V/Line train services to Melton and Sunbury.
• Please try to avoid using services arriving in the city before 9am and departing between 4pm and 7pm on weekdays.

8 days of free regional town bus services

Regional town bus services are free for Victorian Seniors Card holders from Sun 2 October to Sun 9 October 2010:

Ararat, Bacchus Marsh, Bairnsdale, Ballarat, Beaufort, Bellarine Peninsula, Benalla, Bendigo, Cobram, Colac, Drouin, Echuca/Moama, Geelong, Hamilton, Horsham, Kilmore, Korumburra, Lakes Entrance, Mildura, Moe, Morwell, Portland, Rochester, Sale, Seymour, Shepparton/Mooroopna, Stawell, Swan Hill, Traralgon, Wangaratta, Warragul, Warrnambool, Wodonga, Wonthaggi

Seniors do not need a ticket, and must simply show their Victorian Seniors Card when asked.

Free V/Line travel

Free travel on V/Line rail and coach services is available on:

Sunday 2 October
Tuesday 4 October
Wednesday 5 October
Thursday 6 October
Saturday 8 October

Free travel is valid on economy class services only.

Reserved V/Line services

Seat reservations are now compulsory on all long-distance V/Line rail services and some coach services so check if you need to make a booking before you travel. Ph: 136 196 or visit the VicLink website for more information on regional services.

Reserved ticket services include services starting and ending at: Albury/Wodonga, Ararat, Bairnsdale, Echuca, Shepparton, Swan Hill, Warrnambool.

You also need to book on all journeys marked with an 'R' in V/Line timetables.

Reservations for the Seniors Festival free travel open on Tues 6 September at 10am.

Booking Tips

You can book one return journey for up to four Victorian Seniors Card holders. Confirm your entire journey at the time of booking to avoid disappointment. Tickets must be collected no later than 48 hours after you book.

Booking V/Line Tickets

Book at your closest staffed V/Line station, V/Line ticket agent, Metropolitan Premium station or by calling 136 196. If you have a booking but find you are unable to travel, please call 136 196 as soon as possible so the ticket can be given to someone else.

Group travel

If you are planning to travel in large parties of 12 or more, call V/Line to ensure seats will be available. Limits to group travel may apply if space is not available.

Please call 9619 2338 after 10am on Tuesday 6 September to book. Holders of seniors cards from other Australian states and territories are not eligible for free travel during the festival, but can purchase 5 x Seniors Daily and Seniors Daily Metcards or concession fares on V/Line and regional town bus services.

Unreserved V/Line services

On unreserved V/Line train and coach services, simply show your Victorian Seniors Card to the conductor or coach driver.

Unreserved V/Line Coach and Rail Services include services starting or ending at: Ballarat, Bendigo/Eaglehawk, Geelong/Marshall, Traralgon, and Seymour.

To make the best of it:

• Travel outside the weekday morning and evening peaks for your own comfort.
• Book early on reserved services to travel in the country.
• Plan your trip before you travel and carry your Victorian Seniors Card with you at all times. To plan your journey or for more information, call 131 638 or visit Metlink

NOTE: The public transport network is still carrying its usual travellers so getting a seat may not be possible.

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State Trustees Country Concert Series

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Down South Exhibition

For over 60 years, Australian tradespeople have been drawn to the Antarctic by the prospect of great adventure and mateship. Plumbers, electricians, carpenters, diesel mechanics, cooks, radio operators and weather observers were the mainstay of the Antarctic home base. The scientists couldn't have remained in Antarctica and undertaken their research without the support and contribution of these skilled workers.

The great explorer, Sir Douglas Mawson, led the first Australian Antarctic Expedition (AAE) 100 years ago this year. One of the activities celebrating a centenary of Australia's involvement and Mawson's historic achievements is a photographic exhibition Down South, which tells the stories of the fabulous men and women who have ventured to the Antarctic from 1947 to the 1980's.

Susan Gordon-Brown, the photographer, has spoken to 25 tradespeople and photographed them as they are now. They are now between the ages of 50 and 90 years old. The exhibition is a combination of these portraits and their stories, as written by Gayl O'Connor.

Down South will be on at the Melbourne Town Hall for the duration of the Victorian Seniors Festival. Visit the Down South website for more details.

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Films at ACMI

Sunday 2 and Friday 7 October, 2011
ACMI Cinemas, Federation Square, Melbourne
Proudly presented by the Australian Centre for the Moving Image

Round out VSF opening day festivities on Federation Square with a matinee session of Doctor Zhivago. ACMI also pays tribute to Tony Curtis with two films from the actor's Hollywood heyday.

Bookings Recommended

Seats will likely be available on the day prior to each session, but we cannot guarantee entry without a booking. Tickets available from 17 August online from www.acmi.net.au/tickets, from the ACMI box office (plaza level, 10 am to 6 pm daily) or by phone on 8663 2583.

Tickets: $5

Doctor Zhivago (PG)

Sun 2 Oct - 1.30 pm [C2]
David Lean, 185 mins, 1965
David Lean's celebrated film is loosely based on the epic novel, Doctor Zhivago (1957), written by Russian author Boris Pasternak and adapted for the screen by English screenwriter and playwright, Robert Bolt (Bolt collected an Oscar for his troubles; one of five awarded the film at the 1966 Academy Awards). Omar Sharif is unforgettable as Yuri Zhivago, a Moscow medic and poet who becomes caught up in the tumultuous political events of WWI and the Russian Revolution and whose personal life is torn between fidelity to his wife (Geraldine Chaplin) and passion for his muse, Lara (Julie Christie). "Beautifully crafted opus from the master of epic cinema, David Lean" Film4

Tony Curtis Tribute: Sweet Smell of Success (PG)

Fri 7 Oct - 11 am [C2]
Alexander Mackendrick, 96 mins, 1957, BandW
The first American film for British director Alexander Mackendrick (known for his lighter-toned Ealing comedies such as The Ladykillers) explores the seedy glamour of '50s New York nightlife. A ruthless newspaper columnist, JJ Hunsecker, (Burt Lancaster) exploits an unscrupulous Broadway press agent, Sidney Falco, (Tony Curtis) in order to prevent the marriage of his sister to a jazz musician. The film features superb performances from its star leads, with a brilliant jazz score by Elmer Bernstein and stunning cinematography by James Wong Howe. "Some of the sharpest dialogue ever cut in Hollywood. We're talking cast-iron classic" Empire

Some Like It Hot (PG)

Fri 7 Oct - 1.30 pm [C2]
Billy Wilder, 119 mins, 1959
Two struggling Prohibition-era musicians working in a Chicago speakeasy - Joe (Tony Curtis) and Jerry (Jack Lemmon) - inadvertently witness the St. Valentine's Day massacre. With mobsters in hot pursuit, the two flee the state disguised as women in an all-girl band. Marilyn Monroe is at her coquettish best as the band's singer, Sugar Kane Kowalczyk, while Curtis and Lemmon relish their cross-dressing roles and the good-natured innuendo and slapstick of Wilder's (Oscar-nominated) screenplay. Curtis displays a fine sideline in Cary Grant impersonations when his character passes himself off as the heir to the Shell Oil fortune in a bid to impress Monroe. Billy Wilder's comedy hit features Ms Monroe in an array of Oscar-winning costumes by (Australian-born) Hollywood designer to-the-stars, Orry Kelly, who also dressed Curtis and Lemmon in their roles as Josephine and Daphne. "One of the enduring treasures of the movies, a film of inspiration and meticulous craft" Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Seniors' Cinema at ACMI

Saturdays and Sundays at 11 am, Monday matinees at 1.30 pm ACMI's year-round film series for seniors resumes on Saturday 8 October. Pick up a copy of the October 2011-April 2012 Seniors' Cinema flyer for session details.

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