Rats in the Ranks
TUESDAY 30 March 5:45pm for 6:00Pm start

Politics is a bruising business. In the award-winning documentary Rats in the Ranks (1996), film-makers Bob Connolly and Robin Anderson follow 12 councillors on Leichhardt Council in the lead-up to the 1994 mayoral elections. The mayor of the time, Larry Hand, was popular with the local citizens, but citizens don’t vote for the mayor—the councillors do—and  some of them were after Larry's job. What follows is a revealing behind-locked-doors look at how politics really work at the local council level.

Robin Anderson states: “[Rats in the Ranks] is a film about getting the numbers. And if you’re squeamish about the way it’s done, don’t single out Leichhardt because this is universal behaviour. In keeping with our fundamental approach to filmmaking, we tried to shed light on how democracy functions—not how it ought to function—how it actually functions.”

UPDATE: We are pleased to announce that Larry Hand, the former Mayor of Leichhardt who was featured Rats in the Ranks, will introduce the screening.

93 mins. Rated M. 93 minutes. Rated M.