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1985

Argentina

3/4 -

Luis Puenzo’s La Historia oficial (The Official Story), about the life of the middle class under the dictatorship of the junta, is released. [MORE] [ADD]

Finland

– The Forum Cinema in Helsinki, the country’s first multiplex, is opened.  [MORE] [ADD]

West Germany

29/3 -

Oberst Redl (Colonel Redl), Istvan Szabo’s adaptation of John Osborne's play A Patriot for Me, is released.   Klaus Maria Brandauer stars in the title role. [MORE] [ADD]

18/7 -

Comedian Otto Waalkes makes his film debut in Otto – Der Film, which he co-directs with Xaver Schwarzenberger.   The film goes on to become Germany’s most successful movie of all time. [MORE] [ADD]

Hong Kong

12/4 -

Chen Kaige’s Yellow Earth receives rapturous applause at its screening at the Hong Kong International Film Festival, heralding the launch of the New Chinese Cinema. [MORE] [ADD]

India

– 912 feature-length films are produced this year – a world record for any country in a single year. [MORE] [ADD]

Italy

Apr -

The government begins subsidising spectacle arts with a fund administered by Banco nazionale del Lavoro.   The scheme will help finance 89 films in 1985. [MORE] [ADD]

7/9 -

The Golden Lion at this year’s Venice Film Festival is awarded to Agnès Varda’s Sans toit ni loi (Vagabond), while Marion Hänsel wins the Silver Lion for Best First Work for her film, Dust. [MORE] [ADD]

Japan

May -

The first Tokyo International Film Festival takes place.   Akira Kurosawa’s Ran premieres, but the director does not attend. [MORE] [ADD]

1/6 -

Ran, 75-year-old Akira Kurosawa’s first film in five years, is released.   An adaptation of Shakespeare’s King Lear with the action taking place in 16^th Century Japan, the $11.5 million Franco-Japanese co-production stars Tatsuya Nakadai, Mieko Harada and a transvestite actor going under the single name of Peter. [MORE] [ADD]

23/11 -

Juzo Itami’s gastronomic comedy Tampopo (Dandelion) is released.   Nobuko Miyamoto stars in the title role as the proprietress of a fast-food noodle restaurant. [MORE] [ADD]

Kenya

– KIMC graduate Sao Gamba’s Kolormask is the first feature film to be produced in Kenya. [MORE] [ADD]

Macedonia

– Milcho Manchevski’s debut short film Opasna baba (Dangerous Granny) is released. [MORE] [ADD]

Nepal

– Tulshi Gimere’s Kusume Rumal is released, and becomes the first Nepali film to enjoy a silver jubilee run (25 weeks).  [MORE] [ADD]

Norway

– The Statens Studiesenter for Film (Centre for Film Studies) is established. [MORE] [ADD]

Philippines

5/10 -

President Ferdinand Marcos issues a decree replacing the Board of Review for Motion Pictures and Television (BRMPT) with the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) as the nation's censorship authority. [MORE] [ADD]

Spain

12/11 -

Producer Alfredo Matas holds a meeting of film professionals at the O’Pazo restaurant in Madrid to discuss the state of the Spanish film industry which will result in the formation of the Academia de las Artes y las Ciencias Cinematográficas de España ('Spanish Academy of Arts and Cinematographic Sciences', AACCE). [MORE] [ADD]

Sweden

12/12 -

Lasse Hallström’s second feature film, Mitt liv som hund (My Life as a Dog), is released.   Anton Glanzelius stars as a 12-year-old boy who is sent to live with relatives in a small country village when he proves too much for his elder brother and sick mother. [MORE] [ADD]

Taiwan

– A new rating system is introduced by the government: ‘general admission’ and ‘adult only’ for audiences over 18 years of age. [MORE] [ADD]