Screens August 11, 16

In Neon, Australian documentary maker Lawrence Johnston celebrates the art form that lit up diners, theatres and casinos – the gas in a tube that defined Times Square, helped build Las Vegas and seemed to herald the arrival of the future in early 20th-century America. Through the eyes of neon lovers and artists, Johnston takes us from neon’s rise in Paris in the 1900s to its demise and the "Neon Boneyard" in Las Vegas today. But his film is as much a story of America as of commercial signage, encompassing the neon patent wars of the 1920s, the dark undertones neon acquired in the noir films of the 1940s and ’50s, and a teary tribute to Disneyland’s Cars Land. Narrower in focus and less impressionistic in tone than some of his previous work, Neon nonetheless follows Night (2007) and Eternity (1994) in its interest in the experience of the city after dark, and its cinematography fully exploits its spectacular subject matter. Though Johnston focuses on the USA – neon's "spiritual home" – Melbourne's iconic Skipping Girl Vinegar sign also appears. This is a nostalgic look at the technology that swept aside incandescent signs and is itself now being replaced by LED lighting. It's also a reminder that we ought to look up more often, to savour the retro Americana and candy-coloured kitsch before it's gone forever.