The full line-up for this year’s Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) was unveiled this evening, with a significant number of Australian additions, such as the world premieres of Jason Raftopoulos’ sophomore feature Voices in Deep and Matthew Adekponya’s behind-the-scenes look at how the Boomers took bronze in Tokyo, Rose Gold.
Other newly-announced local fare include John Curran’s Mercy Road; Matt Vesely’s Monolith; Gabriel Carrubba’s Sunflower; Jack Clark and Jim Weir’s Birdeater, which recently won the audience award in Sydney; Soda Jerk’s Hello Dankness; Ricard Cussó and Tania Vincent’s animation Scarygirl; and Ben Joseph Andrews’ XR work, Turbulence: Jamais Vu.
Bringing the scares will be the Cairnes brothers’ Late Night With the Devil, which debuted at SXSW; Josiah Allen and Indianna Bell’s You’ll Never Find Me, fresh from a premiere in Tribeca; and Nick Kozakis’ Godless: The Eastfield Exorcism.
Local documentaries to screen include Adrian Russell Wills and Gillian Moody’s Kindred; ABC Radio National critic Jason di Rosso’s personal essay Hidden Spring; Douglas Watkins, Jill Robinson, E.J. Garret and S.F. Tusa’s four-part Rebel With A Cause; Ukraine Guernica – Artist War from George Gittoes; Tyson Mowarin’s Keeping Hope, and Isabel Darling’s The Carnival.
A live performance will accompany the world premiere of Rosie Jones’ Abebe-Butterfly Song, about the friendship between Papuan musician Sir George Telek and Not Drowning, Waving’s David Bridie. It forms part of the The Music on Film strand, which will also feature Ian White’s Mutiny in Heaven: The Birthday Party and the previously announced EGO: The Michael Gudinski Story, which will have a gala screening – expect some big names in Australian music to be in attendance.
Festival director Al Cossar calls MIFF’s 71st iteration is a “delivery of scale”, with 267 titles from 70 countries around the world, including almost 50 films from Cannes.
One of the most “vital, dynamic” elements of MIFF for Cossar is the $140,000 Bright Horizons competition, now in its second year. In his view, the competition leads the team’s curatorial approach, in that it aims to amplify new cinema and has a focus on works from first and second-time directors. Each of the 12 films makes its Australian premiere.
“I think about MIFF as this very overwhelming, ‘at scale’ program that I think even for cinephiles, can be – not intimidating, but a lot to work your way through. We’re constantly looking for ways to design a program that makes it easier, but still maintains the integrity and the depth of cinephilia that we love and is fitting for MIFF.
“With something like Bright Horizons, it’s an open door to discovery. It’s saying ‘This is a place where there is an exciting wealth of new talent and new voices, and filmmakers that will, in our opinion, continue to some very significant places’.”