Last night the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) unveiled an exciting, star-studded line-up for the 71st festival – featuring over 265 features, shorts, restorations, retrospectives and XR experiences.
Across 18 days in August, the festival will deliver silver screen magic in some of the most iconic theatres across metropolitan Melbourne, in regional cinemas participating in the festival’s roadshow and in your own home via the online program MIFF Play.
Kicking off with Opening Night Gala screening of Melbourne-based filmmaker Noora Niasari’s Sundance award-winning feature Shayda, the festival will showcase the most buzzworthy titles from the global festival circuit alongside the world premieres of Victorian-made films including Ego: The Michael Gudinski Story, the Australian Open doco The Slam and the feel-good This Is Going to Be Big.
In addition to showcasing the work of lauded international writers and directors, the festival also strongly backs exciting new voices in Australian cinema including through MIFF’s filmmaker development program Accelerator. This year’s Accelerator cohort includes Melbourne brothers Jay and Shaun Perry whose dramedy short film Cold Water (pictured), will screen as part of the short film program. Cold Water was funded in part via a Creative Victoria Creative Workers Fund grant the pair received in 2021.
Running for its second year, the Bright Horizons competition will once again add some high-stakes excitement to the festival thanks to the VicScreen-presented awards offering one of the most lucrative filmmaking prizes in the world. MIFF will also present The Blackmagic Design Australian Innovation Award and MIFF Audience Award, with the winners for all prize categories announced at the festival’s Closing Night Gala on Saturday 19 August.
In addition to screenings, the program features a range of artist conversations, Q&As and an impressive guests program that will take festival-goers behind the scenes on some of the most exciting new, and beloved classic, films.
MIFF 2023 will run from 3-20 August; including regional screenings from 11-13 and 18-20 August. The festival’s online streaming platform, MIFF Play, will host screenings from 18-27 August.
For more information, and tickets, visit the MIFF website.