Avoiding MIFF fatigue in 2017
If you’re a MIFF fanatic like Evan Young, each year you get a little overexcited and may end up over-doing it during the festival. This can lead to post-MIFF (or, worse, in-MIFF) illness, cramping your festival style. Get the most out of MIFF with this seasoned festival fan's tips for staving off festival fatigue.
By Evan Young
The thrill of first glimpsing the full program, of seeing the films that floored Cannes on the docket, finding out the festival snagged the long-lost 35mm cut of your favourite 20s Russian sci-fi... it’s enough to arouse the hedonic hotspots of any cinephile. But if you don't take care, and prepare, susceptibility to "MIFF fatigue" could increase.
Aelita, Queen of Mars
MIFF fatigue is an acute condition and phenomenon that can occur annually in Melbourne-based movie buffs, usually hitting during the month of August, and lingering into the coming weeks. Symptoms manifest in many ways, including but not limited to: lack of sleep, inability to recall which film that amazing scene was in, and overall exhaustion.
Stave off MIFF fatigue this year and keep the fire burning all festival long with these handy tips:
Pace Yourself
There's so much on during MIFF that scheduling of events can pose the odd Rubik's Cube-like shuffling, but even the most seasoned schedulers may end up with some with unavoidable clashes or build-ups. Pacing yourself in the days following such instances could do a lot of good.
For example, if you’re following all eight hours of Top of the Lake: China Girl with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra’s live score of There Will Be Blood on Saturday 5 August, keeping Sunday MIFF-lite might be a good idea.
So instead of seeing Lav Diaz's four-hour The Woman Who Left on Sunday, book into the Friday 18 August session instead. Keep Sunday for something shorter, such as Spookers or Sleeping Beauty.
Nicole Kidman in Top of the Lake: China Girl
Eat healthy and exercise
How do you expect to remain fresh through two+ weeks of recurrent screen bingeing if your body isn’t in decent shape? Consuming healthy foods and keeping active throughout the festival will definitely help you stay positive this year. Film watching, while infinitely pleasurable, is a largely passive activity. If you’ve got a stacked MIFF schedule, you’ll be spending a lot of time on your backside.
The MIFF Festival Lounge serves a range of healthy snacks and meals, and MIFF Members get 10% off all food and beverages.
Meditation might be a good way for time-pressed individuals to refresh. There’s few better and more convenient mental distractions from the sensorial cavalcade of pixels and sound vibrations at MIFF, even if only for 10 minutes. I’ll probably be doing it before each screening.
The MIFF calendar gives a great visual indication of how much time you have between sessions for meal or meditation breaks!
Limit late-nights
Don’t let evening sojourns to the bar turn into all-nighters. Melbourne has no shortage of restaurants, bars and nightspots to relax and gab after watching something at MIFF, but staying until closing time each night probably isn’t a routine you want to adopt. Go home. Get some sleep.
Regulate other screen media
Yes, there’s going to be new Game of Thrones and Twin Peaks: The Return episodes airing through MIFF 2017, but there’s only so much screen media one can take before reaching an inevitable tipping point. If you’re watching over four hours per day, there’s a good chance you’re not getting the outside, social and emotional stimulation your body craves. Being available for real life is important.
Allocating blocks of time away from smart device screens to enjoy other parts of life (yes, there are in fact facets of human existence outside of film) might just be what helps you stave off MIFF fatigue this year. It certainly won’t hurt to try.
Listen to your body
A big reason movies exist is for our leisure and entertainment. If the prospect of an upcoming session suddenly feels like it might not be so leisurely, check to see if it’s screening at a time later in the festival more convenient to your body. Most films will have more than one session. If you can’t swap into another time slot, don’t despair: the MIFF fairy has been known to wave their magic boom mic and add extra sessions to those initially scheduled. In this event, the MIFF website will have all the info you need to know.
Lead image: don't end up like Sleeping Beauty!