MIFF 2006

James Hewison
#55

In this, my last year at our Film Festival, we have streamlined the MIFF programme, seeking once again to champion critical areas in contemporary cinema, from the renewed vigour in our local filmmaking community to our Asia Pacific neighbours, from the immediate work from the Middle East, exemplified in our filmmaker in focus, Iranian Jafar Panahi, to the Danish phoenix rising from the ideological constraints of Dogme in Danmark Nu. If cinema has the power to affect change and challenge orthodoxies, then it's evident in Globalised and in the concrete wastelands from the USA to Australia in a remarkable selection of Super 8mm skateboard films, which evoke the freedom and creative spirit of the 70s — get into it!

James Hewison
Executive Director

Introduction taken from the 2006 official guide

Festival Program
245 feature films and 111 short films were screened from 26 July to 13 August
Full Program

Program in Focus
James Hewison's last MIFF program featured a focus on new women filmmakers, Melbourne on Screen, the Asian Metropolis, Brain Monkey Sushi - new Japanese cinema, sociopolitical documentaries in Globalised, and Film on Film, a program stream which took audiences into the mechanisms of filmmaking as a cultural exploit. A showcase of films from Asia, Australia, Iran and Denmark was featured. In its third year Accelerator brought together some of the hottest new filmmaking talent from Australia and New Zealand, in a collection of stellar short films. 

Filmmaker in Focus
Jafar Panahi. A retrospective of Panahi's work was screened.
{focus Jafar Panahi}

Opening Night Film
2:37 (Murali K. Thalluri)
More

Image Gallery

Films

Afraid So

Afraid So

afraid so
USA
MIFF 2006
Beta Test

Beta Test

ostani ispraven
MIFF 2006

Brothers, Let Us Be Merry

Brüder, Lasst Uns Lustig Sein
MIFF 2006
USA
MIFF 2006
Checkpoint

Checkpoint

checkpoint
Director Ben Phelps
MIFF 2006
ELECTION 2

ELECTION 2

Hak se wui yi wo wai kwai
Director Johnnie To
MIFF 2006
MIFF 2006

Everything We Are

everything we are
MIFF 2006
FEARLESS

FEARLESS

Huo Yuan Jia
Director Ronny Yu
MIFF 2006
MIFF 2006

From gold to grapes the story of landsborough

From gold to grapes: the story of landsborough
Director Al Macinnes
MIFF 2006
Fumi and the Bad Luck Foot

Fumi and the Bad Luck Foot

Fumi and the bad luck foot
Director David Chai
USA
MIFF 2006

Look Sharp

look sharp
MIFF 2006
LUXURY CAR

LUXURY CAR

jiang cheng xia ri
Director Wang Chao
MIFF 2006
Me As Usual

Me As Usual

Jeg som regel
MIFF 2006
Nature's Way

Nature's Way

nature's way
MIFF 2006
NORTHERN LIGHT

NORTHERN LIGHT

langer licht
MIFF 2006
Ousmane

Ousmane

Deweneti
Director Dyana Gaye
MIFF 2006
Wraith of Cobble Hill, The

Wraith of Cobble Hill, The

The Wraith of Cobble Hill
USA
MIFF 2006

From the Festival Files

On Screen and in the Cinema

The magic of the festival is reached through its screens. These are places and spaces that captivate our attention, providing windows where films come to life before our eyes. As portals to the world, the festival’s screens allow us to travel the globe, move through time, and see through another’s eyes. … Yet these screens also remind us of home. They are fixed in place, in our memories and in o …

Making the Festival

The Melbourne Film Festival began as the idea of a few passionate individuals. A sub-committee, formed from delegates to the 1951 Australian Council of Film Societies film weekend, suggested that a small festival of films in the tourist town of Olinda should be held in 1952. The resulting festival was a testament to the do-it-yourself initiative of the Olinda festival committee. As some 800 festiv …