This is the time of year to Think Big and Think MIFF; turn off your mobiles and laptops and focus on MIFF's big screens.

This year's Opening Night film, Robert Connolly's Balibo, is a complete change of tone from the opener of MIFF 08. It's a powerful political drama set to test the heartstrings and our relationship with Indonesia. Fast forward to our gala finale on August 8th, when we finish with an exuberant musical flourish in Rachel Perkins's Bran Nue Dae. Between these two extremes of contemporary Australian filmmaking lies another packed and varied program – including three more films from our own MIFF Premiere Fund.

As well as the warmth and comfort of your old favourite slots, this year the programming team has devised eight new programming streams – try Young Blood, Vengeance is Mine, Arts and Minds, or Eros + Massacre for a start. Be bold in your film selections, watch our website for updates and if you haven't yet joined up as a MIFF member please consider it. We're worth it.  

Richard Moore
Executive Director


Dear Miffological creatures,

Welcome again to one of the world's most revered and talked about film festivals. I was in Toronto last year promoting $9.99 (another smart animation feature expanding our reputation as highly original risk-takers); despite its commercial marketplace profile, the Canadian audiences are fabulous film buffs and they eye MIFF's expansive and eclectic global programming with a healthy degree of envy.

I've been away peddling some of our homegrown theatre on Broadway for the past five months and have returned to witness the blinding flash of an extraordinary explosion in local production, of thrilling and daring dimensions. Raw, funny, potent, beautiful filmmaking. I had an epiphany last December when I was standing on a beach in a heavy cassock in 45-degree heat shooting Bran Nue Dae. As an actor I couldn't believe I was performing in that rarest of genres – the indigenous Australian film musical. Broome rocks. You can jive in the aisles with that one on Closing Night. The punchy and powerful Balibo lights the fuse on Opening Night and in between you can reel from screen to screen, from country to country and feel the pulse of the planet. It's really pumping. Thanks, Richard and all of your team for this extraordinary annual fix.

Geoffrey Rush
MIFF Patron 

Introduction taken from the 2009 official guide

Festival Program
253 feature films and 86 short films were screened from 24 July to 9 August
Full Program

Program in Focus
The 2009 MIFF program continued to feature International Panorama, Documentaries, music documentaries and late night cult and horror films. New Balkan cinema featured, along with 5 feature MIFF Premiere Fund films co-financed by the Festival and the Victorian Government. Other program streams centred on retribution, human rights violations and films from the Japanese nuberu bagu of the 1960s. Arts and Minds celebrated the creative spirit, while other sections of the program focused on films dedicated to the adolescent gaze and the Australian post-punk underground. A slate of events took place, highlighted by a visit from Quentin Tarantino who introduced Inglourious Basterds, with the film's stars Diana Kruger and Christopher Waltz. British film composer Michael Nyman and Nicolas Winding Refn were also guests of the festival. 

Filmmaker in Focus
Anna Karina. Karina was a guest of the Festival, a retrospective of her work was screened.
{focus Anna Karina}

Opening Night Film
Balibo (Robert Connolly, 2008)  
More

Image Gallery

Films

ABOUT ELLY

DARBAREYE ELLY
MIFF 2009

ALL ABOUT ACTRESSES

le bal des actrices
MIFF 2009
USA
MIFF 2009
USA
MIFF 2009

BLACK DYNAMITE

Black Dynamite
USA
MIFF 2009
MIFF 2009
USA
MIFF 2009

DEFAMATION

hashmatsa
Director Yoav Shamir
MIFF 2009

ECCENTRICITIES OF A BLOND HAIR GIRL

SINGULARIDADES DE UMA RAPARIGA LOURA
MIFF 2009

EDEN IS WEST (M)

eden à l'ouest
MIFF 2009
UK
MIFF 2009

EVERYONE ELSE

alle anderen
Director Maren Ade
MIFF 2009
UK
MIFF 2009

LAND OF MADNESS

LA TERRE DE LA FOLIE
Director Luc Moullet
MIFF 2009

Lars and Peter

Lars og Peter
MIFF 2009

LIBERTY OF NORTON FOLGATE, THE

The Liberty of Norton Folgate
UK
MIFF 2009

LIKE YOU KNOW IT ALL

JAL ALIJIDO MOTAMYUNSEO
MIFF 2009
MIFF 2009
USA
MIFF 2009
MIFF 2009

PETITION: THE COURT OF THE COMPLAINANTS

Petition (La Cours des plaignants)
Director Zhao Liang
MIFF 2009
USA, UK
MIFF 2009

Suffering of Mr Karpf, The Birthday, The- TELL ME A STORY

DIE LEIDEN DES HERRN KARPF, DER GEBURTSTAG
Director Lola Randl
MIFF 2009

Water

WATER
MIFF 2009

WHITE RIBBON, THE

das weisse band
MIFF 2009

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 …