Truth is definitely stranger than fiction with the Documentaries strand, which presents – and probes – the many facets of real life. From famous and not-so-famous faces to spectacular and far-flung places, these films are inspiring, blood-boiling, entertaining, educational, emotional and true.
Documentaries

Age of Rage - The Australian Punk Revolution
The mainstream hated them, but those behind the Aussie punk assault of the 1970s and 80s wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.
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All That Breathes
This Sundance winner follows two brothers whose commitment to rescuing birds highlights the need for humans to care for nature – and one another.
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Audrey Napanangka
Producer Penelope McDonald returns to the director’s chair with this 10-years-in-the-making tribute to an artist, actor and proud Warlpiri woman.
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The Balcony Movie
Acclaimed Polish documentarian Paweł Łoziński finds wonder and wisdom in the everyday from two floors up.
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Because We Have Each Other
Sari Braithwaite’s delightfully intimate new feature invites us to share the mundane and the magnificent with a neurodivergent, working-class family.
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Blue Island
Hong Kong has long been an epicentre of activism. This film uses the prism of generational change to shed light on its ongoing fight for its future.
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Children of the Mist
A delicately handled documentary portrait of a sparky teen girl torn between her community’s traditions and an independent future.
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Citizen Ashe
A powerful documentary about the life and cultural impact of tennis icon Arthur Ashe, the first Black athlete to win a Grand Slam singles title.
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Clean
The genuinely inspirational story of how ‘trauma cleaner’ Sandra Pankhurst responded to an unseen world with radical kindness.
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Closing Night Gala - Clean
The genuinely inspirational story of how ‘trauma cleaner’ Sandra Pankhurst responded to an unseen world with radical kindness.
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Delikado
From the frontlines, this thriller-esque documentary cuts like a chainsaw at the heart of the Philippines’ fight for its environmental life.
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Diamond Hands: The Legend of WallStreetBets
The improbable tale of the irreverent subredditors who took on Wall Street at the height of the pandemic – and caused a financial sensation.
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Dreaming Walls
Step inside New York’s iconic Chelsea Hotel as a decade-long refurbishment nears completion, and meet its colourful residents and illustrious ghosts.
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Embrace Kids
Filled with fun and joy, this vital documentary shows kids how to move, nourish, respect and embrace their bodies.
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The Endangered Generation?
Combining modern science with ancient First Nations knowledge, this documentary seeks new ways of thinking about the many crises facing our planet.
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Ennio
A star-studded portrait of Ennio Morricone, maestro composer for Sergio Leone, Terrence Malick and – this film’s own director – Giuseppe Tornatore.
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Everybody's Oma
An ageing matriarch living with dementia becomes a viral sensation after her son sets out to preserve her precious final moments on film.
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Fashion Reimagined
No designer has ever tested the ethics of their practice by visiting all their suppliers around the world … until Mother of Pearl’s Amy Powney.
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Fire Front
Eddie Martin puts viewers on the frontlines of the 2019–2020 bushfires, capturing the catastrophe with a perspective and scale never before seen.
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Fire of Love
In this love story written in lava, two intrepid scientists who adore volcanoes as much as each other gift the world with something extraordinary.
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Framing Agnes
She gamed a transphobic medical system – and now this hybrid documentary about trans identity gets playful in telling her community’s stories.
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Franklin
A young Tasmanian activist follows in the literal footsteps of his late father, who in the 80s fought to save the pristine Franklin River wilderness.
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Futura
Three of Italy’s finest filmmakers take to the road to craft a humanistic portrait of the country today, as seen through the eyes of its youth.
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General Hercules
It’s David vs. Goliath in the Aussie outback in this profoundly topical documentary of an independent upstart battling the political establishment.
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Geographies of Solitude
A portrait of one woman’s quest to preserve a unique landscape in the face of ecological devastation and the limits of her solitary existence.
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Greenhouse by Joost
Joost Bakker investigates what it would be like to grow all the food you ever needed, leaving no waste as you do so, right at your doorstep.
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Hide and Seek
A vivid and empathetic inside look at one of Naples’ toughest neighbourhoods, where one boy finds his dreams threatened by a dark legacy.
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Homosexuality: A Film for Discussion
A pioneering work of LGBTQIA+ representation that deftly punctures social myths around homosexuality in 1970s Melbourne.
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A House Made of Splinters
This Sundance winner offers a timely, immersive glimpse at the lives of Ukrainian children near the frontlines of the pre-invasion war with Russia.
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I Didn't See You There
Winner of Sundance’s US Documentary Directing Award, this formidable, deeply personal piece of filmmaking inhabits the perspective of disability.
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I'm So Sorry
Zhao Liang presents a majestic visual elegy to remind us of nuclear power’s catastrophic potential, even as a viable alternative to fossil fuels.
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In This Life's Body
A titan of Australian experimental cinema journeys deep within her own past.
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Jane by Charlotte
Charlotte Gainsbourg makes her directorial debut with this tender, quietly revelatory portrait of her mother, Jane Birkin.
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Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble in Mind
Ethan Coen’s solo debut is a canny doc about rock ’n’ roll’s wild-man that will entice both fans of Jerry Lee Lewis and those new to his story.
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The Lost City of Melbourne
The ‘modernisation’ of Melbourne in the 50s razed much of the city, including its elegant cinemas. Now, a Melbourne-made doc brings them back to life.
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Lynch/Oz
David Lynch is revered as a master of the dark and avant-garde; why is he obsessed with The Wizard of Oz? John Waters, Karyn Kusama and more explain.
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Man on Earth
Amiel Courtin-Wilson (Ruin, Bastardy) returns to MIFF with this unfaltering, compassionate exploration of voluntary assisted dying.
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A Marble Travelogue
Follow the world’s favourite stone as it embarks on a cross-cultural odyssey – from quarry to gift shop – in this colossal tale of commodification.
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Meet Me in the Bathroom
Don your skinny jeans and vintage tees for this ode to New York’s aughts rock renaissance, featuring The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and LCD Soundsystem.
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Moonage Daydream
An immersive, kaleidoscopic trip through the art and music of iconic shapeshifter David Bowie, with stunningly restored and never-before-seen footage.
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Mr Landsbergis
Ukraine’s greatest living filmmaker returns with another epic hunt through the Soviet archives: a lauded deconstruction of the ‘Singing Revolution’.
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My Imaginary Country
Direct from Cannes comes Chilean master Patricio Guzmán’s latest razor-sharp reflection on his homeland: a chronicle of the Santiago uprising of 2019.
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My Old School
Animation, Alan Cumming and an academic hoax come together in this stranger-than-fiction documentary about an infamous Scottish scandal.
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Nature
The first film in 30 years from legendary Armenian auteur Artavazd Pelechian, Nature is a black-and-white, found-footage montage of pure awe and power.
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Navalny
This award-winning, jaw-dropping documentary follows Vladimir Putin’s political rival as he investigates a state-sponsored poisoning: his own.
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Nelly & Nadine
Winner of the Berlinale’s Teddy Jury Award, this is the true story of two women who survived WWII’s horrors and smashed social taboos to pursue love.
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Nothing Compares
Sinéad O’Connor broke the mould: she was a nuclear bombshell, an angelic-voiced firebrand and a woman ahead of her time. But she was broken in return.
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The Pawnshop
A dark but tender docu-comedy about the eccentric proprietors of Poland’s largest pawnshop – and their absurd idea to save a business lost in time.
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The Pez Outlaw
Corporate espionage thriller. Globe-trotting heist caper. Sweet rom-com. True-crime documentary. The Pez Outlaw is all these things and more.
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The Plains
An intriguing, intimate epic that charts the personal ebbs and flows of two men in conversation across the highways and byways of Melbourne.
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Pub: The Movie
From the director of The Search for Weng Weng comes a film as delightfully irreverent as its subject, Fred Negro – “the unofficial mayor of St Kilda”.
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The Real Charlie Chaplin
A warts-and-all (or moustache-and-all) account of the life and times of a cinematic legend whose grand hijinks thrilled and scandalised the world.
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The Reason I Jump
Returning to MIFF, this Sundance Audience Award winner is a revelatory, immersive adaptation of Naoki Higashida’s memoir of a neurodiverse life.
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Rewind & Play
Thelonious Monk broke the jazz mould. Here’s what happened when a French TV show tried to stuff him back into it.
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The Rise and Fall of Squizzy Taylor
An oral history of the 1920s Melbourne criminal underworld recounts the life and times of one of its most infamous figures.
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Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams
Italian cinema luminary Luca Guadagnino tells the story of Salvatore Ferragamo, whose fancy footwear took him from the silver screen to the runway.
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Senses of Cinema
This archival treasure trove chronicles the rise and role of Melbourne and Sydney filmmaking cooperatives in the 1960s and 1970s.
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Splice Here: A Projected Odyssey - David Thomas Tribute Screening
Join us in tribute to MIFF’s late Technical Manager for 30 years for a new film that itself finds its heart among the projection booths of Melbourne.
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Under Cover
As Australia’s housing crisis deepens, this Margot Robbie–narrated film shows us the fastest-growing social group facing homelessness: women over 55.
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Volcano Man
When a filmmaker son sets out to make a documentary about his filmmaker father, long-buried feelings and dormant memories bubble to the surface.
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We, Students!
An rare look at life in the Central African Republic as four students are thrown personal and emotional curveballs on their path to a better future.
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We Were Once Kids
Eddie Martin revisits the cultural landscape of Larry Clark’s iconic 90s film Kids, which paved a bumpy path for its young stars’ future success.
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Who Killed The KLF?
Audiences are bound for Mu Mu Land as a line-up of house music heroes gives the low-down on the greatest and most mysterious dance outfit in history.
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