Tiriki Onus thought he knew his grandfather Bill, until an unearthed film reel suggests he might have been the first ever Aboriginal filmmaker.

A visionary exploration of the inherent biases in surveillance technology from one of North America’s most fascinating and inventive documentary filmmakers.

This psychological crime thriller pushes genre into daring territory and dazzles with a lush visual style that heralds the arrival of a major new Chinese filmmaking talent.

An unplanned pregnancy unites two very different Costa Rican women in unique ways.

The perpetration and subsequent cover-up of one of the 20th century’s worst mass murders are examined in detail in Sergei Loznitsa’s remarkable archival collage.

A bereaved single mother does battle with the Iranian justice system in this tense drama.

Amid Iran’s widespread 2019 floods, three young musicians set out for a career-making gig in Tehran. But as the water rises, their chances of making it on time diminish.

Commune or cult? This epic documentary illuminates the Rajneesh sannyasin movement in 1980s Fremantle, as told by those who lived through it.

A collection of the best short films of the festival, as chosen by the MIFF Shorts Awards Jury and the MIFF Shorts Programmer.

Charlotte Rampling guides you through underwater caves filled with bioluminescent creatures in this SXSW Virtual Cinema Competition Audience Award winner.

Military rule fuses with ultra-modern digital technologies to open up an ethereal portal that transcends time.

Roam through Soviet ruins in this poetic dissection of a crumbled past and an always forward-looking future.

Hot Docs award winner Todd Chandler examines disturbing evolutions in today’s USA, where schools operate in the shadow of mass shootings.

This ode to sport and friendship takes us to the world’s largest Syrian refugee camp, where two soccer-obsessed teens see the game as their way out.

This complex, evocative period piece about human disconnection invites you to a party in 1990s Belgrade – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles costume optional.

A unique melding of biopic and biographical documentary, this 90s classic – sumptuously restored in time for its 30th anniversary – pays tribute to a vanished era of cinema.

This uplifting feast of a film goes behind the scenes of an Italian hotel-restaurant staffed by youngsters living with Down syndrome.

A long-lost masterpiece of 1970s Iranian cinema finally re-emerges on the big screen.

Veteran filmmaker Frederick Wiseman offers a fascinating longform insight into the dramas, frustrations and triumphs of local government.

A sweet, touchingly funny tale about a working-class teen whose newfound passion for singing helps her connect with her deaf family in new ways.

Food lovers won’t be able to resist this tantalising story of a master ramen chef and his legendary Tokyo noodle shop.

For one family, a wholesome trip to New Zealand’s remote countryside turns into the stuff of nightmares.

The intricacies of a moment of connection are dwelt on in this meditative examination of male desire by Tsai Ming-liang.

A Soviet official finds her loyalty to the regime tested when her daughter goes missing in the aftermath of a massacre.

Legendary American lesbian feminist filmmaker Barbara Hammer turns her lens to the inner workings of Japanese filmmaking collective Ogawa Productions.

A hypnotic portrait of a young couple surviving life in an off-the-beaten-track, opportunity-starved outback town.

An absurdist study of the human body as a limitless instrument for self-discovery.

This hypnotic exploration of a family’s psychological turmoil under the shadow of Thai history won the FIPRESCI Prize in this year’s IFFR competition.

An elegant, neorealist debut that captures the beating heart of Lagos in the stories of two local dreamers struggling with their city’s Kafkaesque capitalism.

In an Ethiopian community dependent on its cash crop in more ways than one, a new generation’s furtive hopes slip through the cracks.

The directorial debut from producer Tanith Glynn-Maloney reimagines the 1954 auditions for Charles Chauvel’s iconic final film.

A Bruce Lee martial-arts classic gets an Indigenous twist as the first feature film ever to be fully dubbed in an Aboriginal Australian language.

Enter the mind of the world’s greatest con man – and get that dough.

This riveting firsthand account tells the story behind the legendary band that helped inspire the alternative rock sound of the 90s.

This Gen Z Before Sunrise finds tender romance in youthful self-discovery.

This true story of an acid attack survivor’s fight to alter her daughter’s destiny is an inspiring and heartwarming call-to-action.

Slow-cinema master Lav Diaz returns with another mordantly meditative piece – one that nabbed him Venice’s Orizzonti Best Director gong.

MIFF alumnus and Shorts Award winner Eddy Bell returns with an intimate and critical portrait of one of Australia’s worst droughts.

Subtitled A Very Human Tech Doc, this timely documentary exposes the true cost of the gig economy quietly powering our everyday lives.

An intricate psychological ode to simmering emotion amid unfettered separation anxiety, which took home two Encounters awards at the Berlinale.

A guided tour through art history as seen through the female gaze – and a savvy, subversive rejoinder to centuries of representation from the eyes of the male beholder.

Divorced, lonely and inept with the web, a 50-year-old man decides to try his hand at finding love online – with spectacularly catastrophic results.

Misogynist or champion of women? This expansive portrait of a controversial fashion icon captures both light and shade.

Winning a Special Mention at CPH:DOX, this moving, poignant film is a love letter to a deaf and blind brother from his younger sister.

The bold directorial debut of Portrait of a Lady on Fire actor Luàna Bajrami is a luminously kinetic depiction of teenage ennui and troublemaking.

Attempting to quell some tension, a mother and daughter head to the hot springs… but more heat isn’t what they need.

A collective springs to life in this radiant tribute to radical Black politics.

Moment and memory blend as you bear witness to a Samoan rite of passage.

The campaign to free Julian Assange takes on intimate dimensions in this documentary portrait of an elderly man’s fight to save his son.

Constance Wu stars in this elegiac Hawaiian drama as the late wife of a man haunted by his past and slowly becoming a spectre in the present.

Ahead of her 100th birthday, Isey and her devoted son James prepare for the party of a lifetime.

Melbourne has never looked sleeker than in this low-key mumblecore piece.

An engrossing profile of a little-known 60s blues and folk icon, executive-produced by Wim Wenders.

This illustriously produced vigilante drama centres on a mother who will do anything to get her kidnapped daughter back.

Weave your way through the bustling streets and idyllic beaches of Lagos.

Noomi Rapace stars in this Un Certain Regard prize-winning supernatural drama about a couple who raise a very special child.

Ema star Mariana Di Girólamo is magnetically front and centre – literally – as a dangerous wannabe social media influencer in this dark drama.

Co-written by Christos Tsiolkas, this period drama depicts a newly-single father’s efforts to weather the turbulence of change – in his life and in the world around him.

A lead turn reminiscent of Marlon Brando anchors this neo-realist look at the Maltese fishing industry.

Emma Dante adapts her own acclaimed play: a melancholy tale of five Sicilian sisters whose lives are forever changed by a trauma from their youth.

In this Brazilian Gothic cri de coeur, the murder of a trans woman reverberates in the lives of the people around her.

Göteborg’s 2021 Ingmar Bergman International Debut Award winner dives into personal memories that embody the persistence of life in the face of enormous tragedy.

The “Black Woodstock” of 1969, which was filmed but never seen, finally makes it to the big screen in this Sundance US Documentary Grand Jury Prize winner.

Jason Di Rosso speaks to three directors whose intimate films, screening at MIFF 69, each shine a light on their own families – and therefore themselves.

Four documentarians discuss their MIFF 69 films that spotlight individuals who have carved out influential careers amid personal and professional struggles.

Bandar Band director Manijeh Hekmat discusses the films spotlighted in the New Iranian Cinema strand and the rise of filmmaking in this region.

A panel of filmmakers, academics and activists explore one of the prevalent documentary themes in this year’s festival: queer activism.

This bruising, tender queer drama reminiscent of Beau Travail explores homophobia and repressed desire in the Apartheid-era South African military.

Dash Snow epitomised “live fast, die young”, ascending from New York’s fringe to the major international art scene during his brief existence.

This timely, intelligent and emotional examination of state-sanctioned violence reveals a disturbingly universal story.

In Jacqueline Lentzou’s exceptional feature debut, an already strained father–daughter relationship is put under pressure.

An unsettling, melancholic portrait of what fame did to the talented young star of Death in Venice.

This sprawling, tender documentary captures the inspiring relationship between an unorthodox German schoolteacher and his culturally diverse teenage class.

Two brothers with diametrically opposed approaches to their faith are pitted against one another in this tense family drama.

Winner of the Silver Lion at the 2020 Venice Film Festival, this shocking, dystopian thriller is an incendiary indictment of class, racism and power that speaks to our times.

The first Iran–US co-production to open in Iranian cinemas since the revolution pits a couple against a malevolent hotel, trapping them in with their secrets.

A young prison inmate is transformed into a modern-day Scheherazade in this electrifying tribute to the power of storytelling.

Dive into this erotic, sensorial experience that transforms spoken word into audiovisual landscapes.

A twentysomething has to grapple with the pressures of impending maturity as well as the ‘ninjababy’ that has snuck inside her seemingly undetected.

Maliciously outed after his death, musician Billy Tipton is now a transmasculine icon.

Part road movie, part video essay, this lyrical tour-de-force from Angelo Madsen Minax finds catharsis in confronting family drama.

From the director of Golden Bear winner Fire at Sea comes an achingly poetic, humane meditation on life in the shadow of war and the Islamic State.

Carrie Brownstein and St. Vincent play versions of themselves in this music mockumentary that explores the absurdities of fame and friendship.

The lives of Indigenous women collide in this powerful feature debut, which takes aim at poverty, prejudice and the patriarchy.

This winner of multiple Czech Lion awards as well as Venice’s UNICEF Award is a stunning, utterly harrowing indictment of humanity at its worst.

A short-sighted boy uncovers family secrets in an intricate, Tim Burton–esque world.

Three elderly survivors of the 1945 firebombing of Tokyo fight against bureaucracy and indifference to ensure that the event and its victims are not forgotten.

Awarded IFFR’s top prize, this lean, arresting debut follows a primal father–son road trip across the arid landscapes of southern India.

Capturing the malaise of Chinese society at the tail end of the 20th century, Jia Zhang-ke’s restored feature debut is ripe for re-examination.

In this delightful slacker story, a young Parisian comic-book artist is on the hunt for stability, a career, self-confidence, love – but nothing seems to go her way.

A daughter explores her mother’s complex punk legacy in this no-holds-barred documentary.

Love and reality go under the scalpel in this story of obsession on the streets of Budapest.

A Lynchian depiction of self-transformation in the social media age.

Undead bikies, wealthy witches, Satanic butlers and magic frogs. What more could you want from a cult post-Hammer horror?

This gutsy and charming film about a young Ghanaian-American woman at a crossroads marks the arrival of a filmmaker with a fresh, unique vision.

A troubled medical scholar pits herself against institutional sexism in this steely moral thriller selected for Un Certain Regard.

Mads Mikkelsen headlines this ingenious, pitch-black Scandi revenge comedy.

Erupting with unforgettable images of Hawaii, this boundary-breaking essay film captures the splendour and turbulent colonial history of the island nation.

This unsettling chamber piece, while wearing the skin of a horror, is at heart a considered meditation on selflessness, loyalty and chronic illness.

This daring Sundance Directing Award winner tracks a band of volunteers out to rescue ISIS sex slaves from an infamous Syrian border camp.

Ogawa Productions’ first internationally successful film captures farmers in Sanrizuka, Japan, resisting a government takeover of their land.

In the ruthless world of competitive table-setting, it’s knives at 20 places.

Laurie Anderson narrates the untold history of the women who blazed a trail through electronic music.

Laura Dern is unforgettable in this 1986 Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner – now digitally restored – as a teen who pursues experiences she’s not really sure she wants.

Denis Côté’s witty, theatrical battle of the sexes turns social distancing into an exercise in mutual estrangement.

Tradition and technology meet head-on in this tense coming-of-age drama about two Egyptian teens and a web of deceptions.

Hot Docs 2020’s Best International Feature Documentary winner offers a dog’s-eye view of life in Istanbul.

Co-executive-produced by Ian Thorpe, this sports drama centres on a teenager fighting to stay afloat in the world of competitive swimming – and in his family life.

The “Black Woodstock” of 1969, which was filmed but never seen, finally makes it to the big screen in this Sundance US Documentary Grand Jury Prize winner.

A gang of streets kids is hired to pull off a dangerous heist in this Oscar-shortlisted coming-of-age drama from Iranian master director Majid Majidi.

Be swept up by Beethoven, Bernstein and Mahler in this joyous, majestic work.

Winner of Best First Appearance at IDFA 2020, this formally bold documentary traces a Kurdish-Ukrainian young man’s experiences of an endless cycle of war and peace.

Buckle up for the wildest, queerest car-fetish body-horror fable ever to win the Cannes Palme d’Or.

A tense mother–daughter survival story that paints an empathetic picture of outsider life across the subways and streets of New York City.

A French couple travelling by campervan around Australia discover their relationship is at a crossroads.

Starring Pamela Rabe, Margot Nash’s acclaimed first feature – now gloriously restored – is a must for the big screen.

Bill Morrison revisits lesser-known chapters of Soviet film history in this hypnotic fever dream that melds art and archive.

Abbas Kiarostami protégé Ahmad Bahrami’s 2020 Venice Orizzonti Award winner is a dreamlike expedition to a remote Iranian factory.

How do you get the world’s biggest rock band to play in your hometown? Become the world’s biggest rock band.

This Berlinale FIPRESCI Prize winner is a romantic, Kafkaesque fable full of poignant whimsy and playful imagery.

Kiyoshi Kurosawa makes his first foray into period filmmaking with a twisty, Hitchcockian tale of love and betrayal in WWII, which earned him a 2020 Silver Lion.

A Noongar high school student struggles to perform a Shakespearean sonnet for her drama class.

Artist, outsider, writer, queer activist. David Wojnarowicz was all of these things and more, as Chris McKim captures in his fiery documentary.

Just your ordinary story of a girl who falls in love with a wolfman and raises their children – this anime classic celebrates difference and unconventional families.

From race to religion, flesh to nature, this comprehensive documentary explores how cinema exhumes the old traumas that modernity tries to bury.

The first feature documentary made by queer filmmakers about queer life – by the Mariposa Film Group – captures an essential moment in the gay liberation movement.

Joachim Trier’s latest – winner of Best Actress at Cannes – is an elegant, playful character study about a young woman’s existential crisis.

Yael Stone and Emily Barclay star as frenemy sisters in this sibling dramedy by Madeleine Gottlieb.