Feature
Past Event

1000 Women in Horror

The nightmares that haunt our screen have long been sculpted by women, but many went unrecognised – an oversight this documentary takes a chainsaw to.

Dir. Donna Davies / 2025 / 96 mins / USA / English
Past Event

1000 Women in Horror Surprise Double Feature

Follow up one of the documentary highlights of this year’s program with a terrifying double bill.

Feature
Past Event

1001 Frames

Auditioning for the dream role of Scheherazade in One Thousand and One Nights becomes a nightmare in this form-blurring thriller.

Dir. Mehrnoush Alia / 2025 / 87 mins / Iran / Farsi
Short
Past Event

400 Cassettes

Faye and Elly leave high school behind for a summer under a sky full of stars. But are they living in the moment, or in a past that’s only just coming to light?

Dir. Thelyia Petraki / 2024 / 14 mins / Greece / Greek
Short
Past Event

5'12"

Following the death of his mother, a local oddball becomes inexplicably obsessed with growing one inch taller.

Dir. Seth Gabrielsson / 2024 / 16 mins / Australia / English
XR
Past Event

8 Billion Selves

When there are 8 billion humans roaming the earth, how do we conceive of ourselves as both unique and just like everybody else?
Dir. Doris Konings, Spinvis, Tibor de Jong / 2024 / 22 mins / Netherlands / No Dialogue
Shorts Package
Past Event

Accelerator Shorts 1

Exciting new filmmaking voices from across Australia and New Zealand.

93 mins
Shorts Package
Past Event

Accelerator Shorts 2

Fresh talent. Bold stories. Meet the next generation of local filmmakers.

85 mins
Short
Past Event

ACE

Riding along with his imaginary daredevil friend ACE, six-year-old Jimmy sets out on an epic quest to save his parents’ marriage.

Dir. Raymond Edwards / 2024 / 15 mins / New Zealand / English
Feature
Past Event

Adam's Sake

A harried nurse searches for answers about a malnourished boy in this gripping hospital drama directed by Bright Horizons alum Laura Wandel.
Dir. Laura Wandel / 2025 / 75 mins / France, Belgium / French
Short
Past Event

Ali

In a coastal town where women are forbidden to sing, a teenage boy with an unusual gift joins a singing competition. Will he reveal his true voice?

Dir. Adnan Al Rajeev / 2025 / 15 mins / Philippines, Bangladesh / Bengali
Short
Past Event

Alice

An evocative portrait of trans Brazilian surfer, skateboarder and artist Alice Barbosa as she builds her identity in a country fraught with prejudice and violence.

Dir. Gabriel Novis / 2025 / 17 mins / Brazil / Portuguese
Feature
Past Event

All I Had Was Nothingness

Four decades after the release of Claude Lanzmann’s Shoah, this contemporary reflection shines a light on the formidable documentary’s making and legacy.

Dir. Guillaume Ribot / 2025 / 95 mins / France / English, French, German, Polish, Hebrew
Feature
Past Event

Alphabet Lane

An isolated couple reinvigorate their relationship with parallel imaginary correspondences in this offbeat exploration of the mysteries of love.

Dir. James Litchfield / 2025 / 80 mins / Australia / English
Short
Past Event

Ana & Oto

In Rio de Janeiro, a filmmaker follows the misadventures of two young adults in existential crisis.

Dir. Isabela Costa / 2024 / 16 mins / Brazil / Portuguese
Shorts Package
Past Event

Animation Shorts

A kaleidoscope of animated wonder from around the world.
95 mins
Short
Past Event

Another Other

Wesley Snipes and former Harvard president Claudine Gay star in this cleverly juxtaposed meeting of Black American figures interrogated by white state officials.

Dir. Bex Oluwatoyin Thompson / 2025 / 9 mins / USA / English
Feature
Past Event

April

Local authorities close in on a rural Georgian doctor, leaving her with nowhere to run.

Dir. Dea Kulumbegashvili / 2024 / 134 mins / France, Italy, Georgia / Georgian
Feature
Past Event

The Arch

This newly 4K-restored masterwork – made when its director was just 27 – was one of the earliest independent arthouse films in Hong Kong.

Dir. T’ang Shushuen / 1968 / 95 mins / Hong Kong / Mandarin
Short
Past Event

Archipelago of Earthen Bones — To Bunya

Luminous images and hypnotic sounds from the Gondwana rainforest metamorphose into a landscape of ancient secrets and dazzling dreams.

Dir. Malena Szlam / 2024 / 20 mins / Australia, Canada, Chile / No Dialogue
Short
Past Event

As If the Earth Had Swallowed Them Up

Returning to her hometown in Mexico, Olivia is flooded with childhood memories. At first, they’re happy – but then she remembers the moment when everything changed.

Dir. Natalia León / 2024 / 14 mins / France / Spanish
Shorts Package
Past Event

Australian Shorts

Homegrown work from some of our most dynamic filmmakers.

89 mins
Feature
Past Event

The Bad Guys 2

The felonious critters are back for one last caper – and this time, they’re doing it for the girls.

Dir. Pierre Perifel / 2025 / 104 mins / USA / English
Feature
Past Event

The Ballad of Wallis Island

Can a rich, eccentric superfan reunite his favourite indie-folk duo? And can they mend his lonely heart?
Dir. James Griffiths / 2025 / 99 mins / UK / English
Feature
Past Event

The Baltimorons

In this SXSW Audience Award winner, a dental mishap plays cupid for a washed-up comedian and a disillusioned dentist on a life-changing Christmas Eve.

Dir. Jay Duplass / 2025 / 100 mins / USA / English
Feature
Past Event

Beast of War

When an Australian warship is sunk by Japanese fighter jets, the surviving soldiers are thrown into an all-out battle for survival against a giant shark.

Dir. Kiah Roache-Turner / 2025 / 87 mins / Australia / English
Feature
Past Event

Beauty and the Beast

Forget talking teacups: you’ll never think about the classic fairytale the same after you’ve experienced Juraj Herz’s macabre, subversive fantasy.

Dir. Juraj Herz / 1978 / 88 mins / Czechoslovakia / Czech
Shorts Package
Past Event

Best MIFF Shorts

A program of the award-winning short films, as chosen the MIFF Shorts Awards jury.

120 mins
Feature
Past Event

Birthright

Drawing battlelines between baby boomers and millennials, this theatrical pitch-black comedy offers a fresh slice of Australian Gothic.

Dir. Zoe Pepper / 2024 / 93 mins / Australia / English
Feature
Past Event

Black Ox

A farmer descends from a mountain in this Zen Buddhist meditation on the modernisation of Japan that boasts stunning celluloid imagery.

Dir. Tetsuichirô Tsuta / 2024 / 114 mins / USA, Japan, Taiwan / Japanese
Short
Past Event

Bleat!

When a male goat who was raised to be a sacrificial offering falls pregnant, a remote Tamil community wonders if it’s a curse or a miracle.

Dir. Ananth Subramaniam / 2024 / 16 mins / Philippines, France, Malaysia / Tamil
Feature
Past Event

BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions

Poetry, politics and the layered history of the Black experience collide in this pulsating, kaleidoscopic essay film

Dir. Kahlil Joseph / 2024 / 113 mins / USA / English
Short
Past Event

Bloodline

Once hunted to the brink of extinction, the European bison now dwells only in the forests of Poland and Belarus – putting it right on the frontlines of border patrols.

Dir. Wojciech Węglarz / 2024 / 12 mins / Poland / No Dialogue
Feature
Past Event

Blue Moon

Ethan Hawke brings legendary Broadway lyricist Lorenz Hart to life in Richard Linklater’s A-list ensemble portrait of fallen stardom.

Dir. Richard Linklater / 2025 / 100 mins / USA / English
Feature
Past Event

The Blue Trail

Taking home the Berlinale Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize, this brightly coloured odyssey is a spirited rebuke to ageism.

Dir. Gabriel Mascaro / 2025 / 86 mins / Mexico, Chile, Netherlands, Brazil / Portuguese
Feature
Past Event

BMX Bandits

No mere stackhat can restrain Nicole Kidman’s irrepressible teenage curls in this freshly restored Aussie action classic.

Dir. Brian Trenchard-Smith / 1983 / 92 mins / Australia / English
Short
Past Event

The Body

Jane spends her days playing a corpse on true-crime TV. At night, she tries to wash it all off, but the feelings start to stick.

Dir. Louris van de Geer / 2024 / 12 mins / Australia / English
Feature
Past Event

Brand New Landscape

Fresh from its Cannes premiere, 26-year-old director Yuiga Danzuka’s poignant family drama is an assured portrait of emotional and urban isolation.

Dir. Yuiga Danzuka / 2025 / 115 mins / Japan / Japanese
Shorts Package
Past Event

Breaking the Line: The Peta Searle Story

In 2004, Peta Searle’s playing career was cut short by a career-ending injury. Coaching was never part of the plan, until her club Darebin – a struggling club in crisis – begged her to take the reins. What followed was nothing short of revolutionary.

Dir. Grace Anna Cardona / 15 mins / Australia
Short
Past Event

A Brighter Summer Day for the Lady Avengers

In 1980s Taiwan, a young woman’s trip to the cinema – to see Dario Argento’s Deep Red – awakens sexual desires and celluloid dreams.

Dir. Birdy Wei-Ting Hung / 2024 / 12 mins / USA, Taiwan / Mandarin
Shorts Package
Past Event

Bush Boots

In Mooroopna, boots hit the dirt long before they hit the big stage. Bush Boots celebrates the Indigenous footy kids and the community role models guiding them, on and off the field.

Dir. Kynan Clarke, Isabel Dilena / 15 mins / Australia
Feature
Past Event

But Also John Clarke

For over 40 years, the iconic John Clarke tickled the funny bones of Australian and New Zealand audiences. Now, in this intimately produced documentary, hear his story in his own words.

Dir. Lorin Clarke / 2025 / 103 mins / Australia / English
Feature
Past Event

Butthole Surfers: The Hole Truth and Nothing Butt

Their irreverent, X-rated and sometimes dangerous live shows were the stuff of legend – but now, the Texas psych-punk jesters finally bare all.

Dir. Tom J. Stern / 2025 / 110 mins / USA / English
Feature
Past Event

By Design

In this absurdist satire, a woman is magically transformed into a chair – and discovers that everyone likes her better that way.

Dir. Amanda Kramer / 2025 / 91 mins / USA / English
Feature
Past Event

Cactus Pears

The unsaid speaks volumes in this Sundance Grand Jury Prize–winning, Marathi-language queer romance set in rural India.

Dir. Rohan Parashuram Kanawade / 2025 / 112 mins / UK, Canada, India / Marathi
Feature
Past Event

Careless

In a country where ageing has become a business, this funny, moving documentary follows elderly people’s fight to grow old their way.

Dir. Sue Thomson / 2025 / 88 mins / Australia / English
Short
Past Event

Caries

Inside the mouth of a vain weather presenter, a shaman attempts to create her masterpiece while battling storms of soup and toothpaste.

Dir. Aline Höchli / 2025 / 10 mins / Switzerland / No Dialogue
Feature
Past Event

Chain Reactions

The winner of Best Documentary on Cinema at Venice revs up and rips into perhaps the greatest slasher movie ever made: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Dir. Alexandre O. Philippe / 2024 / 103 mins / USA / English
Short
Past Event

Chantal Akerman: Her First Look Behind the Camera

The beginnings of Akerman’s signature style are captured in these early experimental short films she made at the age of 17.

Dir. Chantal Akerman / 1967 / 14 mins / Belgium / No Dialogue
Feature
Past Event

Chantal Akerman par Chantal Akerman

This auto-portrait made for French TV offers a rare first-person insight into the director’s life and artistic process.
Dir. Chantal Akerman / 1996 / 63 mins / France / French