It’s lights, camera, action for the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) this August, when a red carpet will be rolled out for a massive eighteen days of cinematic revelry. The festival celebrates Australian and international filmmaking with a program of more than 250 films. With so much to see, we've cut through the curtain to unveil everything you need to know.
What is the Melbourne International Film Festival?
MIFF is one of the oldest film festivals in the world, alongside Cannes and Berlin. The annual festival is held over three weeks each year throughout Melbourne and surrounds. Founded in 1952, the festival presents a curated global program of screen experiences and the world's largest showcase of Australian filmmaking.
When is the Melbourne International Film Festival?
Running between August 8 and 25, MIFF will include 18 days of in-cinema programming with star-studded events, world premiere screenings, headline features and filmmaker talks.
What sort of things can we expect from the program?
Popcorn at the ready folks, as you can expect a line-up of more than 250 films from all around the world. The full MIFF 2024 program has now been revealed and it boasts more than 400 sessions of Australian and world cinema, from drama to comedy and everything in between. Anticipate plenty of experimentation, too.
The festival will open on Thursday, August 8, with a flick from Oscar-winning Melburnian Adam Elliot, known for his acclaimed 2004 claymation film Harvie Crumpet. Elliot makes a triumphant return to the medium with a feature-length stop-motion called Memoir of a Snail. A bevy of stars voice the unique claymation creations, including Sarah Snook, Magda Szubanski, Tony Armstong, Nick Cave, Jacki Weaver and Kodi Smit-McPhee.
Elliot describes the film as “about Melbourne, made by Melburnians and voiced by Melburnians” – we love the sound of that!
The first round of program highlights include MIFF’s inaugural ‘premiere with purpose’ Left Write Hook, a social justice film that will have its own special black carpet event. Fungi: Web of Life will screen exclusively at IMAX with soothing narration from Björk, while Euphoria’s Hunter Schafer will grace our screens in Cuckoo, which was recently a hit at Berlinale. I Saw The TV Glow is another standout from our first look at the line-up, exploring pop culture as a lifeline through the lens of queerness with music from Caroline Polachek and yeule.
The fascinating features don't end there – we're looking forward to watching All We Imagine is Light, which is the first Indian film to screen in competition at Cannes in 30 years. We're also keen to step into the world of Japanese listening cafés with A Century In Sound.
Dance documentary Rewards for the Tribe presents an intimate look at dance companies Chunky Move and Restless Dance Theatre, the latter of which is a boundary-breaking troupe of dancers with disabilities.
Demi Moore confronts the horror of ageing in a patriarchal world in The Substance, while Problemista promises to deliver a dose of surrealist comedy, featuring Tilda Swinton.
How much are tickets for the Melbourne International Film Festival?
A Multipass-12 to MIFF gives you 12 standard festival admissions, which you can enjoy by yourself or share with friends. The full price for a share pass is $259.50 or $211.50 for concession holders. There’s also a Multipass-6 on offer for $146 or $119 for concession holders. Single session tickets are also available to purchase.
General public sales kick off at 9am on Tuesday, July 16. And for the first time, some MIFF sessions will have allocated seating. For more information about the program and how to get tickets, visit the MIFF website here.