MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, Star Cinema
MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
MIFF and The Chambers
MIFF Ticket sales & prices
Tickets for MIFF screenings are available to purchase via the links below.
MIFF and Star Cinema Members: $18.00
Classifications
Star Cinema's MIFF programme:
Friday August 11 - MIFF Opening Night
Saturday August 12
Sunday August 13
Friday August 18
Saturday August 19
Sunday August 20
MIFF Films
Opening Night: Ego: The Michael Gudinski Story
Friday August 11. 8:00pm. 111min. M. Dir: Paul Goldman. Australia.
The definitive account of maverick entrepeneur Michael Gudinski, his rock’n’roll life through 50 years of the Australian music industry and the creation of Australia’s seminal music company The Mushroom Group.
Famed for his eccentricities and boldness, the film dives into the psyche and unorthodox tactics of Michael as he became the frontman of a cultural movement and built a music empire whose artists created the soundtrack for a nation.
Through personal accounts from Gudinski himself, his family, and artists including Jimmy Barnes, Garbage, Dave Grohl, Billy Joel, Paul Kelly, Kylie Minogue, Mark Seymour, Bruce Springsteen, STING and many more, you’ll hear stories from some of the world’s most influential artists and a wealth of never-before-seen archival footage.
CLICK HERE TO BOOK FOR EGO: THE MICHAEL GUDINSKI STORY
This Is Going To Be Big
Saturday August 12. 1:00pm. 90min. Unrated - Family Friendly. Dir: Thomas Charles Hyland. Australia.
Peer behind the curtain as a cast of neurodivergent teens prepare to come of age and hit the stage in their school’s John Farnham–themed musical.
Every two years, the Sunbury and Macedon Ranges Specialist School’s Bullengarook campus puts on a play. For expressive overachiever Halle, it will be an opportunity to honour her late aunt, who loved to sing. For methodical Josh, it will be a challenge to take seriously, while wide-eyed Elyse is just happy to be involved. And for charismatic Chelsea, it will be a chance to wow an audience with her undeniable comedic skill. Six months of auditions, rehearsals and nerves will be gruelling, but everything will pay off on opening night.
Supported by the MIFF Premiere Fund, Thomas Charles Hyland’s feature directorial debut brims with unfettered honesty and quirky humour, revealing the human story behind the performed one. Told squarely from the teenagers’ perspective and documenting their experiences of autism, clinical anxiety and acquired brain injury, the film follows them, their families and the school staff as they weather the highs and lows leading up to showtime, foregrounding creativity’s role in fostering self-acceptance and in nurturing agency and resilience. As its title suggests, This Is Going to Be Big is sure to be a hit – an endearing, relatable tale of adolescent aspiration and a community that comes together to ensure these young voices ring out, both as John Farnham through the ages and, most importantly, as themselves.
CLICK HERE TO BOOK FOR THIS IS GOING TO BE BIG
How To Blow Up A Pipeline
Saturday August 12. 4:00pm. 99min. M. Dir: Daniel Goldhaber. United States.
The stakes are high, but the cost of sitting by idly is higher for a group of environmental activists who band together to disrupt the oil industry.
Eight young Americans hatch a plan to detonate explosives in the Texan desert to destroy an oil pipeline, with hopes of sending shockwaves through the fossil-fuel industry. Brought together by their compulsion to act, each member has their own catalyst - from sustained health issues caused by toxic chemicals, compulsory acquisition of farmland for an oil pipeline, to the loss of a parent from a heatwave. Will the escalating pressure and their competing motivations ultimately mar their mission?
CLICK HERE TO BOOK FOR HOW TO BLOW UP A PIPELINE
Little Richard: I Am Everything
Sunday August 13. 1:00pm. 101min. Unrated 15+. Dir: Lisa Cortes. USA.
Exploring the origins of rock ’n’ roll and its ultimate architect, Little Richard Penniman.
From Macon, Georgia, to the rock ’n’ roll hall of fame, Lisa Cortes’ documentary traces Little Richard’s resounding impact through music history and uncovers a portrait of a man torn between the forces of music, sex and religion. His strict religious upbringing left an indelible mark and set him on a complicated road fuelled by contradictions. But it also propelled him to a new life, to find his true self and inspire others in ways that he was unable to do for himself. Featuring interviews with Little Richard, his family, scholars and legends of the industry including John Waters and Mick Jagger. Complete with electrifying live performances, I Am Everything is a celebration of the impact of an indefinable rock ’n’ roll superstar.
CLICK HERE TO BOOK FOR LITTLE RICHARD: I AM EVERYTHING
The Rooster
Sunday August 13. 4:00pm. 100min. Unrated 15+. Dir: Mark Leonard Winter. Australia.
Hugo Weaving and Phoenix Raei play a hermit and a policeman who form an unlikely connection amid crisis in this wonderful sucker-punch of tenderness.
Dan works in a remote police outpost in regional Victoria. When a childhood friend is discovered dead following an incident at the local high school, his judgement and credentials are thrown into question. Consumed with guilt and suspended from the force, Dan decides to camp out in the forest, where he encounters a cranky jazz-listening, shotgun-toting, ping-pong-obsessed misanthrope (Weaving). At first, this bond soon becomes transformative for the broken men, but, when surrounded by trees and far away from any trace of civilisation, is everything really as it seems?
CLICK HERE TO BOOK FOR THE ROOSTER
Australia's Open
Friday August 18. 8:00pm. 135min. Unrated 15+. Dir: Ili Baré. Australia.
Relive the most thrilling moments of Australia’s beloved tennis tournament in this chronicle of its ascent to top-seed status on the global stage.
The Australian Open is one of the world’s four tennis Grand Slams, but its early days in 1970s Kooyong were humble – a far cry from its current, cutting-edge home at Melbourne Park. Now the highest-profile sporting event in the country, the Open has hosted innumerable tennis legends and iconic matches, such as Serena and Venus Williams’ finals clash in 2017. Infamous for the larrikinism of its crowd, it has also become both a celebration of greatness and a site for the playing-out of social issues.
This heart-pumping documentary from director Ili Baré thrusts you back to the stadium roars and down-the-line shots, interweaving archival material with footage from some of the Open’s most pivotal games. Featuring interviews with sports journalists (Tracey Holmes, George Megalogenis), industry figures (Paul McNamee, Craig Tiley), and players old and new (Pat Cash, Rennae Stubbs, Liam Broady), it also explores the sport’s relationship with patriotic pride, athlete's duality as heroes and humans, and the controversies courted by this million-dollar business.
CLICK HERE TO BOOK FOR AUSTRALIA'S OPEN
Scrapper
Saturday August 19. 1:00pm. 87min. Unrated 15+. Dir: Charlotte Regan. UK.
This joyous, inventive Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner follows a 12-year-old girl who lives happily alone until her estranged father turns up.
When her mother dies, resourceful Georgie manages to convince social workers and the surrounding community alike that she is in the care of her uncle ‘Winston Churchill’. Within her home, Georgie has created a magical lair, and to get by she steals bicycles with her friend Ali. Her recent bereavement aside, all seems to be going quite well for Georgie. But then her long absent father Jason arrives, unannounced. Georgie resists this unwanted, belated paternal attention, and Jason is more man-child than parent.
Director Charlotte Regan brings a fresh and vibrant approach to this British working class story – her film is filled with vibrant colours, witty dialogue and a propulsive energy.
CLICK HERE TO BOOK FOR SCRAPPER
Shayda
Saturday August 19. 4:00pm. 117min. Unrated 18+. Dir: Noora Niasari. Australia. English & Persian with English subtitles.
Shayda, a brave Iranian mother, finds refuge in an Australian women’s shelter with her six-year-old daughter. Over Persian New Year, they take solace in Nowruz rituals and new beginnings, but when her estranged husband re-enters their lives, Shayda’s path to freedom is jeopardised.
While forthright about the challenges of healing for those who have survived domestic violence, the film also shines a light on the indomitable hope that propels its spirited, beautifully complex characters. With affecting performances all-around, Shayda is a moving story of resilience, the desire for independence, and the sacrifices and strength of a mother’s love.
Supported by the MIFF Premiere Fund and executive-produced by Cate Blanchett.
Trailer coming soon.
CLICK HERE TO BOOK FOR SHAYDA
Theater Camp
Sunday August 20. 4:00pm. 94min. Unrated 15+. Dir: Molly Gordon & Nick Lieberman. USA.
Tony Award winner Ben Platt and Molly Gordon star in this new comedy as Amos and Rebecca; lifelong best friends and drama instructors at a rundown camp in upstate New York. When clueless Troy arrives to run the property (into the ground), Amos, Rebecca and production manager Glenn band together with the staff and students, staging a masterpiece to keep their beloved summer camp afloat.
CLICK HERE TO BOOK FOR THEATER CAMP
Mutiny In Heaven: The Birthday Party
Sunday August 20. 7:00pm. 98min. Unrated 18+. Dir: Ian White. Australia.
**SELLING FAST**
SPECIAL GUEST MICK HARVEY (The Birthday Party, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds), in conversation with Mick Derrick (Trash Cult).
Formed in Melbourne in the late 1970s, The Birthday Party would become one of the most influential bands in the world, launching the careers of both Nick Cave and Rowland S. Howard.
Prior to his death in 2009, Rowland S. Howard set out to document this unique musical journey, but the material was locked away and forgotten until now. Featuring historic interviews, previously unseen archival footage and new contributions from Nick Cave, this is the story of a band’s ascent, apex and eventual implosion.
Directed by Ian White and produced by Wim Wenders (Paris, Texas & Wings of Desire)