The Melbourne International Film Festival has set ten features to play in its Bright Horizons competition section.
They include: India Donaldson’s “Good One”; Luna Carmoon’s “Hoard”; Annie Baker’s “Janet Planet”; Leonardo Van Dijl’s “Julie Keeps Quiet”; Ena Sendijarević’s “Sweet Dreams”; Matthew Rankin’s “Universal Language”; Mo Harawe’s “The Village Next to Paradise”; Gints Zabalodis’ animated “Flow”; Rungano Nyoni’s “On Becoming a Guinea Fowl”; and Australian director Charles Williams’ debut feature “Inside.”
The non-competitive Headliners section, which showcases films that have premiered at other festivals, includes: Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis”; Mumbai-based director Payal Kapadia was recently the first Indian director for 30 years with a film in competition in Cannes presents “All We Imagine as Light”; Coralie Fargeat’s Demi Moore-starring “The Substance”; Jia Zhangke’s “Caught by the Tides”; Sebastian Stan in Aaron Schimberg’s “A Different Man”; Cannes best director-winning Asian odyssey, “Grand Tour,” by Miguel Gomes; Cate Blanchett , Alicia Vikander and Charles Dance in Guy Maddin ’s audacious “Rumours”; Mohammad Rasoulof’s “The Seed of the Sacred Fig”; and David Cronenberg’s “The Shrouds.”
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The parallel International section includes: Lou Ye’s “An Unfinished Film”; “All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt,” by poet and photographer Raven Jackson; Alice Lowe ’s second feature “Timestalker”; Hong Sang-soo’s “A Traveler’s Needs”; Cannes Camera d’Or winner “Mongrel” by Chiang Wei Liang and You Qiao Yin and “Some Rain Must Fall,” by Paris-based Chinese director Qiu Yang, which won a Berlinale Encounters Special Jury Award.
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The festival runs Aug. 8-25 will open with the previously-announced “Memoir of a Snail,” directed by locally-born animator Adam Elliot. The full lineup comprises 250 features, shorts and XR experiences. Venues are in Melbourne, around Victoria state and online across all of Australia.
Other special events include the MIFF Family Gala presentation of Robert Connolly’s “Magic Beach,” adapted from the Alison Lester classic; the Music on Film Gala showcase of Warren Ellis documentary “Ellis Park,” by Justin Kurzel; and the inaugural MIFF Premiere with Purpose presented by DECJUBA which will debut Shannon Owen’s “Left Write Hook.”
“This year’s MIFF program features over 250 films, with more than 400 sessions across 18 days, bringing together incredible Australian filmmaking, world cinema, drama, comedy, horror, animation, bold experimentation – things you’ve been waiting months to see, and others you never thought you’d get a chance to. The MIFF program this year, like every year, is a multi-faceted festival of cinematic excess, designed to delight, and sure to bring out the best in your imagination,” said the festival’s artistic director Al Cossar.