10:00am

Ten animators adapt Alison Lester’s children’s book, crafting a magical mixture of live action and animation destined to become a family favourite.

Program Strand/s: Australian Films Family Films
10:00am

Follow the Companion Sky Spirit through a virtual walk on Country: emerging from subterranean soils to the ground level, ascending to meet the clouds.

Dir. April Phillips / 2024 / 10 mins / Australia / Yuin / Animation / Victorian Premiere
Program Strand/s: MIFF XR
10:15am

A Wiseman-esque study of a Japanese village’s Shinto shrine whose feline residents bring the local humans joy, solace and sometimes consternation.

Dir. Kazuhiro Soda / 2024 / 119 mins / USA, Japan / Japanese / Documentary / Victorian Premiere
Program Strand/s: The Natural World
10:30am

Immerse yourself in a wildly imaginative, proudly neurodivergent world informed by autistic perspectives and perception.

Program Strand/s: Documentaries
10:45am

Ten animators adapt Alison Lester’s children’s book, crafting a magical mixture of live action and animation destined to become a family favourite.

Program Strand/s: Australian Films Family Films
10:45am

Bold works from emerging Australian and New Zealand filmmakers.

87 mins / Drama, Comedy
Program Strand/s: MIFF Shorts
10:45am

A vision of wild, nightmarish childhood play stunningly shot on 16mm with vintage lenses.

10:45am

A speech therapist oversells her Tongan language skills to get a job.

10:45am

A colourful riff on sibling rivalries and societal expectations.

10:45am

In this dark nocturnal world, small actions – and inactions – suggest heavy emotions.

Dir. Jessica Sofarnos / 2024 / 10 mins / Australia / English / Drama / World Premiere
10:45am

Kar

In this self-reflexive short, an emerging filmmaker asks himself whether it’s possible to make something meaningful in 10 minutes.

Dir. Nick Allen / 2024 / 11 mins / Australia / English / Drama, Comedy / World Premiere
10:45am

This distinctively Māori spin on the mockumentary recounts the exploits of a staunch and charming police officer.

10:45am

Loneliness and longing collide in this haunted nocturnal vision of a desolate Melbourne.

Dir. David Tse / 2023 / 13 mins / Australia / English, Mandarin, Japanese / Drama / World Premiere
11:00am

Take a masterclass with visionary American director David Lowery, exploring his storied career. Hosted by Alexei Toliopoulos.

60 mins / English
Program Strand/s: MIFF Talks
12:30pm

Ten animators adapt Alison Lester’s children’s book, crafting a magical mixture of live action and animation destined to become a family favourite.

Program Strand/s: Australian Films Family Films
+ 1 more
12:45pm

Agnieszka Holland returns with this devastating drama that follows Middle Eastern and North African refugees trapped as pawns in a political game.

Program Strand/s: Europe & UK
1:00pm

Two men in rural Queensland search for solace in spirituality in this cinematic blend of documentary and fiction.

Program Strand/s: Australian Films
1:00pm

A young boy orphaned by the cartel is up against inheriting a life of crime in this coming-of-age story from an award-winning Mexican filmmaking duo.

Program Strand/s: Latin America
1:00pm

Hear Martin Scorsese wax lyrical about how the mesmerising films of two of Britain’s finest inspired his own adventures in cinema.

Dir. David Hinton / 2024 / 131 mins / UK / English / Documentary / Victorian Premiere
Program Strand/s: Documentaries
1:00pm

Ten animators adapt Alison Lester’s children’s book, crafting a magical mixture of live action and animation destined to become a family favourite.

Program Strand/s: Australian Films Family Films
1:00pm

A simple camping trip evolves into a life-changing experience in this sensitively told coming-of-age debut.

Dir. India Donaldson / 2024 / 90 mins / USA / English / Drama / Australian Premiere
Program Strand/s: Bright Horizons
1:00pm

Three Australian girls seek the ultimate success in the world of competitive skateboarding while sliding into an adolescence without handrails.

Dir. Eliza Cox / 2024 / 87 mins / Australia / English / Documentary / World Premiere
Program Strand/s: Sports
1:15pm

In this SXSW award-winner, a theatre group finds hope and meaning through self-expression within the confines of a maximum-security prison.

Dir. Greg Kwedar / 2023 / 106 mins / USA / English / Drama / Australian Premiere
Program Strand/s: North America
1:15pm

A devastating 1977 portrait of love and longing in a country built on fear and surveillance, based on a story by Anton Chekhov.

Dir. Parviz Sayyad / 1977 / 95 mins / Iran / Farsi / Drama / Australian Premiere
Program Strand/s: Iranian New Wave: 1962–79
1:15pm

Saoirse Ronan produces and stars in this moving adaptation about a recovering addict who returns to her childhood home on Scotland’s Orkney Islands.

Dir. Nora Fingscheidt / 2023 / 117 mins / Germany, UK / English / Drama / Victorian Premiere
Program Strand/s: Europe & UK
1:30pm

A steely criminal lawyer juggles a murder case and tending to her dying mother in this Turkish drama that unspools over a tense 24 hours.

Program Strand/s: Europe & UK
1:45pm

A collaboration between Seth MacFarlane and Martin Scorsese’s Film Foundation, this restoration unearths lost classics from animation’s Golden Age.

62 mins / USA / English / Animation
Program Strand/s: Restorations
2:00pm

Think the global surge in interest in women’s football is a relatively recent occurrence? This eye-opening documentary asks you to think again.

Program Strand/s: Sports
2:00pm

Ten animators adapt Alison Lester’s children’s book, crafting a magical mixture of live action and animation destined to become a family favourite.

Program Strand/s: Australian Films Family Films
3:15pm

Three Australian girls seek the ultimate success in the world of competitive skateboarding while sliding into an adolescence without handrails.

Dir. Eliza Cox / 2024 / 87 mins / Australia / English / Documentary / World Premiere
Program Strand/s: Sports
3:30pm

US jazz collides with Cold War crimes in this film examining the CIA’s role in state-sanctioned murder – and its use of pop music to cover its tracks.

Program Strand/s: Music on Film
3:30pm

A showcase of Iranian animation, from the early efforts of Western-educated filmmakers to award-winning shorts produced by government agencies.

Program Strand/s: Iranian New Wave: 1962–79
3:45pm

Think the global surge in interest in women’s football is a relatively recent occurrence? This eye-opening documentary asks you to think again.

Program Strand/s: Sports
4:00pm

A 93-year-old grandma’s mission – and, yes, she chooses to accept it – is to reclaim her money from scammers by any means necessary.

Dir. Josh Margolin / 2023 / 97 mins / USA / English / Comedy / Victorian Premiere
Program Strand/s: North America
4:00pm

Rooney Mara stars in this gorgeously shot, righteously angry portrait of kitchen workers stewing in the pressure-cooker conditions of an NYC bistro.

Program Strand/s: Latin America
+ 1 more
4:00pm

Legendary Australian musician Warren Ellis takes us on a guided tour through his world and one very special animal sanctuary.

Program Strand/s: Australian Films Music on Film
4:00pm

The past comes knocking in this four-time Venice-winning feature debut that blends grief, grime, love and childhood trauma.

Dir. Luna Carmoon / 2023 / 126 mins / UK / English / Drama / Australian Premiere
Program Strand/s: Bright Horizons
4:00pm

The complex relationship between two married artists is laid bare in this searing and joyful portrait of love and creativity in autumn.

Program Strand/s: Documentaries
4:15pm

Riley Keough and Jesse Eisenberg star in undoubtedly the greatest wordless, scatological, horny and tragicomic Bigfoot movie in the history of cinema.

Program Strand/s: North America
4:15pm

Three Australian girls seek the ultimate success in the world of competitive skateboarding while sliding into an adolescence without handrails.

Dir. Eliza Cox / 2024 / 87 mins / Australia / English / Documentary / World Premiere
4:15pm

In this Cannes Caméra d’Or winner, a fraught parent–teacher conference at a Norwegian primary school plunges into a claustrophobic breakdown.

Program Strand/s: Europe & UK
4:30pm

Showcased in Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, Beau Is Afraid’s breakout animators turn Chile’s Neo-Nazi history into a nightmarish stop-motion meta-movie.

Program Strand/s: Experimentations
4:30pm

Pulitzer-winning playwright Annie Baker’s debut film is a sublime mother–daughter coming-of-ager that pays extraordinary attention to the ordinary.

Dir. Annie Baker / 2023 / 113 mins / USA / English / Drama / Australian Premiere
Program Strand/s: Bright Horizons
5:00pm

For eight survivors of childhood sexual abuse, a program that combines boxing and writing turns into a journey of recovery and friendship.

Dir. Shannon Owen / 2024 / 98 mins / Australia / Documentary / World Premiere
Program Strand/s: Australian Films Documentaries
5:45pm

Egos clash in this tense coming-of-age tale set in an isolated cabin in the Canadian wilderness, which won the Berlinale Generation 14plus Grand Prix.

Dir. Philippe Lesage / 2024 / 161 mins / France, Canada / French / Drama / Australian Premiere
Program Strand/s: North America
6:15pm

Two activist-survivors navigate the aftermath of Iraq’s October 2019 protests in this extraordinary collaborative portrait of contemporary Iraq.

Program Strand/s: Documentaries
6:30pm

Rooney Mara stars in this gorgeously shot, righteously angry portrait of kitchen workers stewing in the pressure-cooker conditions of an NYC bistro.

Program Strand/s: Latin America
6:30pm

If you were a queer Canadian teenager and Aubrey Plaza appeared to you as your future self, would you heed her ominous warning?

Dir. Megan Park / 2023 / 88 mins / USA / English / Comedy, Romance / Victorian Premiere
Program Strand/s: North America
+ 0 more