There’s a change in the air when Australia’s oldest, biggest and best celebration of cinema, the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF), rolls into town for it’s 63rd outing with opening night time-bending blockbuster Predestination on July 31st. The Greater Union cinema, the unofficial screening hub, is no more.
Existing venues like ACMI, Hoyts and the Kino will pick up the slack, while old favourites the Treasury Theatre and Capitol Theatre have been pressed back into service, meaning a bigger footprint and mad dashes between venues, but festival director Michelle Carey says that’s half the fun. “Just bring your sneakers!”
Here are her top tips to get you on the run this year:
This head-scratching sci-fi noir from writer/directors Michael and Peter Spierig stars Ethan Hawke, Noah Taylor and up-and-coming Australian actor Sarah Snook (These Final Hours, Not Suitable For Children). Shot in Melbourne, Carey promises a stylish thriller. “It’s a real Mobius strip that just keeps folding in on itself. I don’t think you’re supposed to try and work out what’s going on.”
A gender reversal satire set in an Islamic fairy tale kingdom à la Cinderella, the men wear the burqas while the women rule in sexy uniforms. Jacky (Vincent Lacoste) who is treated terribly by his stepfather, wants to escape the drudgery and marry La Colonel, played by the fabulous Charlotte Gainsbourg. “It’s very black French humour that’s terrific,” Carey says. “It’s very subversive.”
Atheist Iranian filmmaker Mehran Tamadon invited four Islamic religious leaders to his country house to discus social issues, including women wearing headscarves, freedom of the press and abortion, in this fascinating documentary. “There’s actually a lot of humour and they throw a lot of arguments about liberty back onto the filmmaker, which is very interesting and challenging,” Carey says. “If you’re someone who loves semantics and following legal debate, it might challenge some presumptions.”
The 2014 Melbourne International Film Festival runs from the from July 31 to August 17. The official guide will be available from July 11.