MIFF 2025 rolls out the red carpet for 18 days of world-class cinema – The Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) officially ignites the city’s cultural calendar this month with tonight’s buzzy Australian Premiere of the Rose Byrne-led dramedy, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, by US writer-director, Mary Bronstein. Kicking off the festival in style, MIFF’s iconic Opening Night Gala opens to sold-out sessions at Hoyts Melbourne Central.
Special guest, Bronstein, arrives in Melbourne to greet festival patrons for this evening’s star-studded premiere, bringing in three enigmatic weeks of world-class cinema from 7-24 August. A darkly funny, deeply human portrait of one working mother’s reluctant resilience, Bronstein‘s intensely impressive second feature screens fresh from its triumphant Sundance debut.
Anchored by Byrne’s razor-sharp timing and disarming vulnerability – in a role that earned her the Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance at the Berlinale – the film features supporting appearances from Conan O’Brien, Christian Slater, A$AP Rocky, and fellow Australian actor, Danielle Macdonald.
Following tonight’s prestigious Opening Night Gala, MIFF takes over metro venues throughout Melbourne with World Premieres, rarely-before-seen works on the big screen, unmissable talks, and filmmaker Q&As. MIFF Regional expands the program’s footprint to theatres statewide across the weekends of 15-17 August and 22-24 August.
Reaching audiences across Australia, MIFF Online streams via ACMI offering digital access to a limited selection of festival highlights from 15-31 August.
Both initiatives reflect the festival’s commitment to meeting film-lovers wherever they may be.
Ahead of welcoming audiences to the festival’s 73rd edition, MIFF Artistic Director Al Cossar, said:
“The screens are lit and the floodgates are open once again for Victoria’s most epic celebration of filmmaking and movie-going. From presenting the world’s biggest annual festival showcase of Australian film; to highly anticipated new titles direct from Cannes, Sundance and beyond; as well as bold new break-through discoveries waiting to be made, MIFF presents a world of imagination this August for audiences through Melbourne, and right across Victoria.”
Minister for Creative Industries Colin Brooks, said:
“Melbourne International Film Festival is Australia’s largest film festival, and it continues to bring courageous, challenging and cutting-edge cinema from around the world to Victorian audiences each year. The Allan Labor Government is proud to back the festival along with this year’s Bright Horizons Award – a career-changing prize for first and second-time filmmakers – that strengthens MIFF’s status as one of the world’s top film events.”
Following Program Launch which unveiled a slate of over 250 screen works, strong ticket sales continue into the 2025 season with films like Jafar Panahi’s Palme d’Or-winning It Was Just an Accident; Kelly Reichardt’s 1970s-set art heist film with Josh O’Connor and Alana Haim, The Mastermind; and Melbourne director Sophie Somerville’s indie ode to the city, Fwends, each already on standby across all sessions. Further titles close to sell-out for festival metro venues include Kiah Roache-Turner’s World Premiere season of Beast of War; the epic IMAX screening of The Toxic Avenger; Westgate by award-winning local writer-director Adrian Ortega; Bright Horizons Competition contender, First Light, by celebrated Melbourne photographer James J. Robinson; and with final tickets going for special talks event, In Conversation: Charlotte Wells & Sophie Hyde, held live and in-person at The Wheeler Centre.
Beast of War
MIFF audiences will be among the first in the world to see this year’s most anticipated international releases alongside homegrown World Premiering works that showcase Australian voices and local filmmakers on the rise.
Hot tickets this festival include middle-row seats for Kristen Stewart’s directorial debut, The Chronology of Water; Oliver Laxe’s rave-at-the-end-of-the-world opus Sirât; A24-backed Sorry, Baby by writer-director-star Eva Victor; and the two latest, contrasting works from American auteur Richard Linklater in Nouvelle Vague and Blue Moon.
For spontaneous film enthusiasts, last-minute planners, or those keen to sneak in an extra screening, Rush Tickets return for MIFF 2025. On designated festival days, a limited number of discounted tickets for same-day screenings will be released with session details announced at 11am via MIFF’s Instagram and on sale from 12-2pm daily through the website. Rush Tickets can be purchased online, via the MIFF Box Office, or directly from the venues until sold out.
OPENING WEEKEND HIGHLIGHTS From Friday 8 August, some of this year’s first screenings and MIFF Talks will take place at ACMI, sure to become a festival hot-spot. Exploring modern relationships and identity, The Love That Remains by writer, director and cinematographer Hlynur Pálmason (Godland, MIFF 2022) follows an Icelandic couple learning to co-parent; Mistress Dispeller by Elizabeth Lo takes an extraordinary peek behind China’s professional “love industry” following rave reviews at Venice and Toronto; and an ex-cop turned cannabis advocate’s YouTube career hits the big screen in Never Get Busted! by David Anthony Ngo.
Also taking place at ACMI is the first of MIFF’s popular talk events with Theory to Practice: Forging Paths to Audience, presented by the University of Melbourne, inaugurating the much-loved program. Featuring MIFF Bright Horizons Juror and international guest, IMDb founder and Executive Chair Col Needham, in-conversation with director, producer and Arenamedia founder Robert Connolly, the conversation will explore how IMDb platform has reshaped film discovery, visibility and market reach for the industry and beyond.
MIFF audiences will be among the first in the world to see this year’s most anticipated international releases alongside homegrown World Premiering works that showcase Australian voices and local filmmakers on the rise.
Hot tickets this festival include middle-row seats for Kristen Stewart’s directorial debut, The Chronology of Water; Oliver Laxe’s rave-at-the-end-of-the-world opus Sirât; A24-backed Sorry, Baby by writer-director-star Eva Victor; and the two latest, contrasting works from American auteur Richard Linklater in Nouvelle Vague and Blue Moon. For spontaneous film enthusiasts, last-minute planners, or those keen to sneak in an extra screening, Rush Tickets return for MIFF 2025.
On designated festival days, a limited number of discounted tickets for same-day screenings will be released with session details announced at 11am via MIFF’s Instagram and on sale from 12-2pm daily through the website. Rush Tickets can be purchased online, via the MIFF Box Office, or directly from the venues until sold out.
OPENING WEEKEND HIGHLIGHTS From Friday 8 August, some of this year’s first screenings and MIFF Talks will take place at ACMI, sure to become a festival hot-spot. Exploring modern relationships and identity, The Love That Remains by writer, director and cinematographer Hlynur Pálmason (Godland, MIFF 2022) follows an Icelandic couple learning to co-parent; Mistress Dispeller by Elizabeth Lo takes an extraordinary peek behind China’s professional “love industry” following rave reviews at Venice and Toronto; and an ex-cop turned cannabis advocate’s YouTube career hits the big screen in Never Get Busted! by David Anthony Ngo.
Also taking place at ACMI is the first of MIFF’s popular talk events with Theory to Practice: Forging Paths to Audience, presented by the University of Melbourne, inaugurating the much-loved program. Featuring MIFF Bright Horizons Juror and international guest, IMDb founder and Executive Chair Col Needham, in-conversation with director, producer and Arenamedia founder Robert Connolly, the conversation will explore how IMDb platform has reshaped film discovery, visibility and market reach for the industry and beyond.
The Extraordinary Miss Flower
Elsewhere in the CBD, three more acclaimed films premiering on the festival’s first Friday showcase standout performances and directorial vision: Dylan O’Brien‘s Sundance-winning dual role in the darkly comic Twinless, genre-bending documentary The Extraordinary Miss Flower by Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard (20,000 Days on Earth, MIFF 2014) and starring Icelandic musician Emilíana Torrini, and debut director Georgi M. Unkovski‘s Sundance Special Jury Award winner DJ Ahmet which charmingly unpacks tradition versus modernity.
Over at The Astor Theatre, Midsommar director Ari Aster returns with Eddington starring Pedro Pascal, Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone and Austin Butler – a special preview for MIFF audiences across two nights only. The darkly absurdist comedy screened in Competition at Cannes this year and examines the fractures in pandemic-era American society.
Opening up MIFF’s Music on Film strand, presented by 3RRR, director Ursula Grace Williams appears alongside her documentary subject, Marlon Williams, for the Victorian Premiere of Marlon Williams: Two Worlds – Ngā Ao E Rua. Charting the four-year artistic journey to create an album entirely in te reo Māori, the film follows the beloved Aotearoa musician from New Zealand to Melbourne as he collaborates with artists like Lorde and Florence Welch.
The wondrous Australian Premiere of A24 creature feature The Legend of Ochi by Isaiah Saxon gives way to the perfect family day-out and the ideal start for a fantastical Saturday, sure to be a hit for the festival’s littlest MIFF-goers.
Later in the day, avid film buffs can go on to explore other diverse films spanning music history, horror analysis and queer cinema from Elegance Bratton‘s house music documentary Move Ya Body: The Birth of House; Alexandre O. Philippe‘s Chain Reactions examining The Texas Chainsaw Massacre; and Lisa Cholodenko‘s restored 90s queer drama, High Art, screening in exquisite 4K.
Chain Reactions
Adding to MIFF’s stacked Opening Weekend are the screenings of Norwegian filmmaker Dag Johan Haugerud‘s ambitious Sex trilogy exploring modern intimacy across three interconnected films (Dreams, Love, and Sex); Eva Victor‘s formidable debut Sorry, Baby, a trauma recovery dramedy produced by the Aftersun team; and French-Tunisian director Erige Sehiri‘s Promised Sky, a Cannes Un Certain Regard opener exploring women’s community and intra-African migration.
Other local premieres with special guests include Samuel Van Grinsven‘s chilly Antipodean Gothic Went Up the Hill, with Van Grinsven attending the festival in-person alongside lead actor Dacre Montgomery (Stranger Things), while Constantine Costi – who also appears as a festival guest – delightfully chronicles the world championship of porridge making in Scotland with The Golden Spurtle, presented by The Saturday Paper.
Four exciting major premieres supported by the MIFF Premiere Fund will hit the big screen over the weekend, showcasing new Australian features that span diverse thinking, genres and themes. The lineup includes Iron Winter which follows two young horse herders through the backdrop of East Asia’s breathtaking and forbidding Mongolian steppes.
The director Kasimir Burgess and producers Chris Kamen, Ben Golgotta and Morgan Wright will all be in attendance. Followed by Nicholas Clifford‘s Y2K tequila-fueled comedy One More Shot starring an all-Aussie cast in Emily Browning, Sean Keenan, Ashley Zuckerman and Aisha Dee – with Browning, Keenan and Clifford joining the fun at MIFF. Kristina Kraskov‘s competitive Excel documentary Spreadsheet Champions reunites the film’s featured subjects from around the globe for its premiere MIFF season.
Then for its World Premiere season, James J. Robinson‘s meditative slowburn crime drama First Light, which also screens in the Bright Horizons competition this MIFF, brings key creatives and cast to Melbourne with actors Ruby Ruiz, Emmanuel Santos and Kare Adea joining Robinson in person to support the film’s celebrated debut.
In addition to First Light, all 10 Bright Horizons competition films will be presented throughout the duration of the festival, with the recipient of MIFFs flagship $140,000AUD Bright Horizons Award, supported by VicScreen, to be revealed at the MIFF Awards ceremony, presented by Penfolds, on Saturday 23 August at Rydges Melbourne.
INTERNATIONAL GUESTS MIFF welcomes an extensive roster of international filmmakers and industry professionals throughout August, facilitating direct connections between audiences, iconic screen voices and exciting filmmaking talent.
Julia Holter: The Passion of Joan of Arc
From 11-12 August, acclaimed LA singer, songwriter and composer Julia Holter appears exclusively at MIFF to present a special live score to one of cinema’s all-time visionary works in Julia Holter: The Passion of Joan of Arc at the Melbourne Recital Centre.
Combining Carl Theodor Dreyer‘s 1928 silent masterpiece with a spellbinding original accompaniment, Holter performs an immense sonic tapestry alongside her own band and The Consort of Melbourne, in what is sure to be one of the festival’s most unforgettable events. DECJUBA presents MIFF’s Premiere With Purpose gala for its second consecutive year, featuring Prime Minister by Lindsay Utz and attending MIFF guest, Michelle Walshe, via New Zealand.
The documentary explores Jacinda Ardern‘s transformative tenure as NZ’s Prime Minister, examining how she navigated major crises while redefining global leadership. The premiere will be celebrated with VIPs and special guests with Walshe unveiling the film to local audiences in a special black-carpet event at ACMI on Thursday 14 August.
Other international guests include Tetsuichirô Tsuta, director of the vividly shot Black Ox, the first Japanese film to use high-resolution film stock and Come See Me in the Good Light director Ryan White, who will make a special festival appearance, following the passing of the film’s subject – the remarkable American poet, artist and activist, Andrea Gibson.
Many of this year’s other international Bright Horizons filmmakers will also be in attendance to join Robinson (First Light) across MIFF screenings and for the MIFF Awards, including director Diego Céspedes and actor Sirena Matilde (The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo); director Simón Mesa Soto (A Poet presented by The Guardian); writer-director Chie Hayakawa (Renoir); and writer-director-producer Andrew Patterson (The Rivals of Amziah King).
A Poet
In support of the MIFF Awards, this year’s international Bright Horizons Jury will visit Melbourne to complete their official duties, with many travelling to Australia for the first time to conduct deliberations alongside their fellow Australian jurors – Vietnamese-Australian author and screenwriter, Nam Le and Australian composer and musician Caitlin Yeo – and experience the festival firsthand.
The distinguished panel is headed up by Jury President Charlotte Wells (Aftersun, MIFF 2022); American filmmaker Alex Ross Perry (Pavements; Videoheaven, MIFF 2025); Greek filmmaker-writer-producer Athina Rachel Tsangari (Harvest, MIFF 2025); and IMDb Founder and Executive Chairman, Col Needham. In Conversation: Alex Ross Perry gives audiences an hour to spend time with American independent cinema’s most prolific director on Friday 22 August at The Edge, Fed Square.
Before undertaking official Jury duties, Perry will discuss his latest films Pavements (MIFF 2025) and Videoheaven (MIFF 2025), along with his pop-culture-laced body of work, in a special talks event hosted by Brodie Lancaster. Running in parallel, and in partnership with Sounds Australia, the national music export office, MIFF welcomes three internationally acclaimed music supervisors from 2025 Bright Horizons films for a week of immersive events, curated networking, and a deep dive into the vibrant Australian music scene.
Joining the inbound trade mission are Billie Mind (Sound of Falling), Bridget Samuels (Urchin) and Chaibavon Srilookwa (A Useful Ghost). Across two performances on Saturday 23 August, Parasite Live in Concert with composer Jung Jae-il sees the South Korean maestro composer conduct Orchestra Victoria through his warped baroque score while Bong Joon-ho’s Academy Award-winner plays on the big screen.
Fresh from scoring Squid Game and Mickey 17, Jung Jae-il makes his Australian debut with this exclusive Melbourne performance that reveals new layers in the film that conquered the world. Before performances get underway, Jae-il joins Bright Horizons Juror and fellow composer Caitlin Yeo for a morning in-conversation event at The Wheeler Centre – a rare opportunity to hear from one of the most celebrated contemporary film composers in the world.
The full list of confirmed MIFF 2025 guests is available on the website.
MORE SPECIAL EVENTS TO COME MIFF and the AFL present: Footy Shorts, a special World Premiering screening event showcasing five selected shorts on Tuesday 12 August, supported by VicScreen. Celebrating the compelling stories that highlight underrepresented voices in Australian football culture, the collection includes Bush Boots by producers/writers/directors Kynan Clarke and Isabel Dilena; House Divided by filmmaker siblings Danielle and Lachlan Baynes; writer/director Ramas McRae’s Eye of the Game; Breaking the Line: The Peta Searle Story by director/editor Grace Anna Cardona, and No Prior Opportunity by writer/director Alexandra Walton.
Each project received $20,000 in production funding plus mentorship from MIFF, VicScreen and AFL industry leaders. On Saturday 16 August, the ever-popular Consuming Culture event returns with support from presenting partner, The Wheeler Centre. Host Michael Sun, essayist and regular writer for The Guardian, will be joined by actor and writer Maria Angelico, Chicago-based Vulture culture critic Anjelica Jade Bastién and Los Angeles Times film critic Amy Nicholson to discuss the most overrated, underrated and personal favourite moments in movies, TV, podcasts and books of the past 12 months.
The cherished Family Gala returns on Sunday 17 August with The Bad Guys 2 by directors Pierre Perifel and JP Sans, adapting Australian actor-turned-author Aaron Blabey‘s bestselling children’s book series – who attends the event as a MIFF guest. This action-packed sequel blends kid-friendly heist thrills reminiscent of Ocean’s Eleven and Baby Driver with explosive sequences inspired by Fast & Furious and Mission: Impossible.
The all-star voice cast features Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Craig Robinson, Awkwafina, Anthony Ramos, returning villain Richard Ayaode, and newcomer Natasha Lyonne as Doom. Chantal Akerman: Traces represents the festival’s largest ever retrospective of a single director, showcasing 27 films across 13 sessions. 2025 marks three milestones for the iconic Belgian filmmaker: what would have been Akerman’s 75th birthday, the 10th anniversary of her passing, and the 50th anniversary of her landmark avant-garde classic Jeanne Dielman (1975).
Highlight restored works making their Australian debuts include festival-wide screenings of Les Rendez-vous d’Anna (1978), following Aurore Clément on a melancholic journey through 1970s Europe; and Demain on déménage (2004), featuring Akerman’s late-period brilliance with Sylvie Testud navigating Paris real estate and existential crisis with equal desperation.
Not-to-be-missed, the restoration of Portrait d’une jeune fille de la fin des années 60 à Bruxelles (1994) which screens with short J’ai faim, j’ai froid on Saturday 23 August, will be followed by a special panel event featuring director and MIFF Jury President Charlotte Wells (Aftersun, MIFF 2022), Critics Campus Mentor Philippa Hawker and MIFF Senior Programmer Kate Jinx discussing Akerman’s influential work.
Hidden in Plain Sight: Women in Horror closes out the MIFF Talks program on Sunday 24 August, bringing together a panel of formidable final girls as they discuss how women have long been overlooked or sidelined in a genre that couldn’t exist without them.
Award-winning author, critic and academic, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas is joined by Donna Davies, director of 1000 Women in Horror (MIFF 2025), based on Heller-Nicholas’s book of the same name; and programmer and academic Cerise Howard. The event will explore insights on the genre and its relationship with women, from gender politics to representation and feminism, maternal instincts and their immeasurable contribution in front of the camera and behind the scenes.
Hosted by MIFF Senior Programmer, Kate Fitzpatrick.
1000 Women in Horror
Brimming with even more never-before-seen screen works, the second and third weeks of MIFF keep rolling with World Premiere seasons from a crop of exciting Australian filmmakers and iconic voices. Presented by Rydges Melbourne, Signorinella: Little Miss makes its debut with co-directors Angelo Pricolo and Shannon Swan on hand for all screenings from 16-23 August, introducing their latest work that follows the unsung contributions of Italian migrant women in this new documentary.
Celebrating the tenacity and spirit of Italian-Australian women through pioneering politicians, designers, chefs and farmers alongside sublime archival footage of 20th-century Melbourne. From 14-20 August, Kate Woods‘ beloved adaptation Looking for Alibrandi returns in a generation-defining 4K restoration 25 years after it first captured hearts, with Pia Miranda, Kick Gurry and Anthony LaPaglia looking better than ever in this crystalline presentation that re-confirms its status as a modern Aussie classic.
The director Woods, writer Melina Marchetta and actors, Miranda and Gurry, are guests of the festival and in attendance across select screenings. Imagine is a multidimensional animated odyssey from two First Nations filmmakers joining MIFF in-person: Bundjalung man Jack Manning Bancroft, children’s author and founder of the award-winning Indigenous mentoring program AIME, and scholar Tyson Yunkaporta, who belongs to the Apalech clan in Far North Queensland.
Adam Kamien follows up his AACTA-nominated debut The Speedway Murders with another excoriating true-crime feature in Surviving Malka Leifer, documenting the five-year struggle undertaken by three sisters Dassi Erlich, Nicole Meyer and Elly Sapper and their supporters to bring Leifer back to Australia in this titanic portrait of courage in the face of unimaginable adversity – producer Ivan O’Mahoney together with the three courageous sisters will attend the World Premiere.
For MIFF’s triumphant final week, Andrew Farrell‘s Jimmy Barnes: Working Class Man rocks the house down at The Astor Theatre on Thursday 12 August, with Aussie music royalty – Jimmy Barnes – in attendance for its World Premiere alongside Farrell. Delivering a comprehensive portrait of the Cold Chisel frontman and Australian rock legend, the film continues from where 2018’s Working Class Boy concluded, chronicling Barnes’ remarkable transformation from Glasgow tenements to packed Australian stadiums, exploring his evolution from troubled youth to beloved national treasure.
Local provocateur Philip Brophy returns to MIFF with restorations of Salt, Saliva, Sperm and Sweat and No Dance, testament to an artist who refused to play nice with Australian cinema’s polite conventions. Brophy is joined by producer Rod Bishop and Ray Argall who will collectively appear at the Wednesday 21 August session.
The World Came Flooding In
MIFF is thrilled to partner with Now or Never for the World Premiere season of immersive XR installation The World Came Flooding In, co-directed by Van Sowerwine and Isobel Knowles. Using virtual reality, projections, miniatures and sound, the installation weaves together the experiences of three flood-affected individuals, transforming personal loss into a powerful collective narrative about climate disaster and shared understanding.
EATING AND DRINKING AT MIFF Festival-goers can easily find this year’s vibrant hotspots and post-screening destinations throughout MIFF’s festival precinct. The Festival Hub and bar at ACMI returns with renewed energy, featuring Skylab Radio residencies and beverages from Campari, Penfolds, Asahi, and Padre Coffee. Just across the street, the Wax Music Lounge extends the festival atmosphere as a late-night venue where film discussions can continue well beyond cinema closing times.
Broadsheet presents the return of Food and Film pairings, connecting seven of Melbourne’s premier restaurants—including Bossley Bar & Restaurant, Barra, Cumulus, Supernormal, Elio’s Place and Antara—with carefully selected films for a multi-sensory experience that celebrates both cinema and Melbourne’s culinary excellence.
MIFF REGIONAL AND MIFF ONLINE The MIFF Regional showcase tours nine locations across regional Victoria this year during the festival weekends of August 15-17 and 22-24, featuring curated selections from the main program at venues in Ballarat (Showbiz Cinema), Bendigo (Star Cinema – Eaglehawk), Castlemaine (Theatre Royal), Geelong (Village Cinemas and The Pivotonian), Morwell (Village Cinemas), Rosebud (Peninsula Cinemas), Sale (Sale Cinema) and Shepparton (Village Cinemas).
This year’s touring program includes MIFF Regional Opening Night film, But Also John Clarke, deeply personal insight into a legend of the antipodean screen and beloved family man, screening across various communities.
Additionally, special screening events presented by MIFF and the AFL with Footy Shorts; Iron Winter which delivers a mesmerising documentary from Kasimir Burgess (Franklin, MIFF 2022); along with opportunities for audiences to meet filmmakers following world premieres at the main festival such as James J. Robinson (First Light) and Sue Thomson (Careless).
Complementing the regional tour, MIFF Online provides digital access to festival content through the ACMI Cinema 3 streaming platform from August 15-31. This online offering will feature a limited selection of festival films and free short films, making the MIFF experience available to audiences across Australia from their homes.
Media Release – Melbourne International Film Festival
TV Central Other content HERE
Link to MIFF HERE
MIFF 2025 rolls out the red carpet for 18 days of world-class cinema
