The Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) has announced a 70th program of premiere showcases, international features and special anniversary events for its first in-person festival since 2019.
Throughout August, the Festival will show 257 feature films, 102 shorts and 12 XR works, including 18 world premieres, 12 international premieres, 177 Australian premieres and a record 61 titles arriving from Cannes.
MIFF Artistic Director Al Cossar said the 2022 event marked ‘an extraordinary welcome back to Melbourne cinemas and beyond’ after two years of Covid disruption, with ‘a full-scale program, suburban and regional expansions across nine country Victorian settings, and Australia wide access to an incredible film program via MIFF Play.’
‘On top of everything, we turn 70 years young,’ Cossar added, ‘a milestone to celebrate by charting, across our program, the special connection MIFF has with Melbourne itself. How special and exciting it will be for all of us to step back into the world of festival movie-going and share the magic of MIFF once more.’
Highlights of the 2022 program include:
MIFF-goers will be among the first in the world to see some of the most hotly anticipated and critically acclaimed films of the international festival circuit, with 61 titles arriving fresh from Cannes.
Bodies Bodies Bodies: a horror-comedy from Dutch director Halina Reijn that mixes the classic whodunnit with reality-show sass.
Sissy: a Canberra-shot horror starring Aisha Dee that takes audiences on a reaction roller-coaster: from screams of laughter to shrieks at the gnarliest gore in this depraved, decidedly local revenge tale.
Piggy: a star-making vehicle for actor Laura Galán, who portrays the lead role of Sara with empathy and conviction in this brutally fresh and darkly comic take on the revenge genre.
Something in the Dirt: a DIY sci-fi mind-bender with the kitchen-sink thrown in. Against the backdrop of a semi-apocalyptic, fire-ravaged LA, the film is a COVID chamber piece of sorts that also offers a blackly comic take on filmmaking itself via a highly meta, mockumentary framework.
Line-Up: MIFF’s first XR-commission, by long-term collaborators Isobel Knowles and Van Sowerwine, will be available online and in cinemas as a celebration of that sacred space, the MIFF queue. Developed and supported by artist and philanthropist Ling Ang.
Speak of Country: Katrina Channells’ work allows users to soar across the spectacular Yuin Nation coastline in an airborne Kombi van and search for seven interactive objects that unlock cultural stories.
The Melbourne International Film Festival takes place 4–22 August, 2022. MIFF Play, the festival’s streaming platform, is available from 11–28 August. Tickets go on sale to the general public on 15 July. MIFF’s regional program runs in Bairnsdale, Bendigo, Bright, Castlemaine, Echuca, Geelong, Mildura, Sorrento and Warrnambool from 12–21 August. Find full details on the MIFF website.
