MIFFmas is almost upon us, when Melbourne’s cinephiles rug up and brave the Victorian winter to see way too many movies. If you like to bat for the home team, here are 12 of the most exciting Australian films in this year’s jam-packed program.
MIFF, Australian picks – quick links
Our Effed Up World
If you devour Alice Maio Mackay’s insanely prolific run of riotously fun, trans-forward horror movies – seriously, seven features by 21 – buckle up for this alien invasion buddy flick.
The 100 actor Sara Thompson’s Sheri defends humanity alongside VHS store heroes played by Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma’s Jess McLeod and Japanese-Australian star Karis Oka. Also featuring Fucktoys lead Annapurna Sriram, The Serpent’s Skin stars Scott Major and Jordan Dulieu, plus a hilarious cameo by the inimitable Alexei Toliopoulos, it’s a hoot.
Facing the Numbers
If you’re looking for empowering documentaries, check out the debut directorial feature of Leviticus cinematographer Tyson Perkins (Arrernte and Kalkadoon) and Kieran Satour (Gurindji, Pertame and Worimi).
Their astonishing insight embraces poetry and dance to address successive governments’ failure to close the gap, while championing the achievements of staunch First Nations survivors of the Stolen Generations.
Philip Philadelphia
If you love ambitious filmmakers like Obsession’s Curry Barker and Backrooms’ Kane Parsons, meet Adam C Briggs. One half of the crazy brave brains behind A Grand Mockery, Meanjin-based Briggs’ lusty latest, shot on 16mm under the Gold Coast sun, casts Drack actor Geoffrey Vagg as a British filmmaker coming apart at the seams. He’s pounced upon by an aspiring actor in this queerly enticing, off-chops debacle.
MIFF 2026: program, opening night & Bright Horizons films
Time and Tide
If you love verité filmmaking, go for Melbourne-based, Chinese-born filmmaker Vi Shee’s form-blurring hybrid doco. Originally conceived as a truth-borrowing fiction featuring his real family, the MIFF Accelerator alum’s return to his hometown, Longtian, and a distant father who’s recovering from a stroke, wound up getting more real than he intended. Claiming the Documentary Australia award at the Sydney Film Festival, it looks lush.
Sweet Milk Lake
If you like tender dramas, rush to the directorial debut of Melbourne actor Harvey Zielinski (Deadloch, White Fever, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?) He also stars as Jake, a trans man who returns to the country town he grew up in only to be mistaken for his cis brother by his ailing, estranged dad (Kieran Darcy-Smith). This, while navigating new romance with Mununjali and Nunukul star Hunter Page-Lochard’s sensitive soul, Toby.
Tina Arena: Unravel Me
If you break out in objectively terrible renditions of Chains in the shower, then you’ll want to hear from the prone-to-occasional-controversy pop star Tina Arena herself. Black Divaz director Adrian Russell Wills’ warts-and-all documentary traces the highs and lows of her 50-year journey, from Young Talent Time to global success, and features fab talking heads including Jessica Mauboy, The Veronicas and Céline Dion.
The Latcher
If you’re into psychological thrillers that push you to the very edge, the debut feature from Accelerator Lab alum James Hunter features Shortland Street star Lucy Lovegrove as an American midwife losing her grip in rural Australia’s back of beyond. What is the shadowy figure bleeding from troubled dreams into reality, and why does it inexorably lead her back to the one place to which she never wanted to return?
The Best Summer
If you love 90s indie music, feast on film and music video director Tamra Davis’ camcorder-shot doco. She visited Australia in 1995 with then-husband Mike D of the Beastie Boys fame, capturing them alongside the likes of Bikini Kill, Sonic Youth, Pavement and the Foo Fighters at short-lived music festival, Summersault. Rediscovering the footage while evacuating the LA fires, Davis’ time capsule doco is the silver lining.
Body Blow
If you crave the 90s horn-on for sweat-inducing erotic thrillers, Drown director Dean Francis is here, and queer, to satisfy your desires. Electrifying Sydney with a neo-noir sheen, it stars Tim Pocock as a studly bent cop trying to live the no-fap life who’s led even more astray than he already is by Tom Rodgers’ demon twink fatale. Throw in the combined might of Kween Kong and a scene-stealing Paul Capsis and you’ll squeal.
Hard as Puck
If you love sporting documentaries that barrack for the little team that could, cheer for filmmaker Isaac Elliott’s delightful debut feature. Perth-based para ice hockey club the Garden Island Pirates are used to their biggest competition being access to the local ice rink. Then, just as their valiant coach is preparing to step down, the Women’s World Para Ice Hockey Championships call in this Murderball recalling gem.
French Girls
If you’re fashion-friendly but harbour suspicions about the industry and Instagram-perfection, snap up tickets to Korean-Australian filmmaker Hyun Lee’s slacker-hearted thriller. Drawing on her own experience as a photographer, Lee casts artist Mia Kidis as a construction worker who’s nonplussed when a model agency scouts her. The supposed high life takes a turn when her deadbeat boyfriend’s criminal caper backfires.
Digby & Camille
If you fell head over heels for the proudly neurodivergent hopefuls of Love on the Spectrum, then this dreamy duo is for you. Artist Digby Webster’s fabulous portrait of his co-director, Trevor Graham (Chef Antonio’s Recipes for Revolution), was a finalist in the 2024 Archibald Prize. Their documentary traces Digby’s romance with trainee chef Camille Collins, navigating life and attitudes towards folks with Down syndrome together.
Melbourne International Film Festival 2026 takes place from 6 to 23 August across Melbourne and regional Victoria, with MIFF Online running from 14 to 30 August.
