Melbourne International Film Festival

Melbourne International Film Festival

MIFF logo
Location	Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Founded	1952
No. of films	300 (approx.)
Website	Official website

The Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) is an annual film festival held over three weeks in Melbourne, Australia. It was founded in 1952 and is one of the oldest film festivals in the world.^[1] MIFF is one of Melbourne's four major film festivals, in addition to the Melbourne International Animation Festival (MIAF), Melbourne Queer Film Festival (MQFF) and Melbourne Underground Film Festival (MUFF). As of 2017, the festival's Artistic Director is Michelle Carey.^[2]

Contents

• 
  1 History
  


• 
  2 Overview
  


• 
  3 Program
  


• 
  4 Venues
  


• 
  5 37ºSouth Market
  


• 
  6 Film Competitions
  
  
  
  • 
    6.1 Feature film awards
    
  
  
  • 
    6.2 Short film awards
    
  
  
  • 
    6.3 Winners of Grand Prix for Best Short Film
    
  
  
  
  


• 
  7 Rebiya Kadeer film controversy
  


• 
  8 Looking for Eric controversy
  


• 
  9 Melbourne Underground Film Festival (MUFF)
  


• 
  10 See also
  


• 
  11 References
  


• 
  12 External links
  

History

Melbourne is a significant city in the history of film: The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906), the world's first full-length feature film, was filmed in the city.

Established in 1952, the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) is one of the oldest film festivals in the world and has become the most notable screen event in Australia. An iconic Melbourne event, the festival takes place annually in various theatres in the Melbourne CBD, presenting an acclaimed screening program including films from local and international filmmakers, alongside industry events.

Overview

MIFF is the largest film festival in both Australia and the southern hemisphere, and is Australia's largest showcase of new Australian cinema. The 2012 festival generated A$8 million for the Victorian economy.^[1][3][4]

As of 2013, the festival is accredited by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences,^[5] the Australian Film Institute^[6] and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.^[5]

As of 2013, the festival's CEO is Maria Amato, Carey is the Artistic Director and Mark Woods is MIFF's Industry Director/Executive Producer.^[7]

Program

The MIFF Opening Night Gala and film screenings take place in the Arts Centre Melbourne's Hamer Hall

In 2013, the festival program consisted of the following categories:

• International Panorama - a handpicked selection of world cinema


• TeleScope – curated program of 12 new films from 12 European Union countries


• Australian Showcase – new Australian cinema


• NextGen - a program of films aimed at younger audiences


• Accent on Asia - showcase of films from Asia-Pacific region


• Inside the DPRK - two film exploring life within North Korea
  


• Juche Showtime: Films of the DPRK - North Korean cinema


• Defying the Times: Activism on Film – films on political activism


• Documentaries


• A League of Their Own: New Arabic Cinema – films from the pan-Arabic world


• States of Play: American Independents – independent cinema from the United States


• Masters and Restorations – documentaries on filmmaking and film restorations


• Backbeat – music films


• Animation


• Shining Violence: Italian Giallo – films of the Italian 'giallo' subgenre


• Night Shift – thriller, horror and gore movies


• This Sporting Life – sporting films


• Short Film Packages – short film category that features the Accelerator programs (emerging filmmakers), Best MIFF Shorts Screening (best short films of the festival selected by the MIFF Shorts Awards Jury) and the MIFF Shorts Awards Ceremony (see: #Competition)


• Pre-Feature Shorts – short films featured prior to feature film screenings


• Special Events – includes the opening night feature film and a screening at the Melbourne Planetarium


• Talking Pictures – discussion and Q&A events with the festival's filmmakers and personalities


• MIFF Premiere Fund – Australian films supported by the MIFF Premiere Fund


• 37ºSouth - see: #37ºSouth Market^[8]
  

Venues

The Australian Centre for the Moving Image is a main venue for screenings and the 37ºSouth Market

The festival is conducted across various venues located in Melbourne and in 2013 the following venues were used: Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Forum Theatre, Greater Union Cinemas, Mandala Festival Wine Bar, Hoyts Melbourne Central, the Arts Centre Melbourne, Kino Cinemas, Wheeler Centre, Village Roadshow Theatrette, and Speakeasy Cinema.^[9]

37ºSouth Market

The 37ºSouth Market is the only international film financing marketplace to take place during a film festival in Australia or New Zealand (NZ). The event occurs during the opening days of the festival and is a forum for around 45 invited sales agents/distributors to meet with up to 100 pre-selected Australian and NZ producers who are seeking co-financing support. As of 2013, the 37ºSouth Market is also the exclusive partner of the London's Production Finance Market (PFM) for Australia and NZ. As of 2013, the 37ºSouth Market has attracted companies such as: Studio Canal, Wild Bunch, Paramount Pictures, BBC Films, HanWay, Independent, Miramax Films, Visit, Bankside, The Works, eOne, Cargo, West End, Aver, Level K.^[10]

Film Competitions

Since 1962, MIFF has staged a short film competition, as well as numerous feature film award categories.^[11] It also presents audience popularity awards for feature film and documentary.^[11] The festival's inaugural award was 'Best Short Film', but the title was changed to 'Grand Prix for Best Short Film' in 1965.^[11] From 1985 onwards, the Grand Prix has been officially presented by the City of Melbourne.^[11]

The Forum Theatre is a main venue for the short film competition, as well as festival panels and lectures

Feature film awards

• People's Choice Award for Best Feature


• People's Choice Award for Best Documentary


• TeleScope Best European Feature Award


• 
  The Age Critics' Award (presented by The Age newspaper)

Short film awards

• City of Melbourne Grand Prix for Best Short Film (A$10,000)


• 
  Film Victoria Erwin Rado Award for Best Australian Short Film (A$7,000)


• Swinburne Award for Emerging Australian Filmmaker (A$5,000)


• Cinema Nova Award for Best Fiction Short Film (A$5,000)


• Holmesglen Award for Best Animation Short Film (A$5,000)


• BBC Knowledge Award for Best Documentary Short Film (A$5,000)


• The Astor Theatre Award for Best Experimental Short Film (A$5,000)


• Jury Special Mention

As of 2013, the MIFF short film awards are accredited by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) and the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA), and winners in the Best Short, Best Fiction, Best Animation and Best Documentary categories are eligible to submit their films for Academy Award consideration. The judges for the 2013 MIFF short film awards were Lorin Clarke, Michael Matrenza and Ramona Telecican.^[12]

Winners of Grand Prix for Best Short Film

Year	Film	Director	Country
1965	La gazza ladra	Giulio Giannini, Emanuele Luzzati	Italy
1966	The Inheritance	Harold Mayer	United States
1967	Petrol-Carburant-Kraftstoff	Hugo Niebeling	West Germany
1968	You're Human Like the Rest of Them	B.S. Johnson	UK
1969	Pas de deux	Norman McLaren	Canada
1970	Calcutta	Louis Malle	France
1971	Blake	Bill Mason	Canada
1972	Scarabus	Gérald Frydman	Belgium
1973	Street Musique	Ryan Larkin	Canada
1974	Edward Burra	Peter K. Smith	UK
1975	Last Grave at Dimbaza	Nana Mahamo	South Africa
1976	Leisure	Bruce Petty	Australia
1977	Corralejas de Sincelejo	Mario Mitrotti	Colombia
1978	Manimals	Robin Lehman	United States
1979	Malj	Aleksandar Ilic	Yugoslavia
1980	Interview	Caroline Leaf	Canada
1981	New York Story	Jackie Raynal	United States
1982	Shadows	Royden Irvine	Australia
1983	Douglas Mawson: The Survivor	David Parer	Australia
1984	Aquí se lo halla	Lee Sokol	United States
1985	In Heaven There Is No Beer?	Les Blank	United States
1986	My Life Without Steve	Gillian Leahy	Australia
1987	Panya shugeki	Naoto Yamakawa	Japan
1988	The Critical Years	Gérard L'Ecuyer	Canada/United States
1989	Twilight City	Reece Auguiste	UK
1990	Swimming	Belinda Chayko	Australia
1991	Sink or Swim	Su Friedrich	United States
1992	The Writing in the Sand	Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen	UK
1993	Lektionen in Finsternis	Werner Herzog	Germany
1994	Only the Brave (film)	Ana Kokkinos	Australia
1995	Twilight	Tengai Amano	Japan
1996	Baka	Thierry Knauff	Belgium
1997	At Sea (film)	Penny Fowler-Smith	Australia
1998	The Storekeeper	Gavin Hood	South Africa
1999	So-poong	Song Il-gon	South Korea
2000	Wildlife	Kate de Pury	UK
2001	Muakah	Hadar Friedlich	Israel
2002	Palace II	Kátia Lund, Fernando Meirelles	Brazil
2003	Destino	Dominique Monfery	France
2004	Talking with Angels	Yousaf Ali Khan	UK
2005	Silent Companion	Elham Hosseinzadeh	Iran
2006	Avatar	Lluis Quilez	Spain
2007	Blood Sisters	Louise N.D. Friedberg	Denmark
2008	Dennis	Mads Matthiesen	Denmark
2009	Next Floor	Denis Villeneuve, Phoebe Greenberg	Canada
2010	The Lost Thing	Shaun Tan, Andrew Ruhemann	Australia
2011	A Fine Young Man	Kevan Funk	Canada
2012	It’s Not A Cowboy Movie	Benjamin Parent	France
2013	Pandas	Matúš Vizár	Czech Republic
2014	The Queen	Benjamin Parent	Argentina
2015	Everything Will Be OK	Patrick Vollrath	Germany
2016	Mrs Metro	Aggelos Papantoniou	Australia

Rebiya Kadeer film controversy

During the 58th festival in 2009, the controversial film The 10 Conditions of Love (2009), which documents the life of the exiled Uyghur leader Rebiya Kadeer, was screened despite many attempts by the Government of China (which labels her a terrorist) to have the film withdrawn from the festival.

Chinese filmmakers withdrew their films from the festival two days before it opened on 24 July 2009.^[13] Former MIFF director Richard Moore refused to remove the film from the festival program,^[14] despite the hacking of the festival website and attempts to hack its online ticketing system from IP addresses of Chinese origin. Later, both pro-Chinese and pro-Uyghur activists attempted to disrupt ticketing due to the media coverage.^[15][16] The festival website was hacked soon after the launch of its 2009 program, with information replaced with the Chinese flag and anti-Kadeer slogans.^[17]Victoria Police was placed on alert during the screening of the film and Pro-Uighur demonstrators also gathered outside the Melbourne Town Hall.^[18]

The Dalai Lama also sent a message of support via Michael Danby, the Member of the Parliament of Australia for Melbourne Ports:

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[The Dalai Lama] asked me to convey to you, in Melbourne, that [Kadeer] is another one of the national leaders who is a paradigm of non-violence... He wanted to make it very clear to people that the claims of this woman being a violent person or instigating violence, is from his point of view, and with all of his authority, wrong.

— Michael Danby (quoting a letter form the Dalai Lama).^[19]

The Government of China attempted to have the film withdrawn from the festival, going to the extent of contacting Robert Doyle, the Lord Mayor of Melbourne.^[18] Doyle, however, refused to intervene. Australia's Ambassador to China Geoff Raby was summoned by China's Deputy Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun to express displeasure about Kadeer's attendance at MIFF.^[20]

Looking for Eric controversy

In June 2009, Ken Loach, Paul Laverty (writer) and Rebecca O'Brien (producer) pulled their film Looking for Eric from the festival because the Israeli Embassy was a sponsor and the festival declined to withdraw their sponsorship. Moore compared Loach's tactics to blackmail, stating that "we will not participate in a boycott against the State of Israel, just as we would not contemplate boycotting films from China or other nations involved in difficult long-standing historical disputes."^[21]

Melbourne Underground Film Festival (MUFF)

In 2000, MIFF's rejection of a feature film written and directed by Richard Wolstencroft led him to form the Melbourne Underground Film Festival (MUFF). In subsequent years, MUFF has attracted controversy by criticising the content of MIFF, as well as its management, specifically the leadership of former directors. MUFF prioritises and declares that he has a mandate, as a space for exciting and edgy Australian cinema that may not be played at MIFF. ^[22][23]

See also

• Film festival


• List of film festivals


• List of short film festivals


• St Kilda Short Film Festival


• Cinema of Australia

References

1. 
   ^ ^ab "About". MIFF. Melbourne International Film Festival. 11 August 2013. Retrieved 11 August 2013..mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"""""""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/12px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#33aa33;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}
   


2. 
   ^ Craig Mathieson (28 May 2013). "FILM – MIFF 2013: Early highlights". SBS. SBS. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
   


3. 
   ^ Sandy George (3 July 2013). "Investment fund boosts Melbourne's world premiere tally". Screen Daily. Media Business Insight Limited. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
   


4. 
   ^ aunngo (8 June 2011). "Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF)". Meld Magazine. Meld Magazine – Melbourne's international student news website. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
   


5. 
   ^ ^ab "Resources". Film Festival World. Film Festival World, Inc. 2007–2008. Archived from the original on 29 March 2009. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
   


6. 
   ^ "PROFESSIONAL ACCREDITATION CRITERIA". Australian Film Institute. Australian Film Institute. 2013. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
   


7. 
   ^ "Staff". MIFF. Melbourne International Film Festival. 11 August 2013. Archived from the original on 6 August 2013. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
   


8. 
   ^ "Categories". MIFF. Melbourne International Film Festival. 11 August 2013. Archived from the original on 6 August 2013. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
   


9. 
   ^ "Venues". MIFF. Melbourne International Film Festival. 11 August 2013. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
   


10. 
    ^ Stuart Kemp (21 May 2013). "Cannes: Melbourne's Movie Market Secures Four". The Hollywood Reporter. The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
    


11. 
    ^ ^abcd "Melbourne International Film Festival". IMDb. IMDb.com, Inc. 1990–2013. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
    


12. 
    ^ "MIFF 52nd Shorts Awards". MIFF. Melbourne International Film Festival. August 2013. Archived from the original on 8 August 2013. Retrieved 14 August 2013.
    


13. 
    ^ "Chinese entries boycott film festival". ABC News. 22 July 2009. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
    


14. 
    ^ "MIFF 'sticking to guns' over Uighur film". ABC News. 27 July 2009. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
    


15. 
    ^ "MIFF website hacked amid Chinese film row". ABC News. 26 July 2009. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
    


16. 
    ^ pers comm. R.Raulings, director eFirst
    


17. 
    ^ "Chinese hackers attack film festival site". ABC News. 1 August 2009. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
    


18. 
    ^ ^ab Gus Goswell (10 August 2009). "Demonstrators turn out at Kadeer film screening". ABC News. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
    


19. 
    ^ Dalai Lama sends message of support to Kadeer - ABC News, 9 August 2009
    


20. 
    ^ ABC/Reuters (1 August 2009). "China summons Australia over Uighur leader visit". ABC News. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
    


21. 
    ^ "Email exchanges between Ken Loach, Paul Laverty, Rebecca O'Brien and the Melbourne Film Festival organizers". Pulse Media. Pulse Media. 20 July 2009. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
    


22. 
    ^ Richard Wolstencroft (2 August 2013). "The Opening Night of the 14th MUFF. Jugular by JJ DeCeglie. Discovering exciting and edgy new Australian Cinema. That's how we roll. That's what we prioritise. That is our mandate. www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDhJclDF3hU&feature=player_embedded". MUFF on Facebook. Facebook. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
    


23. 
    ^ Avrille Bylok Collard (9 August 2013). "Melbourne Underground Film Festival Announces Dates". Beat. Furst Media Pty Ltd. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
    

External links

• Official website

v t e Events in the Melbourne City Centre
Note: this includes events held in the Melbourne City Centre and its immediate surrounds, not the Greater Melbourne metropolitan area
Summer	All: Summer Fun in the City of Melbourne December: Australian Dancesport Championships Boxing Day Test Carols by Candlelight Myer Christmas Parade January: Australian Open Midsumma Festival Melbourne International Boat Show One Day International Cricket February: St Kilda Festival Herald Sun Tour White Night festivals
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Winter	All: Melbourne Winter Masterpieces series June: AFL Queen's Birthday match Melbourne International Animation Festival Australian International Motor Show Melbourne International Jazz Festival July: State of Design Festival Melbourne International Film Festival Open House Melbourne Run Melbourne August: Melbourne Day Melbourne Underground Film Festival Melbourne Writers Festival Craft Cubed
Spring	September: AFL Grand Final Melbourne Fringe Festival Melbourne International Festival of Brass Melbourne Spring Fashion Week Royal Melbourne Show Sandown 500 Kerryn Wildes Birthday October: Around the Bay in a Day Melbourne International Arts Festival Melbourne Marathon Festival Spring Racing Carnival November: Head of the Yarra Melbourne Cup Carnival City2Sea

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