MIFF 2022, Star Cinema
MIFF 2022
MIFF and The Chambers
MIFF Ticket sales & prices
Tickets for MIFF screenings are available to purchase now. Click the links below to purchase.
MIFF and Star Cinema Members: $15.00
Classifications
Star Cinema's MIFF programme:
Friday August 12 - MIFF Opening Night
Saturday August 13
Sunday August 14
Friday August 19
Saturday August 20
Sunday August 21
MIFF Films
Opening Night: Franklin
Friday August 12. 8:30pm. 90min. MA 15+. Dir: Kasimirr Burgess. Australia.
Eighth-generation Tasmanian environmentalist Oliver Cassidy embarks on a life-changing solo rafting trip down the beautiful yet remote Franklin River. His goal is to retrace his late father’s 18-day expedition to attend the blockade that saved the World-Heritage listed national park from being destroyed by a huge hydroelectric dam project in the early 1980s.
Featuring never-before-seen archival footage and interviews with key players such as Bob Brown and Uncle Jim Everett, the eight-year-long 'Franklin campaign' is revealed as the most significant environmental protest in Australia's history; an inspiring example of the power of non-violent direct action to bring about lasting change.
Physically challenged beyond his limits, Oliver’s journey is one of healing and deeper understanding as he searches for the right way to say 'goodbye' to his father.
CLICK HERE TO BOOK FOR FRANKLIN
Moja Vesna
Saturday August 13. 1:00pm. 81min. UN 15+. Dir: Sara Kern. Australia / Slovenia. English & Solvenian with English subtitles.
A 10-year-old must keep her grief-stricken immigrant family together in this moving Australian–Slovenian co-production.
In Melbourne’s outer-suburbs, reticent Moja, her well-meaning Slovenian father Miloš and her volatile older sister Vesna all struggle to cope with the impacts of a significant death. But Vesna is in denial about the demands of late-stage pregnancy and Miloš barely speaks a word of English, so Moja is forced to assume the role of stabilising presence and cultural mediator – with little chance to mourn the loss of their mother.
“Some filmmakers have the drive to tell poignant stories that deal with the most difficult topics, and the talent to match … Kern is one of them.”
– Cineuropa
CLICK HERE TO BOOK FOR MOJA VESNA
Because We Have Each Other
Saturday August 13. 4:00pm. 90min. UN 15+. Dir: Sari Braithwaite. Australia.
The delightfully hyper-intimate new feature from director Sari Braithwaite invites us to share the mundane and the magnificent with a neurodivergent, working-class family.
Janet Sharrock has two children and Brent “Buddha” Barnes has three; the pair has a meet-cute at the local RSL, marry and unite their families, Brady Bunch style. Now grown up, Becky (famous for being one of only 80 people in the world with Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory), Jessica (a comedian living with depression), Brendan (who aspires to take over Buddha’s repair shop), and young Kylie and Dylan laugh, cry, contemplate existence and dream big with their parents, finding joy and stability in one another as they face immense change.
CLICK HERE TO BOOK FOR BECAUSE WE HAVE EACH OTHER
Mass
Saturday August 13. 8:00pm. 110min. UN 18+. Dir: Fran Kranz. USA.
The parents of two boys involved in a school shooting strive for closure in this riveting feature debut from writer-director Fran Kranz.
This intelligent drama is anchored by a quartet of magnificent performances from Ann Dowd (The Handmaid’s Tale), Jason Isaacs, Martha Plimpton and Reed Birney, as parents grappling with the aftermath of an unimaginable tragedy. Both families lost a son: one a victim, the other the gunman. In a tense meeting six years later, they attempt to make sense of what happened. It’s a gripping, claustrophobic chamber piece and Kranz’s own background as an actor is evident in the penetrating screenplay and fearless commitment of his cast. Smartly sidestepping the politics of gun violence in favour of a more nuanced exploration of blame, guilt and forgiveness, this is daring filmmaking that announces Kranz as an exciting new voice.
Where Is Anne Frank?
Sunday August 14. 1:00pm. 99min. UN 15+. Dir: Ari Folman. Israel.
A beguiling and big-hearted animated reimagining of Anne Frank’s story.
The first feature film in eight long years from director Ari Folman, Where Is Anne Frank approaches the famous Holocaust diary from the perspective of Kitty (voiced by Bridgerton’s Ruby Stokes), the imaginary girl to whom Anne addressed her correspondence. In this wondrous retelling, Kitty comes to life in modern Amsterdam and embarks on a time-hopping adventure to uncover the mystery of Anne’s whereabouts. As she searches for her friend, she discovers a whole host of other people who, like Anne, have been placed in an impossible situation.
Depicting Anne’s world through a masterful blend of hand-drawn and stop-motion animation, Folman puts the diarist’s much-mythologised writing into dialogue with the present-day refugee crisis, examining how commemoration can reduce people to symbols – and the limits of compassion when faced with such iconography. Where Is Anne Frank is a breathtaking, timely work that melds fantasy and memory, history and hope, from one of our era’s most inventive screen storytellers.
“A visionary animated update of a Holocaust story that needed retelling … Vital, creative, and sociopolitically urgent.” – IndieWire
CLICK HERE TO BOOK FOR WHERE IS ANNE FRANK
Of An Age
Sunday August 14. 4:00pm. 100min. UN 15+. Dir: Goran Stolevski. Australia.
It’s the summer of 1999 and two teens fresh out of high school – sensitive, Serbian-born Nikola and fiery Ebony are partners for a dance competition. On the big day, Nikola gets a distressed call from Ebony, asking to be rescued from the other side of town, so he enlists her brother, the charming Adam, to take him there. On the drive, amid traffic and amicable swagger, the two discover a mutual spark … but Adam is leaving the country in 24 hours.
CLICK HERE TO BOOK FOR OF AN AGE
The Quiet Girl
Sunday August 14. 7:00pm. 94min. M. Dir: Colm Bairead. Ireland.
Still waters run deep in this rousing Irish-language story of love and loss set in 1980s Ireland, awarded the Berlinale’s Generation K plus Grand Prix for Best Film.
Nine-year-old Cáit is on the bottom rung of a bustling family headed by a bullying father and a pregnant-again mother. When she is sent away to spend the summer at a farm belonging to her mother’s cousin and her husband, the neglected child experiences – for the first time – what it’s like to flourish under the eyes of attentive guardians.
Featuring a star-making performance from young Catherine Clinch, this adaptation of Claire Keegan’s beloved novella Foster is the first ever Irish-language feature to screen in competition at the Berlinale, and subsequently won Best Irish Feature at the Dublin International Film Festival as well as eight awards – including Best Film, Best Director and Best Actress – at the Irish Film & Television Awards. Written and directed by rising talent Colm Bairéad, and brought to life with meditative compositions by DOP Kate McCullough (Normal People), The Quiet Girl is a tale of life-changing tragedy and emerging love, told with graceful simplicity.
“Unexpectedly beautiful … The Quiet Girl is thoughtful, spiritual in its stillness but alive with the hum of the land and the emotions it guards.”
– Screen Daily
CLICK HERE TO BOOK FOR THE QUIET GIRL
Volcano Man
Friday August 19. 8:00pm. 84min. UN 15+. Dir: James Crawley. USA.
When a filmmaker son sets out to make a documentary about his filmmaker father, long-buried feelings and dormant memories bubble to the surface.
Richard Crawley’s passion for cinema was so ardent that he recorded his young family’s every moment and milestone on video. To pay the bills, he channelled this love for the lens into music photography, snapping such acts as the Rolling Stones, Tina Turner and the Jackson Five. But then tragedy struck and snuffed out Richard’s creative and parental fire. Now, his adult son James attempts to understand Richard’s inner turmoil after discovering 30 hours of confessional footage, in the process making sense of the 70-year-old’s newfound zest for life.
This raw and revealing feature documentary combines archival footage and photographs, lively narration with talking heads, and a buoyant rock ’n’ roll score to recount a relationship marred by grief and failed dreams. But this is also a film about filmmaking – the cinema as preservation of self, whether in coping, catharsis or committing experiences to memory. Volcano Man is a poignant portrait of a father in denial and a son kept at a distance, for whom an eruption of mutual honesty offers long-belated closure.
CLICK HERE TO BOOK FOR VOLCANO MAN
Greenhouse By Joost
Saturday August 20. 1:00pm. 88min. UN 15+. Dir: Bruce Permezel & Rhian Skirving. Australia.
Joost Bakker investigates what it would be like to grow all the food you ever needed, leaving no waste as you do so, right at your doorstep.
Extending a lifetime’s worth of zero-waste activism, visionary designer Bakker devises the Future Food System, a self-sufficient residence that provides shelter, food and energy while reusing any by-products as fuel or fertiliser. Joined by esteemed chefs Matt Stone and Jo Barrett, he works with a team of builders, engineers, and experts in agriculture, aquaponics and biochemistry to realise the project at Melbourne’s Fed Square – culminating in the launch of a unique farm-to-table restaurant.
Candid footage of Bakker, Stone and Barrett reveals the humanity behind these stalwarts of Australia’s design and culinary scenes – from admissions of failure to moments of sheer joy – while also foregrounding how the building (which still stands along the Yarra) evidences the possibility of integrating, rather than rejecting, nature’s self-sustaining processes. Impactful and truly inspirational, this is an insider’s look not just at a bold experiment in eco-friendly living, but a game-changing blueprint for the future.
CLICK HERE TO BOOK FOR GREENHOUSE BY JOOST
Australian Shorts
Saturday August 20. 4:00pm. 104min (approx). UN 18+. Australia.
A compilation of short films carefully selected by MIFF. A full list of the Australian shorts can be found HERE
Viewer advice: Contains suicide themes. First Nations viewers are also warned that the Australia Shorts package may contains images & voices of deceased persons.
CLICK HERE to book for Australian Shorts
Call Jane
Saturday August 20. 8:00pm. 121min. UN 15+. Dir: Phyllis Nagy. USA.
Elizabeth Banks and Sigourney Weaver star as activists providing abortions and a lifeline to desperate women prior to Roe v. Wade.
A housewife is overjoyed with the news of her pregnancy -- until she learns it poses a threat to her own life. She has nowhere to turn until she meets an underground group of women who risk everything to provide people like her with a choice. Featuring Sigourney Weaver, this timely film is timely as ever and essential viewing.
CLICK HERE TO BOOK FOR CALL JANE
The Reason I Jump
Sunday August 21. 1:00pm. 82min. M. Dir: Jerry Rothwell. UK.
This Sundance 2020 Audience Award winner is a revelatory, immersive adaptation of Naoki Higashida’s memoir of a neurodiverse life.
Higashida was just 13 years old when The Reason I Jump was published. A groundbreaking international bestseller, the book – whose English version was co-translated by author David Mitchell – offers unprecedented insights into the active and creative mind of someone living with non-verbal autism. In adapting it for the screen, director Jerry Rothwell has created something equally robust and innovative.
Through exquisite cinematography and sound design, it depicts the sometimes disorienting and overwhelming but equally rich and joyful experiences of each individual’s interior life. The result is a remarkably empathetic work likely to change minds, warm hearts and inspire conversation about the autism spectrum.
“As emotionally piercing as it is beautiful to behold … this compassionate, creative documentary will open ears and eyes in equal measure.”
– Variety
CLICK HERE TO BOOK FOR THE REASON I JUMP
Sweet As
Sunday August 21. 4:00pm. 86min. UN 15+. Dir: Jub Clerc. Australia.
It's The Breakfast Club crossed with the outback in this uplifting coming-of-age road movie.
With problems on the home front, 15-year-old Murra is on the verge of lashing out. That is, until her policeman uncle thwarts her self-destructive behaviour with a lifeline: a “photo-safari for at-risk kids”. Murra isn’t entirely convinced, but she soon joins cantankerous Kylie, uptight Sean, happy-go-lucky Elvis, and camp counsellors Fernando and Michelle on a transformative bus trip to the Pilbara. On the trail, the teens learn about fun, friendship and first crushes, as well as the forces of ‘reality’ that puncture the bubble of youth.
Starring Aboriginal luminaries Tasma Walton (Mystery Road, Cleverman) and Mark Coles Smith (Last Cab to Darwin), Chilean-Cuban-Australian actor Carlos Sanson Jr (Bump), and a magnetic Shantae Barnes-Cowan (Total Control, Firebite) in the lead, Sweet As is an effervescent story of growth, acceptance and the journey towards finding oneself. With postcard-perfect shots of remote Western Australia and a road-trip-worthy soundtrack of all-Indigenous artists, it's sure to take you along for its thrillingly cinematic, life-affirming ride.
CLICK HERE TO BOOK FOR SWEET AS
Clean
Sunday August 21. 7:00pm. 92min. UN 15+. Dir: Lachlan McLeod. Australia.
The genuinely inspirational story of how ‘the trauma cleaner’ Sandra Pankhurst responded to an unseen world with radical kindness.
Sandra Pankhurst knew humanity at its worst, as well as its best, having lived many different lives: survivor of childhood abuse, suburban parent, drag queen, funeral director, business owner, motivational speaker. Generous and formidable, she underwent transition in the 1980s and found her purpose running STC Services, a successful Melbourne trauma-cleaning business that she founded in the 1990s. For three decades, Pankhurst and her team – who’ve also survived tough times – have brought order and care to homes made chaotic by hoarding, addiction, violence and crime.
“An affecting reflection on the fragility of life … [and] a remarkable character study with a final chapter that will leave you deeply moved.” – Hollywood Reporter