Thursday 9 August 2007

MIFF hits the home straight

Highlights of today’s screening schedule include:

• Sundance award winning psychological horror that leaves you unsettled with its Hitchcockian precision, Joshua (9.25pm @ Regent)
• The harrowing story of a 16 year old accused of murdering her newborn, featuring a standout performance from Tilda Swinton, Stephanie Daley (9.30pm @ RMIT Capitol)
• An on-the-road doco following the trials and tribulations of great Australian rockers Rose Tattoo, Rock ‘n’ Roll Outlaw (7.15pm @ ACMI)
• A rare look into the world of the harem and the rituals of a bride preparing for marriage, Behind the Veil (7.20pm @ Greater Union)

best BigPond MIFF shorts

Put a red circle around tomorrow night in your diary for the short film event to end all short film events, best MIFF shorts Screening and Awards Night. We’ll be proving that the short is just as mighty as the feature as we hand out the gongs to the best films from our impressive programme of 100 short films. Hosted by Adam Zwar, best MIFF shorts promises to be a night to be remembered, and it all happens in the glamorous surrounds of the Regent Theatre at 9.00pm.

Melbourne Citymission’s PJ Day

Tomorrow night, MIFF’s official charity partner, Melbourne Citymission, are encouraging everyone to kit-up in their best sleeping attire as part of PJ Day. The idea is to remind yourself of your warm and cosy bed, something thousands of young people don’t have on these cold winter’s nights. So pull on the flannelettes, get everyone in your office to participate, or simply schlep along to your Friday MIFF screening in your bedtime best. Visit melbournecitymission.org.au

Q&A with Geoffrey Rush and Shekhar Kapur

Acclaimed filmmaker Shekhar Kapur and Academy Award winner and MIFF patron Geoffrey Rush will be guests of the Festival this coming Saturday. MIFF and X|Media|Lab will present an exclusive opportunity to hear the director of Elizabeth and The Golden Age, Shekhar Kapur, and actor Geoffrey Rush talk for the first time about their experiences over the past few years leading up to their ‘Golden Age’. Tom Ryan will be hosting the session.

It’s all happening this Saturday, 6pm at Coopers Festival Lounge (Forum Theatre).

Tickets $16 via the MIFF Box Office at Forum Theatre or phone 03 9662 3722.

The Phantom of the Opera

Following a successful first performance last Saturday of the 1925 version of The Phantom of the Opera , organist David Johnston is ready to wrangle the Regent Theatre’s magnificent 36-rank, Wurlitzer organ again for a unique cinematic offering. Gaston Leroux’s silent classic is very rarely seen in 35 mm film, let alone with a live soundtrack, as it would have originally screened. Step back in time this Saturday at 1pm for a ‘once upon a time’ experience.

Come to Cannes

We can’t promise the sun but we can promise a bit of glitz and glamour at the Regent and Forum theatres for MIFF’s inaugural Come to Cannes day, taking place all day this Sunday. Cannes-direct features – like You, The Living , Mister Lonely , Alexandra , Savage Grace, (SOLD OUT) 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (SOLD OUT) and Man from London – have been packaged together in back-to-back sessions to give you a taste of the Croisette without leaving Melbourne. Many sessions are selling out already, so make sure you book now.

Surprise Screenings – Bergman and Antonioni

MIFF tips its hat to two of the greatest filmmakers of the 20th century who both passed away last week – Ingmar Bergman and Michaelangelo Antonioni. What better way to recognise their legacy than by screening two of their masterworks. On Sunday, Bergman’s The Silence will screen at 9.30pm at The Forum, while Antonioni’s The Passenger screens at ACMI at the same time. Tickets via the MIFF Box Office or phone 03 9662 3722. Normal prices apply.

Filmmakers present…

Tonight, following the short film Blood Ballad, filmmaker Lucille Clements will present her behind the scenes doco on Aussie rock legends Rose Tattoo, Rock ‘n’ Roll Outlaw (7.15pm @ ACMI). Coming up this week, filmmakers Steve Thomas, Sue Brooks and Kim Anning will present their story of Amal, one of the seven survivors of an Indonesian people-smuggling boat that pitched 400 asylum seekers into the sea, in Hope (this Friday 9pm @ ACMI); Accelerator alumnus Ben Hackworth joins us to introduce his enigmatic feature debut, Corroboree (this Saturday 3pm @ Greater Union); filmmakers Rhys Graham, Natasha Gadd and Pip Campey present their local hip hop doco, Words from the City (this Saturday 7.20pm @ ACMI); and producer Patricia Lovell and actress Noni Hazelhurst introduce their Aussie classic from 1982, Monkey Grip (this Sunday 3pm @ ACMI).

Coopers Festival Lounge @ Forum

As the Coopers Festival Lounge begins to wind down and readies to pack away its wares this Sunday, we remind you that your chances to soak up the ambiance and comfort of the Forum at your leisure is limited. For anyone that has lazed in one of our beanbags, heard some fine tunes and scored a booth for the evening, you’ll know that this temporary space is the only place where MIFF-goers and friends should be seen outside of the cinema. Admission is free and it’s open every day of the Festival.

Tonight following the sold out Spicks ‘n’ Specks Trivia Night at 7.30pm DJ Prawn Cutlet and Miss Tartare mix up the best of the 80s from 9pm onwards.

Talking Pictures @ ACMI

Join industry specialists, Festival guests, filmmakers and actors as they discuss everything ‘film’. Get up close and personal, and come armed with your best questions. Admission is free.

Tonight at 6.15pm, Experimental Futures – Worldwide Alive and Well brings together visiting female guests from Canada and Brazil, as well as local filmmakers, to flesh out the international landscape in experimental filmmaking. Stepping up for a vibrant discussion, and also screening their films, are Carole ‘Aubriand’ O’Brien (Time Away), Cristina Miranda (Silver Poem) and Bridget Walker (One Verse No Chorus), hosted by experimental filmmaker and Deakin University animation lecturer Dirk de Bruyn.

Sold Out and Selling Fast

Ticket sales are running hot at this year’s Festival and, with only five days to go, there’s no time to dilly dally… start booking right now.

The following sessions are sold out:

Little Red Flowers – today 1pm @ ACMI
Spicks and Specks Trivia Night – tonight 7pm @ Coopers Fest Club
I Served the King of England – tonight 7.15pm @ RMIT Capitol
Paprika – tonight 7.30pm @ Forum
Inland Empire – tonight 9.15pm @ Forum
Azur and Asmar – this Friday 1pm @ ACMI
Lagerfield Confidential – this Friday 5pm @ RMIT Capitol
Once – this Friday 7pm @ ACMI
Hope – this Friday 9pm @ ACMI
The Holy Mountain – this Friday 11pm @ RMIT Capitol
Black Sheep – this Saturday 7.15pm @ RMIT Capitol
Control – this Saturday 9.20pm @ Forum
Savage Grace – this Sunday 3pm @ Forum
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days – this Sunday 5.10pm @ Regent
Scott Walker – 30 Century Man – this Sunday 7.30pm @ Greater Union
Manufacturing Dissent: Michael Moore and the Media – this Sunday 7.30pm @ ACMI
This is England (Closing Night feature) – this Sunday 7.30pm @ Regent

The following sessions are selling fast:

Zoo - Saturday 9.15pm @ ACMI
Man from London – Sunday 5pm @ Forum

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