This August, Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) returns for its 73rd edition to bring some of the most talked-about films arriving hot from Cannes, Berlin, Sundance, and across the globe.
Audiences can enjoy 18 days of bold programme, in a selection of films urging us all to ‘Look Closer’.
This first glance at proceedings includes 7 MIFF Premiere Fund titles, 17 international and local highlights, and 2 special events.
The Australian premiere of ‘Julia Holter: The Passion Of Joan Of Arc’ will take to the stage, with an exclusive live score cinematic event. Then, ‘When The World Came Flooding In’ is a world premiere immersive installation and VR documentary centre on the intimate stories of life during a natural disaster.
Cinephiles can also look forward to this year’s Palme d’Or winner, ‘It Was Just An Accident’.
“It all starts here – the full MIFF 2025 programme is soon to arrive; set to be a world-ranging, celebratory and all-out extraordinary collection of films,” MIFF Artistic Director Al Cossar says. “I’m excited to share some of our first announcement of titles, and incredible highlights, of this year's MIFF: beloved auteurs, festival blockbusters, the best of new Australian filmmaking, alongside the incredibly special and absolutely unmissable live-score cinema event, ‘Julia Holter: The Passion Of Joan Of Arc’. You’ll want to look closer at MIFF's First Glance – there is so much to see, and so much more to come!”
The regional showcase will also expand, hitting Bendigo, Ballarat, Castlemaine, Morwell, Geelong, Rosebud, Sale and Shepparton. And the festival’s digital offering ensures that cinema-lovers can catch films beyond the in-cinema season.
'It Was Just An Accident'
The MIFF Premiere Fund line-up champions outstanding Australian filmmaking, groundbreaking ideas, and spotlights unique Australian creatives. Titles include the Y2K vibes of ‘One More Shot’ from Nicholas Clifford, ‘First Light’ by Filipino-Australian photographer James J. Robinson, ‘Spreadsheet Champions’ from Australian filmmaker Kristina Kraskov, award-winning filmmaker Sue Thomson’s ‘Careless’, and more.
In the realm of international and Australian titles, Director Jafar Panahi presents ‘It Was Just An Accident’, a thriller combining pitch-black gallows humour and devastating plot twists. . . Sundance debut ‘Sorry, Baby’ follows a young woman recovering from trauma, Dylan O’Brien gives an award-winning dual performance in ‘Twinless’, ‘Dreams’ marks the second collaboration between Michael Franco and Jessica Chastain after ‘Memory’, the unnerving psychological thriller ‘Cloud’ from iconic director Kiyoshi Kurosawa satirically skews our complacent belief in the anonymity of the internet, and Director Julia Loktev presents ‘My Undesirable Friends: Part 1 – Last Air In Moscow’, an engrossing observational documentary set against the backdrop of a steady erosion of civil liberties.
Check out the full list of first glance titles.
Melbourne International Film Festival 2025 is on from 7-24 August.
