In which we profile the Film Festivals screening across the country in August…
MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
MELBOURNE | JULY 30 – AUGUST 16 | FULL PROGRAM & TICKETS
August’s big one – across 13 Melbourne venues, a 200+ film line-up spanning world, independent, Australian, short and classic cinema. There are also filmmaker events, Q&As and special event screenings. It opens with Paul Cox’s new autobiographical drama Force of Destiny and closes with Noah Baumbach’s Mistress America (pictured).
DAVID STRATTON’S GREAT BRITAIN RETRO FILM FESTIVAL
SYDNEY | AUGUST 6 – 19 | FULL PROGRAM & TICKETS
MELBOURNE | AUGUST 6 – 19 | FULL PROGRAM & TICKETS
PERTH | AUGUST 6 – 19 | FULL PROGRAM & TICKETS
19 films from Great Britain, a line-up curated by Stratton himself. There are some new features and a wide range of restored classics.
Includes The Third Man (pictured), 2001: A Space Odyssey, Sense and Sensibility, Black Narcissus, The 39 Steps and Lawrence of Arabia.
ARAB FILM FESTIVAL
SYDNEY | AUGUST 13 – 30 | FULL PROGRAM & TICKETS
MELBOURNE | AUGUST 13 – 30 | FULL PROGRAM & TICKETS
CANBERRA | AUGUST 13 – 30 | FULL PROGRAM & TICKETS
10 films from six countries, including UAE road-trip comedy From A to B, Palestine’s Speed Sisters about the only all-woman Arab race car team, and docu-drama In The Sands of Babylon on the 1991 Iraqi Uprising.
The Festival aims to bring films to screens that would otherwise go unseen, and also to “address contemporary misrepresentations of Arab peoples and cultures by reflecting the complexity and diversity of Arab experiences, and providing a critical space presenting alternative representations of Arab subjects, cultures and narratives on screen.”
ISRAELI FILM FESTIVAL
SYDNEY | AUGUST 17 – 30 | FULL PROGRAM & TICKETS
MELBOURNE | AUGUST 18 – 30 | FULL PROGRAM & TICKETS
CANBERRA | AUGUST 19 – 30 | FULL PROGRAM & TICKETS
PERTH | AUGUST 20 – 26 | FULL PROGRAM & TICKETS
The 12th annual program of Israeli cinema from the Australia Israel Cultural Exchange body. The 27-film schedule includes classics (like Waltz with Bashir, pictured), documentaries, comedy, queer cinema and faith-based films.
STRONGER THAN FICTION DOC FILM FESTIVAL
CANBERRA | JULY 30 – AUGUST 2 | FULL PROGRAM & TICKETS
Canberra’s only dedicated documentary festival, now in its third year, showing 12 docs plus filmmaker Q&As. Highlights include Sundance-winning The Wolfpack (pictured), Sherpa from Canberra filmmaker Jennifer Peedom and Greenpeace origin story How to Change the World.
Festival trailer here.
KOREAN FILM FESTIVAL
SYDNEY | AUGUST 12 – 20 | FULL PROGRAM & TICKETS
BRISBANE | AUGUST 25 – 31 | FULL PROGRAM & TICKETS
The sixth Korean Film Festival with 20 films. Line-up highlights include action-noir Gangnam Blues, working-class drama Cart (pictured), and Madonna (direct from Cannes).
Comes to Melbourne, Canberra, Perth and Adelaide in September. Festival trailer here.
LEBANESE FILM FESTIVAL
SYDNEY | AUGUST 21 – SEPTEMBER 5 | FULL PROGRAM & TICKETS
28 films from Lebanon and/or Lebanese filmmakers, headlined by animated feature The Prophet (pictured) based on the work of writer and philosopher Kahlil Gibran.
INDIAN FILM FESTIVAL OF MELBOURNE
MELBOURNE | AUGUST 14 – SEPT 27 | FULL PROGRAM & TICKETS
The massive 50+ film schedule is divided into classics (including Satyajit Ray’s Charulata, pictured), Bollywood movies, non-Bollywood dramas, films about women, films from India’s neighbours (Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal), films from Indian ex-pats and documentaries.
TRAVELLING FILM FESTIVAL
WOLLONGONG | AUGUST 21 – 23 | FULL PROGRAM & TICKETS
HUSKISSON | AUGUST 28 – 30 | FULL PROGRAM & TICKETS
An extension of the Sydney Film Festival, the Travelling Film Festival aims to “bring world cinema to regional Australia”. This month it lands in Wollongong and Huskisson and screens nine films, including the gorgeous Clouds of Sils Maria (pictured) with Juliette Binoche and Kristen Stewart, Australian comedy Ruben Guthrie, single-shot Berlin bank robbery Victoria, and Spanish crime drama Marshland.
