Hold on to all of your butts, film fans. Your winter is about to get a hell of a lot warmer.
The annual, sprawling, city-consuming Melbourne International Film Festival has officially lifted the lid on its 2015 program, unveiling an absolutely stacked list of films covering all genres from filmmakers all across the world.
Featuring well over 250 feature films, plus a swathe of shorts, the 64th incarnation of the festival dropped its program online today, with the physical version of the guide to be inserted into copies of The Age on Friday.
The festival sports 12 venues, including old favourites like ACMI, the Forum Theatre, and Kino, along with newer entries like Hoyts (who assumed the brunt of the load in the wake of the Russell St Greater Union‘s closure and subsequent demolition) and the Treasury Theatre, as well as some debutants to the festival in the form of the Comedy Theatre, Grey Gardens in Fitzroy, and the Deakin Edge in Federation Square.
The films on display are absolutely on point, and are bloody numerous.
There’s some highly hyped and acclaimed fare coming directly from prestigious American film festivals like the acclaimed Me & Earl & the Dying Girl, the David Foster Wallace biopic The End of the Tour, ultra-hip coming-of-age wonder Dope, the Alison Brie and Jason Sudeikis-starring Sleeping With Other People, and the much-hyped sex comedy The Overnight.
From elsewhere in the world, there’s Louder Than Bombs – the English language debut from Norwegian director Joachim Trier which stars Jesse Eisenberg, the Larry Clark (the bloke who directed the infamous Kids) directed The Smell of Us, the absolutely batshit insane looking New Zealand schlock horror/comedy pastiche Deathgasm, the similarly spectacular looking post-apocalyptic BMX coming-of-age romslasher Turbo Kid from Canada and NZ, and the graphics masterpiece in the Gillian Anderson-starring Robot Overlords from the UK.
Want more? There’s the usual massive range of documentaries on offer, from the poignant and moving cancer video game creation of Thank You For Playing, to the Nicolas Winding Refn “Hearts of Darkness“-esque filmmakers portrait in My Life Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, to the stark and confronting look at the prevalence of sexual assault at US college campuses in The Hunting Ground, to music-focused fare like Colin Hay: Waiting On My Real Life, focusing on the legendary Men at Work frontman; or Danny Says, which takes a look at the influential manager, journalist, and industry figurehead behind acts such as The Ramones, Iggy Pop and the Stooges, MC5, Alice Cooper, and The Doors; or Salad Days, which delves into the little explored by highly influential Washington DC hardcore punk scene of the 80s that spawned acts like Minor Threat, Fugazi, Dag Nasty, Government Issue, Bad Brains, and the enduring Dischord Records.
Hell, there’s even a special screening of the seminal Beatles’ film Yellow Submarine thrown in there for good measure. And all of that is barely scraping the surface.
Seriously, kids. Your cup runneth over with cinematic treats this winter. You’d be well advised to get stuck right in.
The full 2015 MIFF program can be pored over at the Melbourne International Film Festival website.
MIFF runs this year from July 30th until August 16th.
