Press & Updates
artsHub
Dianne Ooi
July 4, 2013
The 62nd annual Melbourne International Film Festival has revealed its full lineup.
Melburnians will keep busy during the winter festival which features 310 films, 10 world premieres, 166 Australian premiers and a plethora of forums, talks and master classes.
The festival will kick off on Thursday 25 July with Pedro Almodóvar’s I’m So Excited and close with castaway drama All Is Lost, starring Robert Redford – one of many films to be coming to Melbourne straight from screening at Cannes.
Tim Winton’s The Turning, based on his bestselling novel of the same name provides a stellar cast including Rose Byrne, Hugo Weaving, Cate Blanchett, Miranda Otto, Wayne Blair and numerous others. The MIFF Premiere Fund-supported film also sees Mia Wasikowska and David Wenham make their directorial debut, under the guidance of curator Robert Connolly (Balibo, MIFF 2009).
‘I’m really happy with how the 2013 MIFF program has shaped up. Certain thematic strands effortlessly suggested themselves, such as Activism on Film and New Arabic Cinema and the retrospectives, Italian Giallo and North Korea on Film, were a lot of fun to put together,’ said Artistic Director Michelle Carey.
Australian films this year nclude the world premiere of These Final Hours – the feature film debut of writer/director Zak Hilditch, featuring a new take on the apocalypse subgenre; Galore, in which four teens discover and experience adolescent relationships; and documentary In Bob We Trust, which concentrates on the career of funny-man and Catholic provocateur Father Bob McGuire’s most turbulent times in his career during in which he refused to retire and leave the church he called home for 38 years.
The music section this year features Artifact, which highlights Jared Leto’s band Thirty Seconds To Mars attempting to rescind its contract with EMI after the band failed to receive any royalties from the record company. EMI then took legal action against the band for $30 million dollars. The rock documentary highlights Leto’s journey and struggle to record the band’s third album as their funds deplete.
The intriguing lives of backup singers of music legends such as Mick Jagger and Stevie Wonder also feature in Morgan Neville’s (Troubadours, MIFF 2011) Twenty Feet From Stardom.
Returning in 2013, MIFF’s ‘This Sporting Life’ category presents films focusing on talented athletes from a wide variety of sporting fields including tennis, boxing, snowboarding, mountain climbing, surfing, motor sports and martial arts. Bill Siegel’s Trials of Muhammad Ali; Uncharted Waters centers around Ali’s battle against the US government. Documentary Venus and Serena, by Maiken Baird and Michelle Major also captures the ups and downs of the tennis superstars’ career on and off the court over an exciting year.
Melbourne International Film Festival is Australia’s largest and oldest film festival and runs from 25 July – 11 August 2013.
For more information visit http://miff.com.au/
