Program Strands
MIFF 2019 Streams, Strands and Themes
Animation
Offering filmmakers a freedom unavailable in live action, Animation brings us some of the most inventive and extraordinary films.
Australian Films
MIFF is one of the world’s biggest supporters of homegrown talent, with more than 60 local films screening this year, across shorts, features and VR.
Directors in Focus
In 2019, MIFF takes a deep dive into the back catalogues of three exceptional auteurs – Agnieszka Holland, Penelope Spheeris and Peter Strickland.
Documentaries
Truth is definitely stranger than fiction with MIFF 2019’s Documentaries, offering the best of real life.
Documentary Visions
Documentary Visions shows us intriguing new dispatches from filmmakers who see the real world in unique, formally adventurous ways, for whom there is more to the truth than meets the eyes.
Environmental Documentaries
Take a walk on the wild side with these Environmental Documentaries that explore the natural world in all its fragile wonder and hostile awe, as well as our impact upon it – for better or for worse.
Experimentations
Come explore the outer limits of feature-length narrative filmmaking with Experimentations, works that foreground their formal qualities.
Headliners
Headlining the festival’s wide-ranging program, these films include some of the most anticipated new works from some of the world’s most revered auteurs and exciting new filmmakers.
International Films
Every year, MIFF’s programmers travel far and wide to bring the freshest global cinema back to Melbourne.
MIFF Premiere Fund
The MIFF Premiere Fund, which offers minority co-financing to new Australian quality theatrical (narrative and documentary) feature films that then premiere at MIFF, has invested in more than 60 projects.
Music on Film
Music on film = films on music – these documentaries put sonic visions on the big screen.
Night Shift
A perennial favourite, Night Shift is the home of things that go bump in the dark, weird, eerie, outlandish and hilarious cinematic spaces.
Restorations
Restorations is a program of cinematic treasures, classics and curios, newly restored to their former glory.
MIFF Shorts
The much-loved and internationally acclaimed MIFF Shorts program highlights the art of saying more with less.
The World Online
Screen content about screen content! Take a dive into The World Online, a program of films exploring lives lived through screens, machines and live-streams.
Virtual Reality
Virtual Reality returns to MIFF to continue rewriting the frontiers of storytelling through total immersive cinema.
MIFF Talks
No-one likes a talker in the theatre. But outside the cinema, that’s another matter – MIFF Talks will have you discussing, questioning and arguing all things cinematic with the festival’s guests filmmakers and personalities.
MIFF Schools
MIFF Schools is an initiative to enrich the cinema experience for younger viewers, while remaining accessible to all ages.
Industry Public Access Events
Organised by MIFF's Industry Programs Unit, these public-access ticketed events are for film or media students; aspiring or existing screenwriters, editors, directors or producers; film aficionados and everyone.
Special Events
Glamorous galas, red-carpet world premieres, food-and-film experiences, exclusive cinema concerts, overnight marathons and a preview of Quentin Tarantino’s highly anticipated Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood and more!