MIFF: Films That Take You Places
Quality cinema is transporting. Sometimes we meet new people, other times we become new people. We can go back and forth in time and move across the globe in a swift jump cut. We can go to places and periods of time otherwise impossible.
So when a film festival comes to life, it’s our time to—as the Chair of the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) Claire Dobbin put it on Tuesday night—“explore new worlds.” Tomorrow, tickets for the 2017 festival will go on sale, and from 3—20 August, without moving from their cinema seat somewhere in the city, thousands of people will be somewhere else.
With this, Lindsay gives you twelve transporting films from this year’s MIFF program and the places they’ll take you:
I Am Not Your Negro
It will take you: back in time to the roaring streets of the American civil rights movement with political activist and queer icon James Baldwin.
Documentary | Dir. Raoul Peck | France, USA (2016)
Porto
It will take you: within Lisbon’s dimly-lit streets and cafe booths, where a tender romance is captured in 35mm.
Drama | Dir. Gabe Klinger | France, USA, Poland, Portugal (2016)
Westwind: Djalu’s Legacy
It will take you: to Arnhem Land, passing down Songlines with warrior, Elder and master Yidaki (didgeridoo) player Djalu Gurruwiwi.
Documentary | Dir. Ben Strunin | Australia (2017)
Lover For A Day
It will take you: the mid-point of romance, infidelity and jealousy amongst Parisian apartments, cafes and streets, rendered in black-and-white.
Drama, comedy | Dir. Philippe Garrel | France (2017)
Chasing Trane
It will take you: to a 60s New York jazz club where the soulful sounds of John Coltrane echo through the room.
Documentary | Dir. John Scheinfeld | USA (2016)
Dries
It will take you: inside the studio, backstage and on international runways with the iconic and wonderfully radical Dries Van Noten.
Documentary | Dir. Reiner Holzemer | Belgium, Germany (2016)
Call Me By Your Name
It will take you: to the 80s, amidst a heady summer romance playing out in an old villa in northern Italy.
Drama | Dir. Luca Guadagnino | France, Italy (2017)
Hotel Salvation
It will take you: on a colourful and spiritual pilgrimage to India’s holy city, Varanassi, with a seventy-seven-year-old Dayanand Kumar and his one last dying wish.
Drama, Comedy | Dir. Shubhashish Bhutiani | India (2017)
Oh Lucy!
It will take you: to Toyko’s minimalist high-rise offices, brightly-lit streets and dated karaoke bars.
Drama, Comedy | Dir. Atsuko Hirayanagi | Japan, USA (2017)
Hermia & Helena
It will take you: on your first exploration of life and love in the Big Apple through the lens of an Argentine theatre director.
Drama, Comedy | USA, Argentina (2016)
King of Peking
It will take you: to the dusty roads, outdoor cinemas and makeshift movie studio of a father-son duo in China.
Drama, Comedy | Dir. Sam Voutas | USA, Australia, China (2017)
By The Time It Gets Dark
It will take you: to contemporary Thailand with lingering memories of the country’s past in an experimental intersection of culture and politics.
Drama | Dir. Anocha Suwichakornpong | France, Thailand, Netherlands, Qatar (2016)
Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF), 3—20 August 2017
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Issue No. 1
In Issue No. 1 we meet Australian fashion icon Jenny Kee, translator from Italian Ann Goldstein and French-Cuban music duo Ibeyi. We learn about Ramadan, the Aboriginal ball game Marngrook, the Kiribati dance, the art of pickling, and the importance of home. And we see what it’s like to dress up in Myanmar, live in Cuernavaca, make ceramics from different soil, and walk the streets of Florence.
Issue No. 2
In Issue No. 2 we meet New York-based Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, NASA astronaut Stephanie Wilson, and Croatian painter Stipe Nobilo. We discover how the French protect their language and the way women—all around the world—have used textiles as their political voice. We listen to lovers rock, prepare a boisterous Korean barbecue, venture to go to Feria de Jerez and eat our way around Hong Kong.
Issue No. 4
In Issue No. 4 we meet Nigerian-born artist Toyin Ojih Odutola, Indigenous Australian Elders Uncle Bob Smith and Aunty Caroline Bradshaw, and Palestinian-American chef and artist Amanny Ahmad. We peer inside the Parisian ateliers Lesage and Lemarié, muse over the iconic lines of European chair design and celebrate the colourful woodblock prints of Japanese artist Awazu Kiyoshi. And we venture along Morocco’s Honey Highway, get lost in the markets of Oaxaca and discover the favours of Ghana.
Issue No. 5
In Issue No. 5 we travel to the mountains with Etel Adnan, along coastlines wherever waves roll in, and then all over the world through the photographic archive of Lindsay James Stanger. We celebrate hair braiding in South Africa, Salasacan weaving techniques in Ecuador, Vedic jewellery traditions and the new sound of Ukraine. We meet artist Cassi Namoda, choreographer Yang Liping and lace-maker Mark Klauber. And we visit a bakery in Tel Aviv, discover the joys of making arak, and spend a summer stretching mozzarella in Italy.