Now in its 61st year, the Melbourne International Film Festival is one of the highlights of the Australian movie lovers' calendar. Today the organisers announced the full program for the festival, running from the 2nd to 19th August 2012.
MIFF had already teased us with the announcement that the highly-anticipated 'The Sapphires' would be making its world premiere at the festival's opening night. We also had the early announcement that the likes of 'Beasts of the Southern Wild', 'Moonrise Kingdom', the Jack Kerouac adaptation 'On The Road', and the talk of Cannes 'Holy Motors' would welcome Melbourne audiences.
But the big revelation of today's program was the film set to close the festival with big laughs - P.J. Hogan's 'Mental', starring Toni Collette, Liev Schrieber, Anthony LaPaglia and Deborah Mailman. It tells the story of a family struggling to cope the only way they know how after the matriarch suffers a mental breakdown.
THE SAPPHIRES - MIFF OPENING NIGHT FILM
Certainly, Australians play a big part in this year's festival, with the announcement that 'Save Your Legs!' will have its world premiere at MIFF. Melbournian director Boyd Hicklin’s debut feature stars Stephen Curry and Damon Gameau in the cricketing comedy. Also featuring at the festival is Jeffrey Walker’s 'Jack Irish – Bad Debts', starring Guy Pearce and based on the novel by Peter Temple.
In addition to the local flavour, there'll be plenty of films from across the world, with films broken down into sections under the banners of Europe, Latin America, Sweden, Asia and France. There will be a wide range of documentaries, including 'Pink Ribbons, Inc.', 'Maori Boy Genius', 'Crazy Horse', 'How to Survive a Plague', and Aussie offerings 'The First Fagin', 'Lasseter’s Bones', 'Coniston' and 'Croker Island Exodus'.
Additionally, we'll see highlights from 70s Hollywood comedy, horror, art and music - without a doubt, something to please everyone.
For the full line-up of the 300-plus films showing at this year's festival, head to www.miff.com.au.