A 50 year anniversary screening! 2001 is a 1968 epic science fiction film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick. See it on the big screen before we close up for the wet season. Don’t worry though - we’ll be back in 2019!

It’s the early 1970s, a time of great social upheaval as the struggle for civil rights rages on. Ron Stallworth (John David Washington) becomes the first African-American detective on the Colorado Springs Police Department, but his arrival is greeted with skepticism and open hostility by the department’s rank and file. Undaunted, Stallworth resolves to make a name for himself and a difference in his community. He bravely sets out on a dangerous mission: infiltrate and expose the Ku Klux Klan. Posing as a racist extremist, Stallworth contacts the group and soon finds himself invited into its inner circle. He even cultivates a relationship with the Klan’s Grand Wizard, David Duke (Topher Grace), who praises Ron’s commitment to the advancement of White America. With the undercover investigation growing ever more complex, Stallworth’s colleague, Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver), poses as Ron in face-to-face meetings with members of hate group, gaining insider’s knowledge of a deadly plot. Together, Stallworth and Zimmerman team up to take down the organization whose real aim is to sanitize its violent rhetoric to appeal to the mainstream. Produced by the team behind the Academy-Award® winning Get Out, BlacKkKlansman offers an unflinching, true-life examination of race relations in 1970s America that is just as bracingly relevant in today’s tumultuous world.

Based on Tim Winton's award-winning and international bestselling novel set in mid-70s coastal Australia. Two teenage boys, hungry for discovery, form an unlikely friendship with a mysterious older adventurer who pushes them to take risks that will have a lasting and profound impact on their lives.

The story follows Rachel Chu (Wu), an American-born Chinese economics professor, who travels to her boyfriend Nick's (Golding) hometown of Singapore for his best friend's wedding. Before long, his secret is out: Nick is from a family that is impossibly wealthy, he's perhaps the most eligible bachelor in Asia, and every single woman in his ultra-rarefied social class is incredibly jealous of Rachel and wants to bring her down.

*NT Premiere*

Just over 40 years ago, marriage in China was arranged by the state. Romantic love was seen as a capitalist concept and was not allowed during this period. Now, China has fallen in love with love. It’s exploding wedding industry is worth 80 billion dollars, and it is on an upward curve. Pre-wedding photography is one of the most significant and curious parts of the industry.

Screening at BCC Darwin

'I Used to be Normal - A Boyband Fangirl Story' is the surprising coming of age story of four diverse women who have had their lives dramatically changed by their love of a boyband - Backstreet Boys, One Direction, Take That and The Beatles.

*NT Premiere*

*Special Guest Jimmy Shu*

The film celebrates 50 years of diplomatic relations between Singapore and Japan, and what better way to bring nations together than a bowl of beloved ramen, the Japanese staple dish with distinct Chinese origins? The plot follows Masato, a young Ramen chef, who leaves his hometown in Japan to embark on his own culinary journey and seek out his Singaporean mother’s family.

Join Hanuman’s Jimmy Shu for a cooking presentation and sample authentic freshly made ramen. Jimmy grew up in Sri Lanka. The only son of a renowned restaurateur, Jimmy developed a love of food, of delighting guests and consistently innovating delicious dishes. When not travelling to find new inspiration, Jimmy can be found on Sunday mornings at Darwin’s Rapid Creek markets, prodding, sniffing, tasting and chatting with the stallholders.

Screening at Deckchair Cinema

Welcome to the SPARK Screening – discover Darwin’s latest filmmakers’ work and meet with the talent at this very special event!

Dedicated to the support of emerging filmmakers in the Darwin region, SPARK is deployed throughout the Top End's dry season. After a series of workshops, five short film projects were selected by a panel of award-winning screen industry professionals. Each project received a seed fund to go into production, and a distribution package with DIFF and the NTTFF (NT Travelling Film Festival). Launched in 2017 by DIFF, SPARK is the first program of its kind in the NT.

Arrears

A humorous story about a man struggling in a mad world. A world where oxygen is a commodity and corporate interests unethically rule over human rights. A world where losing one's job to artificial intelligence is the norm. And a world where forgetting to pay bills on time can be fatal.

Spectrum

A young autistic child is implanted with an app called 'Gadget' to aid a normal life. Flash forward 10 years - Ari & Gadget discover the world is run by machines mining DNA. Together they find a solution. Ari learns that emotional bonds make humanity more complex than machines.

Rite of Passage

Three Australian teenagers hear a ghost story about their hometown. They decide to test their courage and try to summon the spirit of the ghost. Not knowing what they have done, they tease each other to their doom.

Sunset

On her 89th birthday, Ingrid, a frail, wheelchair-bound woman suffering Alzheimer's is left alone on a beach by her carer. A passing musician - heartbroken and homeless - tries to steal a piece of Ingrid's birthday cake, but something about her vulnerability reflects his own state.

You do You

Mickey's having a tough time being herself. She's fed up with her annoying brother, had it with a condescending boy at school, and all the men who just push her around are plain rude. Instead of just daydreaming about the perfect comeback, Mickey's overactive imagination gets the better of her.

Screening at Deckchair Cinema

*Australian Premiere*

Low-caste, aspiring boxer Shravan slogs day and night to achieve his dream of becoming professionally recognized. Things go awry when he falls in love with a high caste, mute girl Sunaina – also the niece of his arch nemesis, the head of the state boxing federation, the corrupt Bhagwan. But Shravan has been an underdog all his life and will stop at nothing to go all the way to the Indian National Boxing Championship.

Screening at Deckchair Cinema

*Closing Night*

*NT Premiere*

*Special Guest*

Ten-year-old twins Tantra and Tantri are inseparable. When they secretly steal eggs from the family's sacrificial offering, Tantri always gets the whites and Tantra the yolks. One day, however, the yolk is missing, as is Tantra.

Her brother gravely ill and in hospital, Tantri starts slipping into magical parallel worlds, approaching the inevitable farewell through costumes, body paint and dance. In long dream sequences and against the background of the Balinese philosophy of sekala - the seen - and niskala - the unseen - Andini relates how one ten-year-old girl deals with parting and grief.

Special Guest Kamila Andini is a young filmmaker based in Jakarta. Daughter of legendary Indonesian director Garin Nugroho, she is forging a style all of her own. Already a winner and finalist at several international film festivals, Sekala Niskala is her second feature.

Screening at Deckchair Cinema

At only 32 years old, Kamila Andini is already an accomplished award-winning director. Here she will take you on a journey into her creative process; between cultural influences and a joyful practice of artistic freedom. Get inspired before being moved by her latest production on DIFF’s closing night.

In this workshop for all levels, you will learn to use professional equipment to simply convey an artistic intention. Lights, lenses, composition, focus, movement... discover the extent of shooting possibilities before you even consider post-production and VFX.

Territory's own Philip Tarl Denson will help you build your skills and understanding of screenwriting!

Masterclass 1: Writing/story structure

Have a great movie idea and want to turn it into a screenplay? Already started a screenplay and got stuck? In a fun and lively session, local screenwriter Phil Denson will guide you through the fundamentals of story structure to build your skills and understanding of screenwritting.

Territory's own Philip Tarl Denson will help you build your skills and understanding of screen writing!

Masterclass 2: Breaking in... from the outside

From breaking your story to breaking into the industry, this workshop is all about constructing stories that sell. We will cover logline construction, pitching, concept choice, budget, genre and more. Includes a Q&A so bring your hardhitting questions.

From short drama to feature-length creative documentary, Producer Rita Walsh’s career has taken her through the whole spectrum of the film industry and given her the opportunity

to work with some of her favourite directors, writers and creatives. Rita will share her experience with the audience in this session peppered with cautionary tales, inspiring anecdotes, and other can’t-make-that-stuff-up material.

Australian’s rising talent Alena Lodkina broke out on the international stage this year. Here she will share her experience of working with the support of world class mentors and dealing with low-budget restrictions.

After Portland slacker John Callahan (Joaquin Phoenix) nearly loses his life in a car accident, the last thing he intends to do is give up drinking. But when he reluctantly enters treatment – with encouragement from his girlfriend (Rooney Mara) and a charismatic sponsor (Jonah Hill) – Callahan discovers a gift for drawing edgy, irreverent newspaper cartoons that develop a national following and grant him a new lease on life. Based on a true story, this poignant, insightful and often funny drama about the healing power of art is adapted from Callahan’s autobiography and directed by two-time Oscar nominee Gus Van Sant.

A Surreal, fable-like meditation on life, death and spirituality. This is the first feature film from Malkriadu Cinuma, the only experimental film collective in Timor-Leste. Tetum with English subtitles.

Good girl Sandy and greaser Danny fell in love over the summer. When they unexpectedly discover they're now in the same high school, will they be able to rekindle their romance?

Guilty is a visceral portrait of convicted drug smuggler Myuran Sukumaran, who became an accomplished artist during his ten years in an Indonesian prison. In April 2015, Myuran was executed by firing squad alongside seven other prisoners, including fellow Bali Nine inmate Andrew Chan.

Highlighting the last 72 hours of Myuran’s life and the paintings he created during that time, the film blends narrative sequences with archival and documentary material in a story about grief, art and redemption. As the machinery of death moves Myuran towards his execution – the signing of his own death warrant, saying goodbye to his family and facing the 12 marksmen who will end his life – the clinical brutality of capital punishment is contrasted with the optimism of Myuran's painting on death row.

Celebrated by audiences at home and abroad, indigenous artist Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu was one of the most important and acclaimed voices to ever come out of Australia. Blind from birth, he found purpose and meaning through songs and music inspired by his community and country on Elcho Island in far North East Arnhem Land. Living a traditional Yolngu life, his breakthrough album ‘Gurrumul’ brought him to a crossroads as audiences and artists around the world began to embrace his music. GURRUMUL is a portrait of an artist on the brink of global reverence, and the struggles he and those closest to him faced in balancing that which mattered most to him and keeping the show on the road.

Aging hipster Frank (Nick Offerman) starts a band with his teenage daughter. When a song of theirs finds success online, it complicates Frank's attempts to let go of his dreams of stardom and allow his daughter to find her own path in life.

In Sony Pictures Animation’s Hotel Transylvania 3, join our favourite monster family as they embark on a vacation on a luxury monster cruise ship so Drac can take a summer vacation from providing everyone else's vacation at the hotel. It’s smooth sailing for the Drac Pack as the monsters indulge in all of the shipboard fun the cruise has to offer, from monster volleyball to exotic excursions, and catching up on their moon tans. But the dream vacation turns into a nightmare when Mavis realizes Drac has fallen for the mysterious captain of the ship, Ericka, who hides a dangerous secret that could destroy all of monsterkind.

From the director of `Boy` and `What We Do In the Shadows`, Taika Waititi’s new film is a hilarious and heartfelt adventure based on Barry Crump`s novel, ‘Wild Pork & Watercress`. Ricky (Julian Dennison) is a defiant young city kid who finds himself on the run with his grumpy foster uncle (Sam Neill). A national manhunt ensues and the two are forced to work together to survive.

ISLE OF DOGS tells the story of ATARI KOBAYASHI, 12-year-old ward to corrupt Mayor Kobayashi. When, by Executive Decree, all the canine pets of Megasaki City are exiled to a vast garbage-dump called Trash Island, Atari sets off alone in a miniature Junior-Turbo Prop and flies across the river in search of his bodyguard-dog, Spots. There, with the assistance of a pack of newly-found mongrel friends, he begins an epic journey that will decide the fate and future of the entire Prefecture.

A modern morality tale about a former Australian soldier, Mike, who returns to Afghanistan to find the family of a civilian he accidentally killed during the war.

Juliet, Naked is the story of Annie, the long-suffering girlfriend of Duncan, and her unlikely transatlantic romance with once revered, now faded, singer-songwriter, Tucker Crowe, who also happens to be the subject of Duncan's musical obsession.

Adapted from the bestselling novel by Madeleine St John, this film is an alluring and tender-hearted comedy drama about the lives of a group of department store employees in 1959 Sydney.

Starting with a kiss in Sydney and ending with a bush birth in Arnhem Land, this is a cross cultural love story set in modern Australia told through the lens of Yolngu and Hindu world views.

A father and his 13 year-old daughter are living in a paradisiacal existence in a vast urban park in Portland Oregon when a small mistake derails their lives forever.

Ten years after Mamma Mia! The Movie grossed more than $600 million around the world, you are invited to return to the magical Greek island of Kalokairi in an all-new original musical based on the songs of ABBA. With the film’s original cast returning and new additions including Lily James (Cinderella, Baby Driver), the musical comedy will open in 2018.

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again is produced by Judy Craymer and Gary Goetzman, producers of the original film. Craymer is also the creator and producer of the worldwide smash-hit stage musical.

Ol Parker, writer of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, writes and directs the sequel from a story by Catherine Johnson, Richard Curtis and Parker. Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus return to provide music and lyrics and serve as executive producers. Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson, Phyllida Lloyd, Richard Curtis and Nicky Kentish Barnes also serve as executive producers.

Reprising their roles from Mamma Mia! The Movie are Academy Award® winner Meryl Streep as Donna, Julie Walters as Rosie and Christine Baranski as Tanya. Amanda Seyfried and Dominic Cooper reunite as Sophie and Sky, while Pierce Brosnan, Stellan Skarsgård and Oscar® winner Colin Firth return to play Sophie’s three possible dads: Sam, Bill and Harry.

As the film goes back and forth in time to show how relationships forged in the past resonate in the present, James will play the role of Young Donna. Filling the roles of Young Rosie and Young Tanya are Alexa Davies (A Brilliant Young Mind) and Jessica Keenan Wynn (Broadway’s Beautiful). Young Sam will be played by Jeremy Irvine (War Horse), while Young Bill is Josh Dylan (Allied) and Young Harry is Hugh Skinner (Kill Your Friends).

The movie follows a 4-year old boy who is struggling to cope with the arrival of a little sister in the family, until things turn magical. A mysterious garden in the backyard of the boy's home becomes a gateway allowing the child to travel back in time and encounter his mother as a little girl and his great-grandfather as a young man. These fantasy-filled adventures allow the child to change his perspective and help him become the big brother he was meant to be.

Danny Ocean's estranged sister Debbie attempts to pull off the heist of the century at New York City's star-studded annual Met Gala. Her first stop is to assemble the perfect crew: Lou, Rose, Daphne Kluger, Nine Ball, Tammy, Amita, and Constance.

Over the Fence is a 2-hour smorgasbord of short comedy films. Celebrating new and independent filmmakers, OTF is a grassroots festival showing a wide variety of funny films from all countries across the world! Get down at 7pm to see local stand up comedians of Top End Comedy show their stuff!

A collection of short action-packed films that will have you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. Designed to take you into the wilds and out of your comfort zone, the films feature daring footage or some of the most accomplished climbers, paddlers, wing-suit pilots, skiers, snowboarders and mountain-bike riders alive today. The Radical Reels Tour offers up a second serving of award-winning adventurous films of the Banff Mountain Film Festival. This year, the Australian line-up showcases two-and-a-half hours of short adventure films packed full of action. Filled with wild rides, long lines, steep jumps and skilful stunts, the films celebrate the camaraderie, courage and conviction of today's most out-there adventurers.

When the creator of an MMO called the Oasis dies, he releases a video in which he challenges all Oasis users to find his Easter Egg, which will give the finder his fortune. Wade Watts finds the first clue and starts a race for the Egg.

November 1918. A few days before the Armistice, Édouard Péricourt saves Albert Maillard's life. These two men have nothing in common but the war. Lieutenant Pradelle, by ordering a senseless assault, destroys their lives while binding them as companions in misfortune. On the ruins of the carnage of WWI, condemned to live, the two attempt to survive. Thus, as Pradelle is about to make a fortune with the war victims' corpses, Albert and Édouard mount a monumental scam with the bereaved families' commemoration and with a nation's hero worship.

Stop the Boats tells the story of asylum seekers who arrive in Australia by boat, set apart and now summarily rejected by a policy that challenges their very definition and reason. The film tells their stories of their flight from war and persecution, and their experiences of seeking asylum here.

The breakout critical discovery of the 2017 Berlin Film Festival, where it was named Best First Feature, Carla Simón’s autobiographical jewel is one of the most evocative and affecting depictions of childhood seen in years, and marks the arrival of a major new voice in world cinema.

In the summer of 1993, following the death of her parents, six-year old Frida (Laia Artigas) is forced from bustling Barcelona to the Catalan provinces to live with her aunt and uncle. Country life is a challenge: aside from the emotional upheaval, the nature that surrounds her is mysterious, if not dangerous. The couple’s own daughter Anna (Paula Robles), even younger than Frida, welcomes her new sister with open arms and without a flicker of jealousy, but Frida has a hard time coping with her emotions. Even as the new family begins to find a fragile balance, the source of her parents’ passing casts a shadow over how Frida is treated by the local community… Indeed, her life will never be the same.

To reveal more would only spoil the pleasures generated by this very special film experience, which proves that even the most familiar stories can seem brand new when told with such empathy, authenticity and beauty.

Deckchair Cinema screens Surviving the Kimberley, a film documenting one man’s month-long survival expedition on the north Kimberley coast in 2017. The film is about how this man (Michael Atkinson aka Outback Mike) survived his way out of the predicament of the two stranded German seaplane aviators lost up there in 1932, using only the materials available to them.

Terror Nullius

A political revenge fable epically remixed from official archives to offer an un-writing of Australian national mythology. Part political satire, eco-horror and road movie.

The Green Fog

This experimental film re-imagines the Alfred Hitchcock thriller Vertigo via a collage of clips from films and TV shows shot in and around the San Francisco area, from vintage commercials to Sister Act. Cobbled together from trash and treasure, and featuring a masterful soundtrack performed by America's contemporary string ensemble Kronos Quartet.

The Gardener is a documentary directed by Sebastien Chabot about Frank Cabot's Les Quatre Vents, aka Cabot Garden, a magnificent private garden in the Charlevoix region near Quebec City.

The Greatest Showman is a bold and original musical that celebrates the birth of show business and the sense of wonder we feel when dreams come to life. Inspired by the ambition and imagination of P.T. Barnum, The Greatest Showman tells the story of a visionary who rose from nothing to create a mesmerising spectacle that became a worldwide sensation.

The Greatest Showman is directed by exciting new filmmaker, Australia’s Michael Gracey, with songs by Academy Award winners Benji Pasek and Justin Paul (La La Land) and starring Academy Award nominee Hugh Jackman. Jackman is joined by Academy Award nominee Michelle Williams, Zendaya, Zac Efron and Rebecca Ferguson.

Lewis goes to live with his uncle in a creaky old house with a mysterious tick-tocking heart. But his new town's sleepy façade soon jolts to life with a secret world of warlocks and witches.

A former star footballer returns to his home town and is persuaded to coach the struggling, local footy team. He recruits refugees to make up the numbers with hilarious results, but ultimately takes the community on a journey of change.

Cameron Post looks the part of a perfect high school girl. But after she's caught kissing another girl, Cameron is quickly shipped off to a camp that treats teens "struggling with same-sex attraction."

Joan Castleman (Glenn Close) is a highly intelligent and still-striking beauty – the perfect devoted wife. Forty years spent sacrificing her own talent, dreams and ambitions to fan the flames of her charismatic husband Joe (Jonathan Pryce) and his skyrocketing literary career. Ignoring his infidelities and excuses because of his "art" with grace and humor. Their fateful pact has built a marriage upon uneven compromises and Joan's reached her breaking point. On the eve of Joe's Nobel Prize for Literature, the crown jewel in a spectacular body of work, Joan's coup de grace is to confront the biggest sacrifice of her life and secret of his career. THE WIFE is a poignant, funny and emotional journey; a celebration of womanhood, self-discovery and liberation.

When Baldwin and Inga's next door neighbours complain that a tree in their backyard casts a shadow over their sundeck, what starts off as a typical spat between neighbours in the suburbs unexpectedly and violently spirals out of control.

Whitney Houston broke more music industry records than any other female singer in history. With over 200 million album sales worldwide, she was the only artist to chart seven consecutive U.S. No. 1 singles. She also starred in several blockbuster movies before her brilliant career gave way to erratic behavior, scandals and death at age 48. Whitney is an intimate, unflinching portrait of Houston and her family that probes beyond familiar tabloid headlines and sheds new light on the spellbinding trajectory of Houston’s life. Using never-before-seen archival footage, exclusive demo recordings, rare performances, audio archives and original interviews with the people who knew her best, Oscar®-winning filmmaker Kevin Macdonald unravels the mystery behind “The Voice,” who thrilled millions even as she struggled to make peace with her own troubled past.