A key member of iconic bands The Dirty Three and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, multi-instrumentalist Ellis has cut a brilliant and unorthodox figure in music for over three decades. Far from the international concert halls in which he has plied his craft lies a very different passion project: a wildlife sanctuary in the forests of Sumatra. Co-founded by Ellis and spearheaded by the indomitable Femke den Haas, whose dedicated team of conservationists rescues trafficked and mistreated animals and then devotes years to nursing them back to health.

Millions of children around the world are frustrated by the dire lack of action to protect the planet and their future. Until now, their only avenue to express these concerns has been protesting on the streets. Director Damon Gameau (2040, That Sugar Film) invites eight children on an epic adventure across Europe in a school bus powered by biofuel. Their mission is to better understand the planet’s predicament, explore solutions and, most importantly, take the conversation from the streets, into the boardrooms of some of the world’s largest polluters and most influential companies. This inspiring and rollicking journey, where ‘School of Rock’ meets ‘An Inconvenient Truth, results in the children forming a ‘Future Council’ to advise and influence the world's most powerful companies on their decisions that impact nature.

Totone's carefree teenage life of drinking and dancing takes a turn when he must provide for his 7-year-old sister. Seeking income, he channels his energy into producing an award-winning comté cheese to claim a competition prize.

Follows a young Viking as he aspires to hunt dragons, and how he becomes unexpectedly a friend of a young dragon.

Agathe (Camille Rutherford) is a hopelessly clumsy yet charming young woman who works in the legendary Shakespeare & Co. bookshop in Paris, while she dreams of being a successful writer, and of experiencing love akin to a Jane Austen novel, she finds herself desperately single and plagued by writers block. When Agathe’s best friend (Pablo Pauly) gets her invited to the Jane Austen Writers' Residency in England, she finally has her Jane Austen moment…and is caught in a very unexpected romantic triangle. Agathe must let go of her insecurities to decide what she really wants for herself, and to achieve her romantic and professional dreams.

Charming, funny and uplifting, this Sundance Audience Award-winner tells the story of a 15-year-old North Macedonian boy who finds refuge in dance music and in first love. Ahmet and his brother Naim are growing up in a family scarred by grief in a remote village, conservative as it is superstitious. The boys’ stern father has no qualms forcing Ahmet to work on the family sheep farm rather than let him go to school, whilst he takes his little brother Naim, silent since his mother’s death, to a suspect healer. Into this grim reality enters the beautiful Aya, who has returned from Germany in order to enter an arranged marriage. When Ahmet discovers a secret rave he is immediately transfixed by the music, and by Aya, and sees a path to a more joyous and free life. Says director Georgi M. Unkovski: “I wanted to explore the delicate balance between tradition and self-expression, particularly within a small, close-knit community The film delves into the challenges of growing up in a traditional setting while simultaneously discovering one's own identity. I was fascinated by the tension that arises when individual desires clash with the expectations of the collective.” With a mostly non-professional cast, Unkovski has made an authentic, jubilant feature debut about art’s liberating power.

Set in the remote mountains of the Philippines, the death of a young construction worker forces an elderly nun to confront the muddied ethics of an institution she dedicated her life to. The script is a deeply personal story exploring the intersection of duty, faith, and institutional power.

We have encouraged filmmakers to create authentic, emotionally resonant stories that capture the deep love, traditions, myths and connections people share through Australian Rules Football – whether as players, fans, families or communities – showcasing how the game, across its many different forms, unites and shapes Australian life. https://miff.com.au/footy-shorts

Seeking to keep a centuries-old tradition alive, two friends battle extreme conditions as they herd 2000 horses through the icy Mongolian steppes. Over the generations, as winter approaches and snow descends on Tsakhir Valley in Mongolia, herders have led thousands of horses on long treks across the frozen steppes to find fresh pastures to graze in. For young Batbold and his older and more experienced companion Tsagaana, this is both a job and an opportunity to reconnect with the traditions of their nomadic ancestors, including assembling yurts, cooking meals and competing in age-old horseback sporting contests. But during their four-month journey through severe landscapes and temperatures that reach minus 50 degrees Celsius, they and the horses they’ve sworn to protect will face the twin dangers of hypothermia and wolf attacks. The gruelling expedition promises to be a transformative experience for Batbold – but with the comforts of the city serving as an ever-present lure, it may also be his last.

After his passing, legendary Yolngu actor David Gulpilil is brought back to his home country in a continent-traversing commemoration worthy of his transcendent talent. David Gulpilil was one of Australia’s greatest screen actors, beginning with his first performance in 1971’s Walkabout (MIFF 2015) and continuing over the next five decades through roles in landmark films including Rabbit-Proof Fence (MIFF 2015) and The Tracker (MIFF 2015). After his death in 2021, his body was repatriated from Murray Bridge, South Australia, to be laid to rest in his homeland on Yolngu country. An extraordinary odyssey across more than 3000 kilometres of outback road from Victor Harbor to Darwin, followed by a chartered plane and helicopter flight to his birthplace in East Arnhem Land, Gulpilil’s final journey is recorded in this moving, thoughtfully observed documentary. Intimately chronicling the epic trip through to its culmination in a Yolngu funeral ceremony, Journey Home, David Gulpilil serves as a fitting tribute to a legend of Australian cinema.

Marlon Williams: Two Worlds - Ngā Ao E Rua One of Aotearoa’s most beloved artists, Marlon Williams, sets out on his most ambitious musical project yet: creating an album sung entirely in te reo Māori. Feeling burnt out from the touring cycle, acclaimed New Zealand musician and actor Marlon Williams (Bad Behaviour, MIFF 2023) returns to his quiet coastal hometown of Ōhinehou/Lyttelton to work on a life- and career-changing undertaking: recording an album, Te Whare Tīwekaweka, in his ancestral language of te reo Māori. Using song to explore his split cultural identity – part pakeha, part Māori, from both Ngāi Tahu and Ngāi Tai iwi – the project finds Williams reconnecting with his heritage, deepening his community and reclaiming his reo, as he puts something “flawed and searching and naive and brave” out into the world.

This Venice award-winning and startling doc introduces us to Teacher Wang, a Chinese “mistress dispeller” – that is, a professional for-hire whose job it is to end marital affairs. In China, a unique industry has emerged in the past decade: mistress dispellers are specialists in breaking up marital affairs – and their services come with a hefty price tag. When Teacher Wang, one such professional, is enlisted by a heartbroken wife, she proceeds to work her way into the lives of the husband and his lover, as well as the client herself. All three become entangled through her intricate and at times extreme methods. Director Elizabeth Lo, known for her beloved 2020 doc Stray, gains intimate access to her subjects, capturing deeply private moments and conversations rarely seen on screen. The result is a captivating and thought-provoking portrait of the limits of modern-day marriage.

An end-of-millennium house party becomes an endless, tequila-fuelled time loop in this ingenious comedy starring Emily Browning. On New Year’s Eve, 1999, with Y2K anxieties in the air and ‘Coco Jamboo’ on the radio, glum anaesthetist Minnie jumps at the chance to attend a party with her ex, Joe, whom she still hasn’t gotten over. But everything goes wrong when she realises that Joe is there with a new girlfriend and plans to propose. One swig from a bottle of tequila after midnight and, in the blink of an eye, Minnie has travelled back in time to the beginning of the party – a process that, she discovers, repeats with every drink she takes. Each do-over presents a new opportunity to fix her mistakes or compound them further. But will any of them allow her to win back Joe’s heart, or understand what it means to live with the consequences of her actions?

A shoe salesman struggles to save his small business and pass on his values to his son in this quintessentially Melbourne tale of life in a migrant community. Running a shoe store for 20 years in suburban Melbourne, Azubuike has a financially constrained but fulfilling life. When his 12-year-old son, Obinna, arrives from interstate – where he has been living with his white mum and doing his best to suppress the things that mark him out as different at school – Azubuike is keen to teach him business, Igbo cultural traditions and what it means, in his view, to be a man. But disaster strikes when Azubuike receives an eviction notice at his shop; and his despair turns to fury when the buyer turns out to be a respected member of his own community. Desperate to retain his livelihood and not lose his son’s respect, Azubuike must find a way to keep all the pieces of his life together.

With idiosyncratic indie-hero director Alex Ross Perry (Listen Up Phillip, Her Smell, Queen of Earth) at the helm, and one of the most unconventional bands of the 1990s as its subject, Pavements had no chance of being a standard music documentary. But even through that gloriously perverse prism of expectation, this is a deliriously unhinged strut into exciting new territory. As “meta” as it gets, Pavements is a kaleidoscopic cinematic swirl that mixes narrative storytelling and the documentary form, while detouring through the musical and concert genres. Playfully goofy, Pavements is built around footage of lo-fi godheads Pavement preparing for their sold-out 2022 reunion tour, but takes a variety of arresting twists and turns, including into a film-within-a-film where Stranger Things’ Joe Keery gets into character to play Pavement frontman Stephen Malkmus in a Hollywood biopic.

One of Sundance’s buzziest debuts, this A24-backed dramedy about a young woman’s recovery from trauma announces writer/director/star Eva Victor as a formidable new talent. Agnes feels stuck. Unlike her best friend, Lydie, who’s moved to New York and is now expecting a baby, Agnes still lives in the New England house they once shared as graduate students, now working as a professor at her alma mater. A ‘bad thing’ happened to Agnes a few years ago and, since then, despite her best efforts, life hasn’t gotten back on track. Writer/director Eva Victor’s performance as Agnes is a breathtaking tonal balancing act between heartbreaking and hilarious. Rather than focusing on the traumatic event, the non-chronological story illuminates the smaller moments in Agnes’s life, such as attending jury duty, adopting a kitten and eating a sandwich – patchwork details punctuating her uneven road to recovery.

Six young people from around the globe channel their dreams into a competition with a difference: a test of their elite mastery of Microsoft Excel. Microsoft Excel as a competitive sport might sound like a range error – but for quirky US child prodigy Mason, laidback Queensland teen Braydon and extroverted Guatemalan would-be YouTuber Carmina, along with diligent Nam from Vietnam, shy Alkmini from Greece and ambitious De La Paix from Cameroon, their intricate knowledge of the app is an opportunity for not only individual success but also national glory. Selected to participate in the Microsoft Office Specialist World Championships – a Florida event gathering teens and young adults from around the world to demonstrate their mathematical prowess, problem-solving skills, and familiarity with the most obscure Excel formulas and functions – each seeks to be crowned the world’s best competitive spreadsheeter. Who will conquer the cells and sheets, and who will go home with #NULL! points?

Can a rich, eccentric superfan reunite his favourite indie-folk duo? And can they mend his lonely heart? Chatty oddball Charles believes lightning can strike twice: after all, he bought two lottery tickets and won on both. But five years after his beloved wife’s death, something’s still missing. So Charles lures his favourite band, now-estranged folk duo McGwyer Mortimer, to an extremely lucrative gig on the gorgeous, remote Welsh island where he lives. Charles’s hapless hosting and effusive fandom, however, only remind Herb McGwyer how far he is from the solo stardom he craves – and, more awkwardly, his ex-bandmate and old flame, Nell Mortimer, has brought her American husband along. As past yearnings and grievances reverberate, one question resounds: will the magic of music reignite the passion that first brought them together?

The Extraordinary Miss Flower brings to life the remarkable story of Geraldine Flower and the discovery of a suitcase full of passionate, heartfelt letters of love sent to her in the 60s and 70s that inspired acclaimed Icelandic singer/songwriter Emilíana Torrini to return to the studio and record an entire album of new songs. Part film, part theatre, part fever dream, the film takes the form of a series of specially designed performances of these songs by Emilíana and her band, combined with dramatic scenes and readings from the letters by well-known actors and musicians (including Caroline Catz, Nick Cave, Alice Lowe and Richard Ayoade).

The sleepy Highlands community of Carrbridge, home to numerous amiable eccentrics, comes alive each year when the Porridge Committee begins their preparations. Then the contestants arrive, including reigning champ Lisa and seven-time finalist Nick, a health food aficionado, along with contenders from Canada, the Netherlands and Zimbabwe – and Australian newbie Toby (a taco chef!). The judges pick up their spoons… the oatmeal battle is on. Director Constantine Costi – also an acclaimed theatre librettist and director, most recently bedazzling audiences with Siegfried and Roy: The Unauthorised Opera – captures the charm and spunk of this Highlands competition with warmth, respect and lashings of humour.

When an accident threatens to shut down the tiny, underfunded theatre they’ve built together, Lucy realises she would do anything to save the theatre and keep her friend, Tom… who she might be in love with.

François is a former military man who is making the most of his retirement alongside his wife Annie, the only person who seems to be able to put up with his foultemper and demands! Authoritarian, and uncompromising, he rules his family with an iron fist. When he discovers that his wife, who he always held in high esteem, cheated on him 40 years ago, he sees only one solution: to file for divorce and confront her former lover who now lives in Nice. But at 73 years old, and after 50 years of marriage, is this really a good move? And wouldn’t this risk blowing up the already fragile family balance?

THE PHOENICIAN SCHEME. The story of a family and a family business. Starring: Benicio del Toro as Zsa-zsa Korda, one of the richest men in Europe; Mia Threapleton as Sister Liesl, his daughter/a nun; Michael Cera as Bjorn Lund, their tutor. With: Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Riz Ahmed, Mathieu Amalric, Jeffrey Wright, Scarlett Johansson, Richard Ayoade, Rupert Friend, Hope Davis, and Benedict Cumberbatch.

An honest and life-affirming true story of the healing power of the natural world.

Karsh is a prominent businessman. Inconsolable since the death of his wife, he invents GraveTech, revolutionary and controversial technology that enables the living to monitor their dear departed in their shrouds. One night, multiple graves, including that of Karsh’s wife, are desecrated. Karsh sets out to track down the perpetrators.

TINĀ is a powerful, inspirational crowd pleaser about the healing power of music. Samoan teacher Mareta Percival is struggling following a huge personal loss in the 2011 Christchurch earthquake. Reluctantly taking on the role of substitute teacher at an elite, wealthy private school - she is surprised to find children crying out for guidance, inspiration and love. Using the symphony of her culture to empower her students, she forms a choir, bringing them together while unexpectedly rediscovering her passion again for being a teacher and mother.

When Fall is Coming is an evocative drama-thriller from the acclaimed director François Ozon (In The House, Frantz, Swimming Pool). The film follows loving grandmother Michelle (Hélène Vincent, The Extraordinary) who enjoys her peaceful retirement in a small village in Burgundy. When her terse daughter Valérie (Ludivine Sagnier, Swimming Pool) drops off grandson Lucas for the school holidays, nothing goes to plan

Brothers Mic and Jim Conway have been making music together since their school days, when they formed the Jellybean Jug Band, which later morphed into the wildly popular Captain Matchbox Whoopee Band. In the early 1970s, Captain Matchbox became a phenomenon, delighting audiences with lively performances My Canary Has Circles Under His Eyes and Fats Waller classics and quirky originals such as Wangaratta Wahine. Mic’s passion for vaudeville and creating instruments from anything at hand has driven his work across countless bands over the last 40 years, blending performance, circus, and humour. Jim, a blues purist, found his voice in Captain Matchbox as a harmonica player, becoming one of Australia’s foremost blues harp players. With a mix of present-day interviews and extensive archival footage, Whoopee Blues celebrates the brothers’ shared passion for music. The result is an entertaining portrait of the brothers and their timeless contribution to Australian music history. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Fiona Cochrane

Based on Isabella Tree’s best-selling book by the same title, Wilding tells the story of a young couple that bets on nature for the future of their failing, four-hundred-year-old estate. The young couple battles entrenched tradition, and dares to place the fate of their farm in the hands of nature. Ripping down the fences, they set the land back to the wild and entrust its recovery to a motley mix of animals both tame and wild. It is the beginning of a grand experiment that will become one of the most significant rewilding experiments in Europe.