. It was founded in 1951, making it one of the oldest in the World.
MIFF is a member of Melbourne's four major film festivals line up, which also include the
The current Festival Director is Michelle Carey, and its ambassadors include: actors
MIFF is the largest film festival in Australia with approximately 400 films screened from more than 50 different countries, as well as the World's largest showcase of Australian cinema. It is also the most attended film festival in Australia with over 182,000 admissions (2007 estimate). In 2007, it contributed more than A$8 million to the Melbourne economy.
. It is also the only festival in Australia to be accredited by all three.
. It is held over four days at the
. It enables Australian and international producers with market-ready feature-length projects to meet with financiers. The 37ºSouth Market is also the exclusive partner of the London Production Finance Market for Australia and
Whilst MIFF remains mostly a non-competitive festival, since 1962 it has staged a highly regarded short film competition. It also presents audience popularity awards for feature film and documentary.
The first award ever presented was for "Best Short Film", which was changed to the "Grand Prix for Best Short Film" in 1965. From 1985, the Grand Prix has been officially presented by the City of Melbourne.
| Year |
Film |
Director |
Country |
| 1965 |
La gazza ladra |
Giulio Giannini, Emanuele Luzzati Emanuele Luzzati was an Italian painter, production designer, illustrator, film director and animator. He was nominated for Academy Awards for two of his short films, La gazza ladra and Pulcinella .He was born in Genoa and turned to drawing in 1938 when, as a Jew, his academic studies were...
|
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
|
| 1966 |
The Inheritance |
Harold Mayer |
USA |
| 1967 |
Petrol-Carburant-Kraftstoff |
Hugo Niebeling |
West GermanyWest Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
|
| 1968 |
You're Human Like the Rest of Them |
B.S. Johnson |
UK |
| 1969 |
Pas de deux |
Norman McLarenNorman McLaren, CC, CQ was a Scottish-born Canadian animator and film director known for his work for the National Film Board of Canada...
|
CanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
|
| 1970 |
Calcutta |
Louis MalleLouis Malle was a French film director, screenwriter, and producer. He worked in both French cinema and Hollywood. His films include Ascenseur pour l'échafaud , Atlantic City , and Au revoir, les enfants .- Early years in France :Malle was born into a wealthy industrialist family in Thumeries,...
|
FranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
|
| 1971 |
Blake |
Bill Mason Bill Mason was an award-winning Canadian naturalist, author, artist, filmmaker, and conservationist, noted primarily for his popular canoeing books, films, and art as well as his documentaries on wolves. Mason was also known for including passages from Christian sermons in his films...
|
CanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
|
| 1972 |
Scarabus |
Gérald Frydman |
BelgiumBelgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
|
| 1973 |
Street Musique |
Ryan Larkin Ryan Larkin was a Canadian animator, artist, and sculptor who rose to fame with the psychedelic 1969 Oscar-nominated short Walking and the acclaimed Street Musique . He was the subject of the Oscar-winning film Ryan.-Home life and education:Ryan Larkin's father was an airline mechanic...
|
CanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
|
| 1974 |
Edward Burra |
Peter K. Smith |
UK |
| 1975 |
Last Grave at Dimbaza |
Nana Mahamo |
South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
|
| 1976 |
Leisure |
Bruce Petty Bruce Petty is one of Australia’s best known political satirists and cartoonists. He is a regular contributor to Melbourne's The Age newspaper...
|
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
|
| 1977 |
Corralejas de Sincelejo |
Mario Mitrotti |
ColombiaColombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
|
| 1978 |
Manimals |
Robin Lehman |
USA |
| 1979 |
Malj |
Aleksandar Ilic |
Yugoslavia Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
|
| 1980 |
Interview |
Caroline Leaf Caroline Leaf is a Canadian-American filmmaker and animator.Leaf made her first film, Sand, or Peter and the Wolf, in 1968 at Harvard University. The short was made by dumping sand on a light box and manipulating the textures frame-by-frame.Her second film, Orfeo , had her painting directly on...
|
CanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
|
| 1981 |
New York Story |
Jackie Raynal |
USA |
| 1982 |
Shadows |
Royden Irvine |
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
|
| 1983 |
Douglas Mawson: The Survivor |
David Parer David Parer is an award-winning Australian natural history film maker.Parer was conscripted into the Australian Army to go to the Vietnam War in 1970, but he entered a Masters program to study physics in the Antarctic. Parer spent the summers of 1970 and 1972 in Antarctica studying cosmic rays....
|
Australia |
| 1984 |
Aquí se lo halla |
Lee Sokol |
USA |
| 1985 |
In Heaven There Is No Beer? |
Les Blank Les Blank is an American documentary filmmaker best known for his portraits of American traditional musicians....
|
USA |
| 1986 |
My Life Without Steve |
Gillian Leahy |
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
|
| 1987 |
Panya shugeki |
Naoto Yamakawa |
JapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
|
| 1988 |
The Critical Years |
Gérard L'Ecuyer |
CanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
/USA |
| 1989 |
Twilight City |
Reece Auguiste |
UK |
| 1990 |
Swimming |
Belinda Chayko |
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
|
| 1991 |
Sink or Swim |
Su FriedrichSu Friedrich is an American avant-garde filmmaker.- Biography :Friedrich graduated from Oberlin College in 1975 and made her first film, Hot Water, in 1978...
|
USA |
| 1992 |
The Writing in the Sand |
Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen -Life and work:Born in Myllykoski Finland in 1948, Konttinen studied photography in London in the 1960s, and cofounded the Amber collective, which moved to Newcastle....
|
UK |
| 1993 |
Lektionen in Finsternis |
Werner HerzogWerner Herzog Stipetić , known as Werner Herzog, is a German film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and opera director.He is often considered as one of the greatest figures of the New German Cinema, along with Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Margarethe von Trotta, Volker Schlöndorff, Werner...
|
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
|
| 1994 |
Only the Brave |
Ana Kokkinos Ana Kokkinos is an Australian film director. Kokkinos was born in Melbourne and prior to her career in film, she worked as an industrial lawyer...
|
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
|
| 1995 |
Twilight |
Tengai Amano Tengai Amano is a playwright, director and the leader of the drama group called "Shonen-oja-kan". He was born in Ichinomiya, Aichi prefecture in 1960, and graduated from the Department of History in Aichi Gakuin University. In 1982, he founded "Shonen-oja-kan" in Nagoya...
|
JapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
|
| 1996 |
Baka |
Thierry Knauff |
BelgiumBelgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
|
| 1997 |
At Sea |
Penny Fowler-Smith |
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
|
| 1998 |
The Storekeeper |
Gavin Hood Gavin Hood is a South African filmmaker, screenwriter, producer and actor, best known for writing and directing the Academy Award-winning Foreign Language Film Tsotsi...
|
South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
|
| 1999 |
So-poong |
Song Il-gon Song Il-gon is a South Korean film director and screenwriter known for his international award-winning early short films, and later feature films such as Spider Forest and Feathers in the Wind...
|
South KoreaThe Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
|
| 2000 |
Wildlife |
Kate de Pury |
UK |
| 2001 |
Muakah |
Hadar Friedlich |
IsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
|
| 2002 |
Palace II |
Kátia Lund Kátia Lund is an American-Brazilian film director and screenwriter. Her most notable work was as co-director of the film City of God....
, Fernando MeirellesFernando Ferreira Meirelles is a Brazilian film director, producer and screenwriter.He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director in 2004 for his work in the Brazilian film City of God, released in 2002 in Brazil and in 2003 in the U.S. by Miramax Films...
|
BrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
|
| 2003 |
Destino |
Dominique Monfery |
FranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
|
| 2004 |
Talking with Angels |
Yousaf Ali Khan |
UK |
| 2005 |
Silent Companion |
Elham Hosseinzadeh |
IranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
|
| 2006 |
Avatar |
Lluis Quilez |
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
|
| 2007 |
Blood Sisters |
Louise N.D. Friedberg |
DenmarkDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
|
| 2008 |
Dennis |
Mads Matthiesen |
Denmark |
| 2009 |
Next Floor |
Denis Villeneuve Denis Villeneuve is a Canadian film director and writer. In his early career he won Radio-Canada's youth film competition "La Course Europe-Asie" in 1990-91. He is a three-time winner of the Genie Award for Best Director, for Maelström in 2001, Polytechnique in 2010 and Incendies in 2011...
, Phoebe Greenberg |
CanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
|
| 2010 |
The Lost Thing |
Shaun Tan, Andrew Ruhemann |
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
|
Chinese filmmakers withdrew their films from the festival two days before it opened on 24 July. Former MIFF director Richard Moore refused to pull the film from the festival program, despite the festival website and its online ticketing system being hacked from an
of Chinese origin. The festival website was hacked soon after the launch of its program for 2009, with information replaced with the Chinese flag and anti-Kadeer slogans.
was placed on alert during the screening of the film, and Pro-Uighur demonstrators also gathered outside the
The Government of China attempted to have the film withdrawn from the festival, going to the extent of contacting, Lord Mayor of Melbourne,
. Doyle, however, refused to intervene. Australia's Ambassador to China
was summoned by China's Deputy Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun to express displeasure about Kadeer's attendance at MIFF.
(MUFF). In subsequent years, MUFF has attracted controversy by criticising the content of MIFF as well as its former long-time Director Richard Moore. Wolstencroft claims that MUFF champions "an alternative voice in Australian cinema".