Another local festival joins the digital ranks to ensure Australians get their film fix this winter.
Following the cancellation of the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) in response to the global pandemic, Artistic Director Al Cossar has reimagined the annual festival for the virtual environment.
Dubbed MIFF 68½ in honour of the ‘in between’ nature of the festival, it will feature a fully curated program of around 40 features streamed online across the festival’s original 2020 dates (6–23 August).
“MIFF 68½ is our response to these difficult times – the result of our desire to sustain MIFF’s outstanding film programming, stay connected with our audience, and foster new audience connections during this truly unparalleled time,” said Cossar via a statement.
It follows the Sydney’s Film Festival’s announcement earlier this week that they would also run an online festival throughout June, along with the global We Are One Film Festival running on YouTube.
MIFF 68½ will use Shift 72 to run the event, whose client list includes American festival SXSW and Europe’s CPH:DOX who did similar events this year.
The full lineup for the ticketed event will be announced on 14 July, and is said to include a number of films planned for the festival’s intended 2020 program, as well as foregrounding ‘discovery’ highlights by emerging filmmakers. There will also be shorts from the Australian, International, Animation and Documentary program packages.
Also read: SFF 2020 – Sydney Film Festival goes virtual and national for the first time
The festival was made possible by support from Melbourne-based film producer, businesswoman and philanthropist Susie Montague, along with longtime MIFF attendee Rachel Griffiths, who will serve as Festival Ambassador.
So, while we may not be able to make our annual trek to Melbourne, it’s comforting to know that the show will go on. At the very least, nobody will be able to complain about the comfort levels in those Comedy Theatre seats this year.
Tickets for MIFF 68½ will be available via their website.
