The 71st edition of the Melbourne International Film Festival is rapidly coming up in August, and the good people at MIFF have announced the Opening Night and Music on Film Gala presentations.
Noora Niasari’s SHAYDA, a feature supported by the MIFF Premiere Fund, will kick off the festival on the evening of 3 August, complete with a red carpet and an afterparty.
Winner of the audience award at Sundance this year, the film stars Zar Amir Ebrahimi, Mojean Aria, Leah Purcell, Jillian Nguyen and Osamah Sami. It follows an Iranian woman and her young daughter as they arrive at a local women’s shelter in suburban Melbourne seeking an escape from their oppressive home life.
The other announcement is a film paying tribute to Australian record executive and promoter Michael Gudinksi, best known for starting Mushroom Records and signing the likes of the Skyhooks, The Choirboys, Kylie Minogue, and New Zealand’s Split Enz to newer artists such as Eskimo Joe and Evermore. EGO: THE MICHAEL GUDINKSI STORY features interviews with Kylie Minogue, Dave Grohl, Sting, Ed Sheeran, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel and Jimmy Barnes, this rollicking film by acclaimed director Paul Goldman (Suburban Mayhem, MIFF 2006).
MIFF will once again return to theatres for 18 days of in-cinema programming between 3-20 August, with the MIFF Awards and Closing Night Gala on Saturday 19 August.
A First Glance program announcement will be shared on 8 June ahead of the full 2023 Program Launch on 11 July.
Pre-sale tickets for the Opening Night Gala and Music on Film Gala are available to MIFF Members from 8.00am today. General public sales open at 10.00am on Thursday 25 May from the official site.
