For over three decades, the Brisbane International Film Festival has connected Queensland audiences and industry with the world's leading filmmakers. Building on the legacy of founding directors Anne Demy-Geroe, Gary Ellis and programmer David Stratton, whose vision established the Chauvel Award and Cinesparks, BIFF 2025 honours its past while evolving into a live collaboration between filmmakers, musicians, visual artists and audiences. We call this Cinema Elevated.
We can take a break from our digital bubbles and congregate with like-minded cinephiles to share the collective public dreaming we call the Movies. These interactions are essential to the nourishment of any culture.
George Miller
In 2025, BIFF launches its first Moving Image Commission, celebrating Australian filmmakers blurring lines between fiction, documentary, and experimental cinema. The inaugural commission spotlights Jaydon Martin, the Logan-born filmmaker whose debut feature Flathead premiered in competition at the 2024 International Film Festival Rotterdam. Hailed by The Guardian as "an outstanding feature debut - absorbing, moving and visually beautiful," Flathead marks the arrival of a new voice in Australian cinema destined for global prominence.
"Southeastern reimagined the classic image of a Queenslander, depicting five Brisbane personalities who have gone through profound personal reinvention. To have this piece commissioned and presented by BIFF is deeply meaningful to me. Growing up in the outer suburbs of Logan, the festival held a special place in my own exploration into cinema. As the festival redefines itself, it is also reshaping the understanding of the cultural identity of Queensland, creating a home for bold, boundary-pushing cinema."
Jaydon Martin
Southeastern will be exhibited at Metro Arts throughout the festival, with free entry as part of BIFF's commitment to showcasing visionary Australian voices that transcend form and reflect the complexity of contemporary Australia.
