Strands

Hot festival favourites and new sensations fill BIFF 2019’s feature film line-up. Prepare to be seduced and uplifted by this exciting group of Australian and international filmmakers at the height of their talents.

The wonder of human creativity and ingenuity is highlighted in these emotionally stimulating and thought-provoking documentaries from across the world.

Presented in conjunction with the Gallery’s BIFF exhibition ‘Setting the Stage’, this strand looks at the way film can draw on the formal aspects of the stage — from its construction, aesthetics, language and purpose — to role-play social and political ideas.

Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Baz Luhrmann has handpicked some of his favourite films to share with audiences at BIFF 2019.

Celebrating five exciting films that spring from the rich and unique creative relationship between director Baz Luhrmann and designer Catherine Martin.

A narrative product of the social trauma of colonialism and slavery in Haiti, the zombie has been a fixture in our cinematic imaginations since the 1930s, when the first ghouls stumbled across the screen in Victor Halperin’s White Zombie 1932.

Future Moves is a selection of works that trace out new directions for film, exploring the medium’s particular ability to engage and process imagery within the framework of narrative and storytelling.

These films depict life on the urban fringes through four portraits of social dislocation, in which lead characters reject, or are spurned from, the mainstream of their community. In a time of increasingly fractured societies, these films interrogate the causes and effects of social disconnection and isolation.

Sound affects how we experience the world. At their heart, these exceptional and eclectic films highlight the rewards that come from an astute approach to listening and the crafting of audio.

‘The Creative Process’ celebrates the artists who draw deeply from their own lives, ask searching questions and endeavour to be accountable to their inspiration and their audience.

BIFF’s program of short films celebrates the unique craft of short-form filmmaking — a platform for emerging filmmakers that delicately balances the nuanced skill of storytelling and visual language, with imagination the only limitation.