MIFF 2021
A list of feature films (excluding shorts) from MIFF in year 2021.
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69 titles
- DirectorAlec MorganTiriki OnusTiriki Onus sets out to uncover the mystery surrounding the life of his grandfather, William Bill Onus - charismatic Aboriginal cultural leader, entrepreneur, theatre impresario and, probably, the first Indigenous filmmaker."Tiriki Onus thought he knew his grandfather Bill, until an unearthed film reel suggests he might have been the first ever Aboriginal filmmaker."
- DirectorDanny CohenStarsCourtney BarnettAn intimate access to the private life of Courtney Barnett, an anti-influencer who is a powerful voice for our times."Courtney Barnett pulls back the curtain in this intimate first-person exposition on creativity, vulnerability and artistic life on the road."
- DirectorTrevor GrahamThis uplifting feast of a film goes behind the scenes of an Italian hotel-restaurant staffed by youngsters living with Down syndrome."This uplifting feast of a film goes behind the scenes of an Italian hotel-restaurant staffed by youngsters living with Down syndrome."
- DirectorFrederick WisemanStarsMarty WalshA look at Boston's city government, covering racial justice, housing, climate action, and more."Veteran filmmaker Frederick Wiseman offers a fascinating longform insight into the dramas, frustrations and triumphs of local government."
- DirectorAndrey KonchalovskiyStarsYuliya VysotskayaVladislav KomarovAndrey GusevWhen the communist government raises food prices in 1962, the rebellious workers from the small industrial town of Novocherkassk go on strike. The massacre which then ensues is seen through the eyes of a devout party activist."A Soviet official finds her loyalty to the regime tested when her daughter goes missing in the aftermath of a massacre."
- DirectorAmalia UlmanStarsAle UlmanAmalia UlmanNacho VigalondoAmidst the devastation of post-crisis Spain, mother and daughter bluff and grift to keep up the lifestyle they think they deserve, bonding over common tragedy and an impending eviction."A real-life mother–daughter duo play a semi-fictional mother–daughter duo struggling to make ends meet in this charismatic feminist class comedy."
- DirectorChristopher AmosStarsIan McKellenStephen FryPeter TatchellThe profound life story of the controversial human rights campaigner whose provocative acts of civil disobedience rocked the establishment, revolutionised attitudes to homosexuality and exposed tyrants in the fight for equality."Presented by Sir Ian McKellen and co–executive-produced by Elton John, this unflinching portrait reveals a human rights activist at once revered and notorious."
- DirectorGero von BoehmStarsHelmut NewtonSigourney WeaverGrace JonesThe trailblazing late photographer Helmut Newton had a defining impact on the worlds of fashion and art."Misogynist or champion of women? This expansive portrait of a controversial fashion icon captures both light and shade."
- DirectorOrson WellesStarsDennis HopperOrson WellesJanice PenningtonAn intimate and revelatory 1970 conversation between two film giants, Dennis Hopper, then riding high on the massive success of Easy Rider (1969), and Orson Welles, ever the iconoclast and an offscreen interviewer of probing authority."Dennis Hopper and Orson Welles meet for a free-ranging conversation on everything from politics and sex to the cinema itself in this unmissable slice of film history."
- DirectorAaron WilsonStarsMark Leonard WinterSilvia CollocaRobert MenziesA newly-single father struggles to weather the turbulence of change, as a new immigrant endeavours to find her place in a foreign land. Set in 1971, it's a portrait of Australia at a turning point and the human desire for connection."Co-written by Christos Tsiolkas, this period drama depicts a newly-single father’s efforts to weather the turbulence of change – in his life and in the world around him."
- DirectorJonathan OgilvieStarsHugo WeavingDiana GlennTilda Cobham-HerveyIn the near-future, where constant surveillance is the norm, a group of activists plan an act of urban terrorism, unaware that they may be lured into a trap."In a near-future Melbourne marked by state corruption and constant surveillance, a group of small-time activists hatches a plan to commit a “victimless atrocity”."
- StarsZoe WaltersFollows the lives of seven Indigenous students as they leave home to spend a year boarding at one of the oldest and most elite boarding schools in the country, Geelong Grammar.
- DirectorMadeleine MartinielloStarsFranco CozzoAssunta CozzoGisella CozzoFranco Cozzo has an iconic furniture empire in Melbourne. From low-fi TV adverts, Franco's phrases gained a cult status. From Sicily, he is marked by fame, fortune & ten children. A fascinating story as part of Australia's immigration.
- DirectorAdrian FrancisStarsHiroshi HoshinoMichiko KiyookaMinoru TsukiyamaJust after midnight on March 10, 1945, the U.S. launched an air attack on eastern Tokyo, which left more than 100,000 people dead and destroyed a quarter of the city. Unlike their loved ones, Hiroshi Hoshino, Michiko Kiyooka and Minoru Tsukiyama emerged from the bombings alive. Now in their twilight years, they wish for nothing more than recognition and reparations for those who, like them, had been indelibly harmed by the war-but the Japanese government and even their fellow citizens seem reluctant to acknowledge the past.
- DirectorCéline SciammaStarsJoséphine SanzGabrielle SanzNina MeurisseNelly has just lost her grandmother and is helping her parents clean out her mother's childhood home. She explores the house and the surrounding woods. One day she meets a girl her age building a tree-house.
- DirectorJasmila ZbanicStarsJasna DjuricicIzudin BajrovicBoris LerAida is a translator for the UN in the small town of Srebrenica. When the Serbian army takes over the town, her family is among the thousands of citizens looking for shelter in the UN camp.
- DirectorLisa RovnerStarsJean-Michel JarreKim GordonWendy CarlosFollows the story of electronic music's female pioneers, composers who embraced machines and their liberating technologies to utterly transform how we produce and listen to music today.
- DirectorTyson Wade JohnstonStarsLaura GordonJason IsaacsLevi MillerA 15-year-old swimming prodigy self-destructs after his father is released from jail.
- DirectorMargot NashStarsPamela RabeJohn StantonToni ScanlanFollowing the death of her mother Tessa (Pamela Rabe), a young woman, returns after many years to the weather-beaten family home on the shores of Sydney's Botany Bay. But the old family home begins to bring old wounds more and more to life. The story unfolds through flashbacks yet as it progresses the flashbacks merge into the present as it becomes apparent that the situation Tessa has returned to is very much the result of that which passed before. This is a film about memory - personal and collective. To quote the director: 'the story of a house, land and two families - one white, one Aboriginal - both living in the shadow of the past'. The deliberately ambiguous title could refer to the house itself, but also the history of White Australia (see Terra nullius).
- DirectorPhilippa BatemanStarsPaul GrabowskyRuby HunterArchie RoachWash My Soul in the River's Flow is a cinematic reinvention of a legendary concert that premiered in 2004. Kura Tungar-Songs from the River was a collaboration between First Nations singer-songwriters Archie Roach and Ruby Hunter working with Paul Grabowsky and the 22-piece Australian Art Orchestra. Using footage combining conversations, rehearsals, and the opening night, with breathtaking images of Hunter's Ngarrindjeri country in South Australia, the film is a portrait of artists at the peak of their powers and a profoundly moving story of loss, love and what it means to truly come 'home'.
- DirectorAnita RivaroliStarsGabriele BorghiClaudio CavallaroMariagrazia CanuWhat is the world's greatest rock band? A thousand musicians and fans gather in Cesena, Italy to celebrate their favorite, the Foo Fighters.
- DirectorRyûsuke HamaguchiStarsKotone FurukawaAyumu NakajimaHyunriAn unexpected love triangle, a failed seduction trap and an encounter that results from a misunderstanding, told in three movements to depict three female characters and trace the trajectories between their choices and regrets.
- DirectorJanicza BravoStarsTaylour PaigeRiley KeoughNicholas BraunA stripper named Zola embarks on a wild road trip to Florida.
- DirectorTheo AnthonyStarsTheo AnthonyKeaver BrenaiRobert CunniffA far-ranging look at the biases in how we see things, focusing on the use of police body cameras."A visionary exploration of the inherent biases in surveillance technology from one of North America’s most fascinating and inventive documentary filmmakers."
- DirectorLeos CaraxStarsAdam DriverMarion CotillardSimon HelbergA stand-up comedian and his opera singer wife have a two-year-old daughter with a surprising gift."Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard star in Leos Carax’s (Holy Motors, MIFF 2012; The Lovers on the Bridge, MIFF 2012) bizarre, brazen musical – the Cannes film on everyone’s lips."