As fans of film in all its diverse forms, at the Melbourne University Film Society we, natch, highly recommend the winter wonderland and correspondingly cool celebration of cinema that is the Melbourne International Film Festival, which is officially back again for 2024 this August.
Running from the 8th until the 25th in cinemas (both in metropolitan Melbourne and further afield regionally) and from the 9th until the 25th online (MIFF Play, the latest casualty of the streaming wars, has been retired in favour of ACMI’s Cinema 3), this year MIFF will present more than 250 films from more than 62 countries, featuring features, showing shorts, exploring extended reality experiences, replaying restored retrospectives, and hosting talks, masterclasses and Q&As. Amongst other special events, and barring further, last minute additions (cough where the heck’s Anora cough). You can find the full program of films and events here, a pdf of the program guide here, and grab a printed copy of said program guide from the MIFF box office at ACMI and other MIFF venues during their opening hours. We recommend working your way through the program methodically if you have the time, but if you’re looking to scratch a specific cinematic itch there are plenty of strands and themed categories to help you out too, in addition to the MIFF website’s good old search bar.
Amongst the notable entries this year include critical and audience hits already seen at the Cannes, Sundance, Annecy Animation and Sydney film festivals. Such as Aussie opener and stop-motion clayography Memoir of a Snail (directed by VCA alumnus Adam Elliot), Grand Prix winner All We Imagine as Light, and The Substance, Grand Tour, Caught By the Tides, The Seed of the Sacred Fig, A Different Man, I Saw the TV Glow, and Flow. To name just a few of the many acclaimed films screening, and not to mention all the films, like Inside, which are premiering for the first time anywhere in the world.
Tickets are on sale now, so make sure to book into any sessions you have your heart set on asap. But for sessions which do book out before you grab tix and appear as on ‘Standby’, don’t despair, as ‘Roughly 48 hours before a Standby session, a small number of tickets may become available to purchase’ (though so far the release of these final tickets seems to sometimes be more so after 4 pm two days before) and, if ‘you are unable to book a ticket in advance, you can join the Standby queue at the venue one (1) hour prior to the session start time’, which does not guarantee entry but ‘generally [has] a high success rate’. These methods certainly have for this writer the last few years. More info on ticketing can be found here.
For sessions you do book into that are ‘Selling fast’ and don’t have allocated seating, we recommend lining up at least 20 minutes before the start time to have your pick of the best seats in the movie house (though it’s not unusual for enthusiasts to start lining as early as an hour before either, sometimes to secure their favourite seat that no one else would have wanted anyway). You won’t need to line up for as long if your session is at one of the venues MIFF is trialling allocated seating at this year however. Those venues will primarily be ACMI and the Forum, though for special events at other venues allocated seating may also apply. Personally, writer is a fan of the free for all of finding good seats on the day with friends. But we’ll see how this trial goes, and if it helps MIFF make more money, then that’s not a bad thing given the festival has, by its own (new and first) CEO’s admission, been struggling financially the last few years.
MIFF’s not the only one struggling for money though, of course, so here are some cheap tips to do with tickets for all you uni students, and others, out there:
- This year MIFF will be introducing $10 ‘rush tix’ on the day for sessions which aren’t close to selling out. You can stay up to date on what these cheap sessions are each day when they’re displayed on the MIFF website between 12 pm to 2 pm, and after 2 pm by trawling through MIFF’s Instagram stories (why MIFF is only displaying these sessions for 2 hours on its website is baffling, but anyway).
- For sessions more in demand, however, a festival pass will definitely be the way to go.
- For those under 26, such passes will be best paired with this year’s returning $25 U26 Membership, which gives you normal membership discounts and perks during and beyond the festival for a year, as well as access to $30 U26 Passes valid for three off-peak sessions, i.e. sessions Mondays to Fridays starting before 5:00 pm.
- If you want to see a few sessions at peak times though (where many of the the most hyped films are situated), a Bright Horizons 3-Pass, which allows you to see any three films in the Bright Horizons competition strand, or a Multipass-12, which gives you twelve standard festival admissions across the entire festival and can be shared between as many friends per session as you’d like, are the next best value for money.
- Or, if you only want to dip your toes into the MIFF waters with a single session or two that aren’t covered by rush tix, Letterboxd also has a discount code for 15% off most tickets this year: LETTERBOXD24.
But, hey, why pay when you can see films for free? If you’d be interested in writing a review for us at the Film Inquirer in exchange for a ticket or reimbursement of a ticket, let us know by sending us an email at unimelbfilmsoc@gmail.com or by filling out this expression of interest form. And, stay tuned to all the Film Soc socials for more free tix and giveaways throughout the festival.
We hope all this helps, and if not, here’s a fun fact: the original incarnation of the Melbourne University Film Society ‘collaborated with the Victorian Federation of Film Societies and the Australian Film Institute to launch’ the Melbourne International Film Festival, first called the Olinda Film Festival, back in 1952. You’re welcome, we suppose, and happy MIFFing!
MELBOURNE UNIVERSITY FILM INQUIRER 