As fans of film in all its diverse forms, at the Melbourne University Film Society we are, of course, big fans of the winter wonderland and correspondingly cool celebration of cinema that is the Melbourne International Film Festival, which is officially back again for 2025 this August.
Running from the 7th until the 24th in cinemas (both in metropolitan Melbourne and further afield regionally) and from the 15th until the 31st online (once again through ACMI’s Cinema 3), this year MIFF will present more than 250 films from some 76 countries, featuring features (at least 223 of them), showing shorts (at least 65 of those), exploring extended reality experiences, replaying restored retrospectives, and hosting talks, masterclasses and Q&As. Amongst other special events, and barring further, last minute additions.
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. Or, to be honest, one of the best ways to experience a film festival is just to pick something which looks semi-interesting and is showing at a time you’re free. Who knows, you might just discover a hidden gem.
Amongst the notable entries this year, however, include critical and audience hits already seen at the Cannes, Sundance, Annecy Animation, Berlin and Sydney film festivals. Such as Jafar Panahi’s Palme d’Or winning It Was Just An Accident (all sessions of which are currently on ‘Standby’, though who knows, maybe the Film Society is partly responsible for those tickets having sold out…), Mary Bronstein’s If I Had Legs I’d Kick You (which kicks off the festival opening night), Leela Varghese and Emma Hough Hobbs’ Lesbian Space Princess, and many of the films under the Headliners and Bright Horizons categories. Not to mention, all the films, like James J. Robinson’s First Light, which are premiering for the first time anywhere in the world.
Tickets have been on sale for a few weeks now, so make sure to book into any sessions you have your heart set on which are ‘Selling Fast’ 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’ (in the past the release of these final tickets has been at around 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 looking to be busy 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 picture 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 bringing allocated seating back for this year however (a terrible decision by MIFF). Those venues will be ACMI, the Forum and The Capitol, though for special events at other venues allocated seating may also apply. Personally, this writer is a fan of the free for all of finding good seats on the day with friends. But if it helps MIFF make some more money and encourage attendees to buy memberships so they can access future pre-sales, then that’s not a bad thing given the festival has, by its own 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 no longer uni students, or never was and never will be uni students, out there:
- This year, MIFF will again have $10 ‘Rush Tix’ on the day for sessions which aren’t close to selling out. These cheap sessions will be announced each day sometime between 11 am and 12 pm on the MIFF website and through MIFF’s Instagram stories. ‘Tickets will then be on sale from 12pm–2pm online, or anytime from 12pm at the ACMI box office or cinema venue’ and its MIFF box office.
- 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 $26 U26 Membership, which gives you normal membership discounts and perks during and beyond the festival for a year, including access to monthly preview screenings.
- If you want to see only a few films, a Bright Horizons 3-Pass, which allows you to see any three films in the always compelling 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. General Multipass-6 and Multipass-3 options also exist.
- Or, if you only want to dip your toes into the MIFF waters with a single session or two that you want to book ahead of time, Letterboxd also has a discount code that works on most tickets this year and will get them down to $23.80 (plus a $1.50 booking fee): LETTERBOXD25.
But wait. 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.
Plus, stay tuned to all our Film Society socials for free tix and giveaways throughout the festival, as well as some outings with discounted tickets which we will be running for members to select films this year.
We hope all this helps, but 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 