Melbourne International Film Festival

The Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) is an acclaimed annual film festival

Film festival

A film festival is an organised, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theaters or screening venues, usually in a single locality. More and more often film festivals show part of their films to the public by adding outdoor movie screenings...

held over three weeks in Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. It was founded in 1951, making it one of the oldest in the World.

MIFF is a member of Melbourne's four major film festivals line up, which also include the Melbourne International Animation Festival

Melbourne International Animation Festival

The Melbourne International Animation Festival or MIAF is an annual animation festival held in Melbourne. Supported by the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, the Australian Film Commission and the Melbourne City Council, it is Australia's largest animation event. Over the course of the...

(MIAF), Melbourne Queer Film Festival

Melbourne Queer Film Festival

The Melbourne Queer Film Festival, or MQFF, has been running continuously since 1991 . It is the oldest queer film festival in Australia and one of the oldest queer film festivals in the world...

(MQFF) and Melbourne Underground Film Festival

Melbourne Underground Film Festival

The Melbourne Underground Film Festival was formed out of disagreements over the content and running of the Melbourne International Film Festival...

(MUFF).

The current Festival Director is Michelle Carey, and its ambassadors include: actors Eric Bana

Eric Bana

Eric Bana is an Australian film and television actor. He began his career as a comedian in the sketch comedy series Full Frontal before gaining critical recognition in the biopic Chopper...

and Geoffrey Rush

Geoffrey Rush

Geoffrey Roy Rush is an Australian actor and film producer. He is one of the few people who has won the "Triple Crown of Acting": an Academy Award, a Tony Award and an Emmy Award. He has won one Academy Award for acting , three British Academy Film Awards , two Golden Globe Awards and four Screen...

, director Fred Schepisi and documentarian Morgan Spurlock

Morgan Spurlock

Morgan Valentine Spurlock is an American documentary filmmaker, humorist, television producer, screenwriter and journalist best known for the documentary film Super Size Me...

.

The 60th festival took place between 22 July and 7 August in 2011.

Festival

MIFF is the largest film festival in Australia with approximately 400 films screened from more than 50 different countries, as well as the World's largest showcase of Australian cinema. It is also the most attended film festival in Australia with over 182,000 admissions (2007 estimate). In 2007, it contributed more than A$8 million to the Melbourne economy.

The festival is currently accredited by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences of motion pictures...

, Australian Film Institute

Australian Film Institute

The Australian Film Institute was founded in 1958 as a non-profit organisation devoted to developing an active film culture in Australia and fostering engagement between the general public and the Australian film industry...

and British Academy of Film and Television Arts

British Academy of Film and Television Arts

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is a charity in the United Kingdom that hosts annual awards shows for excellence in film, television, television craft, video games and forms of animation.-Introduction:...

. It is also the only festival in Australia to be accredited by all three.

Melbourne also holds a significant place in the history of film

History of film

The history of film is the historical development of the medium known variously as cinema, motion pictures, film, or the movies.The history of film spans over 100 years, from the latter part of the 19th century to the present day...

for being home to the World's first full-length feature film

Feature film

In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...

, The Story of the Kelly Gang
The Story of the Kelly Gang
The Story of the Kelly Gang is a 1906 Australian film that traces the life of the legendary bushranger Ned Kelly . It was written and directed by Charles Tait. The film ran for more than an hour, and was the longest narrative film yet seen in Australia, and the world. Its approximate reel length...

(1906).

Program

Main programs:

Opening Night Film - generally an Australian film premiere
Homegrown - short and feature fiction and documentary films from Australia
International Panorama - short and feature fiction and documentary films from around the World
Neighbourhood Watch - short and feature fiction and documentary films from Asia
Closing Night Film - generally an Australian film premiere

Other programs:

Arts and Minds - a program of films celebrating the creative industries
Melbourne Citymission Charity Screening - funds go to support Melbourne's homeless
NextGen - a program of films aimed at younger generations
Night Shift - a program of cult films screened after midnight till the early morning
Special Screenings - generally film premieres or screenings with a director's Q&A
States of Dissent - a program of films dedicated to human rights

Reoccurring events:

Opening Night Gala - the red carpet launch of the festival
37° South Market - see: #37ºSouth Market
Accelerator - workshops and screenings for filmmakers to develop their skills, craft and industry contacts
Festival Lounge - a venue offering free events, music and performances for the duration of the festival
Lights, Camera, TRACKtion - short film mini-competition celebrating Melbourne's trams
Trams in Melbourne
The Melbourne tramway network is a major form of public transport in Melbourne, the capital city of the state of Victoria, Australia. , the network consisted of of track, 487 trams, 28 routes, and 1,773 tram stops. It was therefore the largest urban tramway network in the world, ahead of the...
Short Film Competition - see: #Competition

Venues

The festival is conducted across various venues located in the Melbourne City Centre

Melbourne city centre

Melbourne City Centre is an area of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. It is not to be confused with the larger local government area of the City of Melbourne...

, which include the Australian Centre for the Moving Image

Australian Centre for the Moving Image

The Australian Centre for the Moving Image, or ACMI, is dedicated to the moving image in all its forms. It is located in Federation Square, in Melbourne, Australia, across four levels of the Alfred Deakin Building...

, the Forum Theatre

Forum Theatre

The Forum Theatre is a theatre located on the corner of Flinders Street and Russell Street in the central business district of Melbourne, Australia. The building was designed by American architect John Eberson, who has designed many theatres across the globe, along with a local architectural firm...

, Melbourne Town Hall

Melbourne Town Hall

Melbourne Town Hall is the central municipal building of the City of Melbourne, Australia, in the State of Victoria. It is located on the northeast corner of Swanston and Collins Streets, in the central business district. It is the seat of the Local Government Area of the City of Melbourne...

, RMIT Capitol Theatre

Capitol Theatre, Melbourne

Opened in 1924, The Capitol Theatre is a spectacularly designed single screen cinema located in Melbourne, Australia . On 20 May 1999, it was purchased by Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology , and is currently used for both university lectures and cultural events such as film and comedy festivals...

, the Victorian Arts Centre

The Arts Centre (Melbourne)

The Victorian Arts Centre is a performing arts centre consisting of a complex of theatres and concert halls in the Melbourne Arts Precinct, located in the inner Melbourne suburb of Southbank in Victoria, Australia....

and various cinema complexes.

37ºSouth Market

The 37ºSouth Market is the only international film financing

Film finance

Film finance is an aspect of film production that occurs during the development stage prior to pre-production, and is concerned with determining the potential value of a proposed film...

marketplace to take place during a film festival in Australia

Australia

. It is held over four days at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image

Australian Centre for the Moving Image

, and with industry panels and guest lectures taking place at the Forum Theatre

Forum Theatre

. It enables Australian and international producers with market-ready feature-length projects to meet with financiers. The 37ºSouth Market is also the exclusive partner of the London Production Finance Market for Australia and New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

.

In 2009, the 37ºSouth Market attracted 35 companies; which included: Bavaria Films

Bavaria Film Studios

The Bavaria Film in Geiselgasteig, a district of Munich's suburb Grünwald, Bavaria belongs to one of Europe's biggest and most famous film production companies.- History :...

, Icon Productions

Icon Productions

Icon Productions LLC is an American independent production company founded in August 1989 by actor/director Mel Gibson and Australian producing partner Bruce Davey.-History:Icon started when Gibson was having trouble in financing the 1990 film Hamlet...

, Media 8 Entertainment

Media 8 Entertainment

Media 8 is a leading independent film entertainment company engaged in financing, development, production and worldwide distribution of theatrical feature films in various forms of broadcast media.-Overview:...

, Miramax Films

Miramax Films

Miramax Films is an American entertainment company known for distributing independent and foreign films. For its first 14 years the company was privately owned by its founders, Bob and Harvey Weinstein...

, NBC Universal

NBC Universal

NBCUniversal Media, LLC is a media and entertainment company engaged in the production and marketing of entertainment, news, and information products and services to a global customer base...

, National Geographic Channel

National Geographic Channel

National Geographic Channel, also commercially abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo, is a subscription television channel that airs non-fiction television programs produced by the National Geographic Society. Like History and the Discovery Channel, the channel features documentaries with factual...

, Paramount Pictures

Paramount Pictures

Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...

, Pathé

Pathé

Pathé or Pathé Frères is the name of various French businesses founded and originally run by the Pathé Brothers of France.-History:...

, Village Roadshow, etc.

Competition

Whilst MIFF remains mostly a non-competitive festival, since 1962 it has staged a highly regarded short film competition. It also presents audience popularity awards for feature film and documentary.

The first award ever presented was for "Best Short Film", which was changed to the "Grand Prix for Best Short Film" in 1965. From 1985, the Grand Prix has been officially presented by the City of Melbourne.

Awards for feature film

Most Popular Feature Film (presented by Stella Artois
Stella Artois
Stella Artois is a 5% ABV lager brewed in Leuven, Belgium since 1926. In the UK, Canada and New Zealand a 4% ABV version is also available.-Production:...

)
Most Popular Documentary (presented by Stella Artois)

Short film competition

All competition:

Grand Prix for Best Short Film (presented by the City of Melbourne
City of Melbourne
The City of Melbourne is a Local Government Area in Victoria, Australia, located in the central city area of Melbourne. The city has an area of 36 square kilometres and has an estimated population of 93,105 people. The city's motto is "Vires acquirit eundo" which means "She gathers strength as she...

)
Award for Best Fiction Short Film (presented by Cinema Nova)
Award for Best Animated Short Film (presented by RMIT
RMIT University
RMIT University is an Australian public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. It has two branches, referred to as RMIT University in Australia and RMIT International University in Vietnam....

)
Award for Best Documentary Short Film (presented by RMIT)
Award for Highly Commended Fiction Short Film (presented by Village Roadshow)
Award for Highly Commended Animated Short Film (presented by Village Roadshow)
Award for Highly Commended Documentary Short Film
Award for Best Short Screenplay (presented by the Australian Writers' Guild
Australian Writers' Guild
The Australian Writers' Guild is the professional association for all performance writers, that is, writers for film, television, radio, theatre, video and new media. The AWG was established in 1962 and is recognised throughout the industry in Australia as being the voice of performance writers...

)
Award for Best Student Short Film
Award for Best Experimental Short Film
Award for Best Achievement in a Video Production
Award for Short Film Promoting Human Rights
FIPRESCI Prize (presented by the International Federation of Film Critics)

Australian only:

Erwin Rado Award for Best Australian Short Film (presented by Film Victoria
Film Victoria
Film Victoria is a statutory authority of the State Government of Victorian, Australia that provides strategic leadership and assistance for film, television, and digital media production in the Australian state of Victoria....

)
Award for Emerging Australian Filmmaker (presented by Melbourne International Airport
Melbourne Airport
Melbourne Airport , also known as Tullamarine Airport, is the primary airport serving the city of Melbourne and the second busiest in Australia. It was opened in 1970 to replace the nearby Essendon Airport. Melbourne Airport is the sole international airport of the four airports serving the...

)
Award for Creative Excellence in an Australian Short Film (presented by Cinema Nova)
Award for Best Australian Achievement in Cinematography (presented by Panavision
Panavision
Panavision is an American motion picture equipment company specializing in cameras and lenses, based in Woodland Hills, California. Formed by Robert Gottschalk as a small partnership to create anamorphic projection lenses during the widescreen boom in the 1950s, Panavision expanded its product...

)
Award for Best Australian Achievement in Editing (presented by Avid Technology
Avid Technology
Avid Technology, Inc. is an American company specializing in video and audio production technology; specifically, digital non-linear editing systems, management and distribution services. It was created in 1987 and became a publicly traded company in 1993...

)

Winners of Grand Prix

Year	Film	Director	Country
1965	La gazza ladra	Giulio Giannini, Emanuele Luzzati Emanuele Luzzati Emanuele Luzzati was an Italian painter, production designer, illustrator, film director and animator. He was nominated for Academy Awards for two of his short films, La gazza ladra and Pulcinella .He was born in Genoa and turned to drawing in 1938 when, as a Jew, his academic studies were...	Italy Italy Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
1966	The Inheritance	Harold Mayer	USA
1967	Petrol-Carburant-Kraftstoff	Hugo Niebeling	West Germany West Germany West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
1968	You're Human Like the Rest of Them	B.S. Johnson	UK
1969	Pas de deux	Norman McLaren Norman McLaren Norman McLaren, CC, CQ was a Scottish-born Canadian animator and film director known for his work for the National Film Board of Canada...	Canada Canada Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
1970	Calcutta	Louis Malle Louis Malle Louis Malle was a French film director, screenwriter, and producer. He worked in both French cinema and Hollywood. His films include Ascenseur pour l'échafaud , Atlantic City , and Au revoir, les enfants .- Early years in France :Malle was born into a wealthy industrialist family in Thumeries,...	France France The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
1971	Blake	Bill Mason Bill Mason Bill Mason was an award-winning Canadian naturalist, author, artist, filmmaker, and conservationist, noted primarily for his popular canoeing books, films, and art as well as his documentaries on wolves. Mason was also known for including passages from Christian sermons in his films...	Canada Canada Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
1972	Scarabus	Gérald Frydman	Belgium Belgium Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
1973	Street Musique	Ryan Larkin Ryan Larkin Ryan Larkin was a Canadian animator, artist, and sculptor who rose to fame with the psychedelic 1969 Oscar-nominated short Walking and the acclaimed Street Musique . He was the subject of the Oscar-winning film Ryan.-Home life and education:Ryan Larkin's father was an airline mechanic...	Canada Canada Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
1974	Edward Burra	Peter K. Smith	UK
1975	Last Grave at Dimbaza	Nana Mahamo	South Africa South Africa The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
1976	Leisure	Bruce Petty Bruce Petty Bruce Petty is one of Australia’s best known political satirists and cartoonists. He is a regular contributor to Melbourne's The Age newspaper...	Australia Australia Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
1977	Corralejas de Sincelejo	Mario Mitrotti	Colombia Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
1978	Manimals	Robin Lehman	USA
1979	Malj	Aleksandar Ilic	Yugoslavia Yugoslavia Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
1980	Interview	Caroline Leaf Caroline Leaf Caroline Leaf is a Canadian-American filmmaker and animator.Leaf made her first film, Sand, or Peter and the Wolf, in 1968 at Harvard University. The short was made by dumping sand on a light box and manipulating the textures frame-by-frame.Her second film, Orfeo , had her painting directly on...	Canada Canada Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
1981	New York Story	Jackie Raynal	USA
1982	Shadows	Royden Irvine	Australia Australia Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
1983	Douglas Mawson: The Survivor	David Parer David Parer David Parer is an award-winning Australian natural history film maker.Parer was conscripted into the Australian Army to go to the Vietnam War in 1970, but he entered a Masters program to study physics in the Antarctic. Parer spent the summers of 1970 and 1972 in Antarctica studying cosmic rays....	Australia
1984	Aquí se lo halla	Lee Sokol	USA
1985	In Heaven There Is No Beer?	Les Blank Les Blank Les Blank is an American documentary filmmaker best known for his portraits of American traditional musicians....	USA
1986	My Life Without Steve	Gillian Leahy	Australia Australia Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
1987	Panya shugeki	Naoto Yamakawa	Japan Japan Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
1988	The Critical Years	Gérard L'Ecuyer	Canada Canada Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean... /USA
1989	Twilight City	Reece Auguiste	UK
1990	Swimming	Belinda Chayko	Australia Australia Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
1991	Sink or Swim	Su Friedrich Su Friedrich Su Friedrich is an American avant-garde filmmaker.- Biography :Friedrich graduated from Oberlin College in 1975 and made her first film, Hot Water, in 1978...	USA
1992	The Writing in the Sand	Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen -Life and work:Born in Myllykoski Finland in 1948, Konttinen studied photography in London in the 1960s, and cofounded the Amber collective, which moved to Newcastle....	UK
1993	Lektionen in Finsternis	Werner Herzog Werner Herzog Werner Herzog Stipetić , known as Werner Herzog, is a German film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and opera director.He is often considered as one of the greatest figures of the New German Cinema, along with Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Margarethe von Trotta, Volker Schlöndorff, Werner...	Germany Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
1994	Only the Brave	Ana Kokkinos Ana Kokkinos Ana Kokkinos is an Australian film director. Kokkinos was born in Melbourne and prior to her career in film, she worked as an industrial lawyer...	Australia Australia Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
1995	Twilight	Tengai Amano Tengai Amano Tengai Amano is a playwright, director and the leader of the drama group called "Shonen-oja-kan". He was born in Ichinomiya, Aichi prefecture in 1960, and graduated from the Department of History in Aichi Gakuin University. In 1982, he founded "Shonen-oja-kan" in Nagoya...	Japan Japan Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
1996	Baka	Thierry Knauff	Belgium Belgium Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
1997	At Sea	Penny Fowler-Smith	Australia Australia Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
1998	The Storekeeper	Gavin Hood Gavin Hood Gavin Hood is a South African filmmaker, screenwriter, producer and actor, best known for writing and directing the Academy Award-winning Foreign Language Film Tsotsi...	South Africa South Africa The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
1999	So-poong	Song Il-gon Song Il-gon Song Il-gon is a South Korean film director and screenwriter known for his international award-winning early short films, and later feature films such as Spider Forest and Feathers in the Wind...	South Korea South Korea The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
2000	Wildlife	Kate de Pury	UK
2001	Muakah	Hadar Friedlich	Israel Israel The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
2002	Palace II	Kátia Lund Kátia Lund Kátia Lund is an American-Brazilian film director and screenwriter. Her most notable work was as co-director of the film City of God.... , Fernando Meirelles Fernando Meirelles Fernando Ferreira Meirelles is a Brazilian film director, producer and screenwriter.He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director in 2004 for his work in the Brazilian film City of God, released in 2002 in Brazil and in 2003 in the U.S. by Miramax Films...	Brazil Brazil Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
2003	Destino	Dominique Monfery	France France The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
2004	Talking with Angels	Yousaf Ali Khan	UK
2005	Silent Companion	Elham Hosseinzadeh	Iran Iran Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
2006	Avatar	Lluis Quilez	Spain Spain Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
2007	Blood Sisters	Louise N.D. Friedberg	Denmark Denmark Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
2008	Dennis	Mads Matthiesen	Denmark
2009	Next Floor	Denis Villeneuve Denis Villeneuve Denis Villeneuve is a Canadian film director and writer. In his early career he won Radio-Canada's youth film competition "La Course Europe-Asie" in 1990-91. He is a three-time winner of the Genie Award for Best Director, for Maelström in 2001, Polytechnique in 2010 and Incendies in 2011... , Phoebe Greenberg	Canada Canada Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
2010	The Lost Thing	Shaun Tan, Andrew Ruhemann	Australia Australia Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

Rebiya Kadeer film controversy

During the 58th festival in 2009, the controversial film The 10 Conditions of Love (2009), which documents the life of the exiled Uyghur

Uyghur people

The Uyghur are a Turkic ethnic group living in Eastern and Central Asia. Today, Uyghurs live primarily in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China...

leader Rebiya Kadeer

Rebiya Kadeer

Rebiya Kadeer is a prominent Uyghur businesswoman and political activist from the northwest region of Xinjiang Autonomus Region of the People's Republic of China...

, was screened despite many attempts by the Government of China

Government of the People's Republic of China

All power within the government of the People's Republic of China is divided among three bodies: the People's Republic of China, State Council, and the People's Liberation Army . This article is concerned with the formal structure of the state, its departments and their responsibilities...

(which labels her a terrorist

Terrorism

Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...

) to have the film withdrawn from the festival.

Chinese filmmakers withdrew their films from the festival two days before it opened on 24 July. Former MIFF director Richard Moore refused to pull the film from the festival program, despite the festival website and its online ticketing system being hacked from an IP address

IP address

An Internet Protocol address is a numerical label assigned to each device participating in a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication. An IP address serves two principal functions: host or network interface identification and location addressing...

of Chinese origin. The festival website was hacked soon after the launch of its program for 2009, with information replaced with the Chinese flag and anti-Kadeer slogans. Victoria Police

Victoria Police

Victoria Police is the primary law enforcement agency of Victoria, Australia. , the Victoria Police has over 12,190 sworn members, along with over 400 recruits, reservists and Protective Service Officers, and over 2,900 civilian staff across 393 police stations.-Early history:The Victoria Police...

was placed on alert during the screening of the film, and Pro-Uighur demonstrators also gathered outside the Melbourne Town Hall

Melbourne Town Hall

.

The Dalai Lama

14th Dalai Lama

The 14th Dalai Lama is the 14th and current Dalai Lama. Dalai Lamas are the most influential figures in the Gelugpa lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, although the 14th has consolidated control over the other lineages in recent years...

also sent a message of support via, Member

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

of the Parliament of Australia

Parliament of Australia

The Parliament of Australia, also known as the Commonwealth Parliament or Federal Parliament, is the legislative branch of the government of Australia. It is bicameral, largely modelled in the Westminster tradition, but with some influences from the United States Congress...

for Melbourne Ports

Division of Melbourne Ports

The Division of Melbourne Ports is an Australian federal electoral division in the inner south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia....

, Michael Danby

Michael Danby

Michael David Danby is an Australian politician and has been an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives since October 1998, representing the Division of Melbourne Ports, Victoria...

:

The Government of China attempted to have the film withdrawn from the festival, going to the extent of contacting, Lord Mayor of Melbourne, Robert Doyle

Robert Doyle

Robert Keith Bennett Doyle is an Australian politician and the 103rd Lord Mayor of Melbourne, elected on 30 November 2008...

. Doyle, however, refused to intervene. Australia's Ambassador to China Geoff Raby

Geoff Raby

Geoff Raby is an Australian economist and diplomat. He served as the Australian Ambassador to the People's Republic of China from February 2007 until August 2011.- Education and public career :...

was summoned by China's Deputy Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun to express displeasure about Kadeer's attendance at MIFF.

MUFF v MIFF

In 2000, MIFF's rejection of a feature film written and directed by Richard Wolstencroft

Richard Wolstencroft

Richard Wolstencroft is an Australian filmmaker, film festival director, former nightclub promoter, writer, cinema critic, cultural and political commentator...

led him to form the Melbourne Underground Film Festival