The Thousands

We don’t know how film buffs do this all year round – there’s only so much time in the day and so many films to watch, and the BIFF program keeps getting bigger and more interactive. This year’s program even lets you take your dog to the drive in to watch Red Dog – watch your pooch doesn’t get jealous.

The 20th incarnation of the film festival features selections from some of the worlds best film festivals, along with premiere’s of Australian films. Highlights of the Australian program include The Tall Man – a film adaptation of the tearjerker book looking at the Doomagee case, a documentary on slapstick songwriter Chad Morgan called I’m Not Dead Yet, and Outback Fight Club.

If you’re interested in Surf films, there’s a whole list of classics to go see, a swathe of Australian shorts, and docos that range in focus from Joyce McKinneys kidnapper / sex-offender in Tabloid, to working as a journalist in a censored Burma in Dancing With Dictators.

What are we looking forward to? Gus Van Sant’s new film Restless, starring Dennis Hopper’s actual son and Australian Mia Wasikowska, Jafar Panahi’s This Is Not A Film, written when under house arrest in Tehran, Pedro Almodóvar’s The Skin I Live In and of course, Cannes’ most hated figure, Lars Von Trier with Melancholia. Buff up on your film knowledge before BIFF for the Tribal trivia night and make sure you’ve saved up your movie-watching eyes – we can’t all be as buff as the buffs.