Following the devastating cancellation of MIFF 2020 – for the first time in its 68-year history – MIFF Artistic Director Al Cossar and his team have announced MIFF 68½, a 2020 digital film festival.
The reimagined celebration of film online will feature a number of special events running across MIFF’s original 2020 dates, August 6 – 23, allowing ‘festival-goers’ to stream the program from their own homes for the very first time.
“MIFF is a Melbourne icon that offers an important point of togetherness for our city and creative communities each year,” Cossar reveals. “MIFF 68½ is our response to these difficult times – the result of our desire to sustain MIFF’s outstanding film programming, stay connected with our audience, and foster new audience connections during this truly unparalleled time.”
The fully-curated program will be revealed on July 14 and is set to include a number of films which were chosen to appear as part of the physical festival’s intended 2020 program as well as foregrounding ‘discovery’ highlights by emerging filmmakers. The program will also include a presentation of shorts across the Australian, International, Animation and Documentary program packages, while MIFF’s traditional Shorts Awards will adapt and run in 2020 alongside these packages, to recognise, showcase and support artists in this space. Cossar has promised that “while it will not have the scale of a regular festival, it will certainly have all of the heart.”
Made possible by the generosity of Melbourne-based film producer, businesswoman and philanthropist Susie Montague, MIFF will be hosted on state-of-the-art streaming platform Shift 72, a huge amount of support also comes from screen director, actor and this year’s Festival Ambassador, Rachel Griffiths.
“I’m supporting MIFF so that the festival can tackle the challenges of this difficult year and going digital is a no-brainer,” said Montague. “I want to see MIFF continue to grow its audience and cement its reputation as one of the world’s leading film festivals.”
MIFF 68½ is happening from August 6 – 23. The program will be revealed on July 14. Visit the MIFF website for more information.
Photo by Tony Zara