The Melbourne Women in Film Festival (MWFF) celebrated its 9th year at ACMI studios this past week, providing a vibrant home for a talented and diverse group of female and gender-diverse filmmakers.
The 2025 program showcased an impressive 40 features and documentaries from filmmakers hailing from Australia, Aotearoa/New Zealand and the wider Moana region, celebrating a rich tapestry of work and artistry.
I was honoured to attend three sessions this past weekend, with narratives and industry advice that still has me reeling with awe and excitement. Each audience I was a part of shared a palpable sense of joy, as we left feeling truly inspired and proud of our regional film scene.
Stay up to date with what’s happening within the region’s art scene here.
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Freshly Squeezed Shorts
The session included an engaging and vibrant mix of documentary-style shorts exploring real-world stories, narrative fiction pieces that pushed creative boundaries, and imaginative animated works. All these films Cold Feet, Detangling the Stigma, While We Still Have Time, Armea, A Fox and a Sun, Taurewarewa, Bottle Money and Lean In were all distinctly different, yet woven and connected in their emotional resonance and artistic ambition. After the screenings, many of the shorts’ filmmakers participated in a live Q&A, describing how film is a powerful medium for sharing such diverse narratives. With the passion and confidence radiating from these women, our future of Asian-Pacific film is looking bright.
The Almost Midnight Movie Marathon
A warning “this is not for the squeamish” was announced to audiences before The Almost Midnight Movie Marathon, setting the tone for what was going to be a thrilling evening. This screening featured two electrifying and bold films, T Blockers and Grafted.
First, the spoof horror delight T Blockers, directed and written by the wonderful Alice Maio Mackay, which follows the harrowing journey of a young trans woman Sophie (Lauren Last) navigating her gender and sexuality among a hostile political climate. The film masterfully blends supernatural elements with real-world social commentary, creating a tense yet fun and thought-provoking punk narrative that keeps viewers on the edge of their seats!
With a cast of young talented performers, vibrant cinematography, and a synth-infused score alongside its political satire, the film marks a departure from traditional cis-centric perspectives. “Never fuck with queer filmmakers” Mackay warns, as important filmmakers like her are transforming everyday discrimination into literal monsters, highlighting the visible and invisible threats that many trans individuals have the strength to face daily.
Then came Sasha Rainbow’s debut feature Grafted, and if this is only Rainbow’s debut, I am excited for what I anticipate will be a long and illustrious career in film. After being ostracised by her peers at an elite New Zealand university, a brilliant Chinese exchange student Wei (Joyene Sun) turns to her scientific talents, with disturbing consequences, in her desperate quest for acceptance and to honour her late father’s legacy.
Drawing from her advanced knowledge of biology and chemistry, she conducts increasingly dangerous experiments that blur the line between scientific advancement and personal obsession to cure her disfigurement. With its female-driven body horror elements reminiscent of films like The Substance, it offers a powerful commentary on academic pressure, cultural identity, and society’s impossible beauty standards for women and the lengths some will go for achieving perfection.
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Artrageous
Surrealist and Avant-Garde cinema is truly freeing and boundless in its artistic and creative expression, where artists can explore and experiment in the most unconventional of ways. Rooted in Australian third-wave feminism and the ’90s surrealist revival, this special screening, aptly named Artrageous, featured six short films from pioneering female writers and directors.
Maidenhead, Strap on Olympia, The World Really is W, Cheap Blonde, Lip and Amelia Rose Towers are rare feminist films with a vibrant mix of rebellion, humour, and surrealism with each piece challenging racial, sexuality and gender conventions with its bold artistic vision and provocative storytelling. Kim Miles’ Q&A at the end of the screening was truly awe-inspiring, with her rebellious attitude emphasising that this unapologetic type of filmmaking is still needed amidst the conformity and dissonance of mainstream cinema.
Next year marks MWFF’s 10th anniversary—a significant milestone in championing diverse voices in film across the Asia-Pacific region. Be sure to mark your calendars and join them in celebrating this incredible showcase of gender-diverse and women’s voices, stories, and creativity in film.
Supported by the City of Melbourne and VicScreen, the Melbourne Women in Film Festival remains an essential platform for bold, boundary-pushing filmmaking that inspires the next generation of storytellers.
