End of the Film Festival

MIFF or the Melbourne International Film festival is over for another year. I estimate I sat through 1170 minutes or 19.5 hours of cinema in two and a half weeks. I saw some excellent animation and short films. The highlight was one in the Australian Accelerator Program “River of No Return” about Frances Daingangan’s dream of being a movie star. Frances is a Yolgnu woman of the Gupapuyngu tribe in North East Arnhemland, Australia. She is a 45-year old mother of three and grandmother of six. Frances speaks 11 different languages including English.

Frances Daingangan actor

She had dreamed of being an actor all her life, her hero was Marilyn Monroe. She was caste in the role of ‘Nowalingu’, the second wife in Rolf de Heer’s film “Ten Canoes.” After the fine job she did, it was a shock when her application to attend a TAFE Acting Program in Queensland was rejected.

There is a poignant moment at the end of the film when she, a Yolgnu woman, who ancestors go back thousands of years, is speaking on a mobile phone, in the middle of Arnhemland to Phillip Noyce (Director of “Rabbit-Proof Fence”). He reminds her that she is an actor now that she has been rejected!

http://www.melbournefilmfestival.com.au/films?film_id=10865

MIFF – Melbourne International Film Festival

The Melbourne International Film Festival or MIFF comes around every year for 2 and a half weeks at the end of July. Lining up in the queues while waiting to get into the cinema has become a bit of a ritual. Most people attending were black, black & MORE black. I deliberately wear colourful clothes to try and stir the other attendees up and out of their winter blues!

I have always enjoyed “arthouse” films. As a child, I used to attend children’s film festivals at the Rivoli Cinema in Camberwell in the May and September school holidays. I also went to a children’s program once a month at Storey Hall, RMIT. These were international children’s feature films and shorts, often with sub-titles. My brother and I loved them, they were far away from the slick Hollywood style, more about children like us.

As a teenager, in high school, my best friend introduced me to the NFTA – National Film & Television Association. They also had screenings once a month at the Dental Hospital Theatrette in Grattan Street. The first film I saw there was the classic Orson Welles film – “Citizen Kane”. Cinema was one of the things my first serious boyfriend and I had in common. We both loved the work of Felleni and Ingmar Bergman.

My first outing at MIFF would have been in 1970. A friend of my mother’s had a Gold Pass and although the tickets were not transferrable, everyone did swap them about. The screenings were down at the Palais in St Kilda. I have no recollection about the films i saw but I remember feeling terribly grown up. I was 14 at the tie and you needed to be 18 to get in. I looked older than I was even without make up and had not trouble passing the ticket checker.

A child befriends a gigantic wolf. Then one day his father goes a-hunting. Australian premiere at MIFF Monday 28 July 2008

These days I but a Mini Pass. You can choose any 10 screenings and take a bonus 3 sessions if the start before 6pm on a weekday. I focus on programs of short films, animated films and documentaries, genres that I cannot usually see at the regular cinema. My favourite films so far was a beautiful French animated film called “White Wolf”

http://www.melbournefilmfestival.com.au/films?film_id=11195