With a blockbuster line-up of 267 films, MIFF raises the curtain on an extraordinary selection of features, shorts, restorations, retrospectives and additional XR experiences.
Year on year, MIFF’s beloved Music on Film line-up delivers fascinating backstage stories and documentaries to a city that loves music almost as much as it does film. Here are the highlights:
Mutiny in Heaven: The Birthday Party
Stuffed with rare and unseen photos, artwork, letters and diaries, unreleased tracks and studio footage, Mutiny in Heaven: The Birthday Partydirected by Ian White tells of the thrilling, debauched and frequently hilarious adventures of the legendary Melbourne band, in their own words. Nick Cave, Rowland S. Howard, Mick Harvey, Tracy Pew and Phill Calvert each share their own sardonic recollections of their youthful hopes and dreams, chronicling the band’s struggles and successes, in a World Premiere must-see for post-punk fans.
Kiss the Future
Produced by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, Kiss the Future recounts how determined local musicians banded together with U2 to offer hope to Bosnians trapped in war-torn Sarajevo. Interweaving clips from the era with contemporary interviews – including with former US president Bill Clinton– culminating in footage of U2’s historic 1997 concert in the bombed-out city. Suffused with anthemic music, this inspirational film is at once a trenchant vigil for a bloody chapter of Europe’s past and an examination of how the idealistic grandeur of rock music can offer a salve and a means of dissent.
It’s Only Life After All
In this warm and heartfelt documentary, On Her Shoulders (MIFF 2018) director Alexandria Bombach chronicles the three-decade-long career of Indigo Girls, richly recounting how two unassuming childhood friends became some of the first out and proud musicians to go gold and platinum in the 80s and 90s. Weaving together intimate interviews, archival footage and previously unseen home-video recordings, It’s Only Life After All captures the same humour and honesty that has always been at the heart of Indigo Girls’ beloved songs.
Lost Angel: The Genius of Judee Sill
Andy Brown and Brian Lindstrom’s essential music documentary asks why the 1970s’ most original and ethereal folk singer, Judee Sill, has been all but forgotten today. Lost Angel: The Genius of Judee Sill is a celebration of Sill’s complicated talent: interviews with contemporary artists including Weyes Blood, Fleet Foxes and Big Thief’s Adrienne Lenker explain her songs’ impact, while archival interviews and extracts from Sill’s own notebooks provide a window into her troubled world.
Abebe-Butterfly Song
Discover the musical legacy and enduring friendship between celebrated Papuan musician Sir George Telek MBE and Not Drowning, Waving’s David Bridie in Rosie Jones’ (The Family, MIFF Premiere Fund 2016) meaningful portrait of the cross-cultural artistic exchange. Abebe-Butterfly Song combines visits to Port Moresby and Rabaul with archival footage from tours and recording sessions in Australia, Europe and the Pacificas, as well as candid interviews with the Telek and Bridie and a raft of fellow musicians including Peter Garrett, Archie Roach and David Byrne. The World Premiere will include a rare live performance post-screening with featured Melbourne musician David Bridie and Telek, in an extraordinary event not to be missed.
In Pursuit of Repetitive Beats (XR experience)
Co-presented with the Melbourne’s new Now or Never festival, audiences can hit the town and seek out the next illegal rave in this euphoric, multisensory joyride about the 1980s Acid House movement. With an extraordinary eye for historical detail, In Pursuit of Repetitive Beatsincorporates 3D modelling, volumetric capture and animation with firsthand accounts from legendary ravers and iconic songs by Orbital, Joey Beltram and Neal Howard. This latest experience from famed VR filmmaker Darren Emerson (Common Ground, MIFF 2019; Invisible, MIFF 2016) is a visceral, ecstatic ode to a time when what mattered most was chasing that next dance-floor high. As part of the experience, viewers are equipped with specially designed haptic vests that replicated the throbbing pulse of the dance floor- sounds absolutely incredible.
These films and experiences join the already impressive lineup of music focused films included in the First Glance announcement last month:
Ego: The Michael Gudinski Story
This one really needs no intro – it’ll likely be the biggest music film of the year in Australia for good reason, and will have its world premiere at the festival at the Music on Film Gala on 11 August. Ego tells the wild ride of maverick entrepreneur Michael Gudinski, who defied convention and revolutionised the Australian music industry over five decades. Michael Gudinski was a music man, impresario and natural-born hustler. He repeatedly risked everything for his one obsession: Australian music. At age 19, he launched Mushroom Records and went on to sign and nurture iconic artists including Skyhooks, Split Enz, Jimmy Barnes, Paul Kelly, Hunters & Collectors, Kylie Minogue, Archie Roach and Yothu Yindi.But he wasn’t content with just a label – his hunger extended to being on the road promoting legendary international acts such as Foo Fighters, Ed Sheeran, Bruce Springsteen and Sting. There’s barely a living Australian whose life hasn’t been touched by the music he was behind.
Helmed by acclaimed feature film, documentary and music video director Paul Goldman (Suburban Mayhem, MIFF 2006; Australian Rules, MIFF 2002) and produced by Bethany Jones (Molly: The Real Thing).
Louder Than You Think
Winner of a SXSW Audience Award, this doc traces the unlikely ascendancy of one of rock’s most influential yet under-sung musicians: Pavement’s Gary Young. Young didn’t know just how big of a deal the indie-rock band Pavement was until he left. Given the boot in 1993 because of his erratic behaviour, which was aided by alcoholism, he nevertheless left an almighty impression on the alternative and lo-fi scenes. From the band’s earliest recording studio sessions to his much- publicised flame-out during production on their second album, Young was a one-of-a-kind talent who helped to pioneer an iconic sound but was undone by the pitfalls of fame. This is the definitive telling of both Young’s and Pavement’s stories; prepare to be slanted and enchanted.
Squaring the Circle (The Story of Hipgnosis)
Music video auteur, revered photographer and Control (MIFF 2007) director Anton Corbijn takes history for a spin as he demystifies the vinyl record artwork of the masters.
Travel back to the golden era of 1970s rock ’n’ roll and ask, “What makes a great album cover?” Corbijn’s music roots are put to exceptional use here as he explores the world of Hipgnosis, whose work graced the LPs and the gatefolds of Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Peter Gabriel and many more. From the streets of Cambridge to the displays of museums and record collections all over the world, Squaring the Circle goes behind the music and investigates what gave the endearing excessiveness of 70s aesthetics such a lasting legacy.
Little Richard: I Am Everything
A rollicking deep dive into one of rock ’n’ roll’s most exhilarating personalities, whose queerness was hidden in plain sight. Born Richard Wayne Penniman, Little Richard was an iconic musician with a complicated legacy. A Black man from the US’s Deep South, he was deeply religious but not heterosexual – at different points announcing and decrying his orientation. With his penchant for theatrics, he was also a pioneering performer who anticipated the wilder creative liberties of today. Yet his signature style, which coupled big hair and lavish costumes with feverish musicality and a belting voice, tore through the racial divide of American music like few others had done before. After last year’s Elvis, now the real king of rock ’n’ roll gets his big-screen moment.
This is Going to Be Big
Peer behind the curtain as a cast of neurodivergent teens prepare to hit the stage in their school’s time-travelling, John Farnham–themed musical. Every two years, the Sunbury and Macedon Ranges Specialist School’s Bullengarook campus puts on a play. For overachiever Halle, it will be an opportunity to honour her late aunt. For methodical Josh, it will be a challenge to take seriously, while wide-eyed Elyse is just happy to be involved. And for charismatic Chelsea, it will be a chance to wow an audience with her undeniable comedic skill. Six months of auditions, rehearsals and nerves will be gruelling, but everything will pay off on opening night.
