The Melbourne International Film Festival turns 65 this year, kicking off its latest edition tomorrow, Thursday, July 28. Running through Sunday, August 14, the long-running event will present approximately 200 new features, among that number over 75 documentary works, a selection of which are spotlighted below:
National cinema takes center stage in the Australian Showcase, which includes: Rosie Jones’ THE FAMILY (pictured), about an infamous Australian cult; Steven Mcgregor’s SERVANT OR SLAVE, which revisits the forced servitude of Aboriginal girls by federal decree; and Trevor Graham’s MONSIEUR MAYONNAISE, which follows a graphic novelist’s research on his father’s time in the French resistance.
Other sections include the utilitarian-named Documentaries, which features Charlie Lyne’s FEAR ITSELF, an essay film on horror; the hybrid forms of Documentary/Drama, such as David Stubbs’ BELIEF: THE POSSESSION OF JANET MOSES, about the tragedy resulting from a Maori exorcism; Seeking Refuge, which looks at stories of asylum seekers, like Ros Horin’s THE BAULKHAM HILLS AFRICAN LADIES TROUPE, on a theatre piece developed with four African refugee women; Dance on Film, which includes Douglas Watkin’s ELLA (pictured), a profile of the first indigenous dancer in the Australian Ballet; Backbeat, which highlights music docs like Matthew Jones’ THE MAN FROM MO’WAX, on the rise and fall of a young British musician, and Mat de Koning’s MEAL TICKETS, a longitudinal portrait of an aspiring rock band; and Culinary Cinema, with Rock Baijnauth’s BARISTA, which follows the finalists in a coffee making competition.
what (not) to doc 