About the 23rd BIFF
The 23
rd Brisbane International Film Festival (BIFF), Brisbane’s premier film festival, runs from 17 August – 3 September 2017. The festival is co-directed by experienced film curator Richard Sowada and Brisbane’s Maxine Williamson, previously Film Director of the Asia Pacific Screen Awards and the Brisbane Asia Pacific Film Festival. The festival is made possible through the support of Screen Queensland via the Queensland Government and major partner, Palace Cinemas.
Eighteen days, over 100 sessions, across three weekends, BIFF 2017 will screen 60 international and Australian films and includes a selection of films competing in the 11
th Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA), the inaugural
BIFF Centurion Short Film Award, $10 Seniors tickets weekdays and
Free Family Animations programmed each weekend. Special events include filmmaker and cast Q&As, talks and seminars including the International Premiere of
REFUGEE WOMEN: HISTORY’S SILENT HEROES (Turkey, 2016), a
free event co-hosted with
Multicultural Development Australia (MDA) that includes an engaging panel of extraordinary women from refugee backgrounds sharing their experiences and journeys after the short-film omnibus screening.
Within the program there are a host of Australian Premieres, International Premieres and we are proud to say two World Premieres, and we include films shot in our own backyard making their way to Queensland screens for the first time.
The 23rd BIFF features a full retrospective of master Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev including his latest Jury Prize Cannes winning masterpiece
LOVELESS. Now is your chance to see the full body of works of one of the world’s most compelling directors of our time. BIFF also includes for your viewing pleasure a Filmmaker Masters section and a Spotlight on Cinema, this year we shed light on the cinema of the Baltic States.
Gala Events
BIFF has a series of exceptional, fresh from Cannes and award-winning galas. These include Opening, Centrepiece and Closing Night Galas and four Showcase Galas.
The 23
rd BIFF Opening Night Gala is
THE SQUARE (Sweden, 2017), fresh from winning the prestigious Palme d’Or at the 70th Cannes Film Festival 2017, a darkly funny and wildly entertaining Swedish satire which takes aim at the self-obsessed and decadent art world.
LOVELESS (Russia, 2017), our Centrepiece Gala, another Cannes-winning masterpiece, is a damning examination of modern Russian politics, oppression and corruption from legendary Russian filmmaker Andrey Zvyagintsev. Our four Showcase Galas
24 FRAMES (Iran, France 2017), again from its special screening at Cannes, is a timeless testament to an incredible artistic talent, and the final film from master filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami. From award-winning director Ildiko Enyedi comes the 2017 Berlinale Golden Bear winner and the Sydney Film Prize winner,
ON BODY AND SOUL (Hungary, 2017) which reminds us that in the unlikeliest places and at the most perfect of times, love can blossom with its own infinitive wisdom. Cannes top documentary prize winner from master filmmaker Agnés Varda, joins creative and intellectual forces with renowned street artist JR, in
FACES PLACES (France, 2017) as they explore the nooks and crannies of rural France in JR’s photo-booth van. From director Pham Thi Hong Anh, the multi-award-winning beautifully stylised
THE WAY STATION (Vietnam, 2016) centres around the crumbling, isolated restaurant White Night and the different lives of those who live and work there. The festival finishes with the Closing Gala
THE GO-BETWEENS: RIGHT HERE, part memoir and part concert film, this documentary charts the successes, failures, romances, break-ups, betrayals, triumphs and tragedies of Brisbane musical royalty, The Go-Betweens.
Screening from August 17 to September 3 at Palace Barracks & Centro Cinemas, we’ve made it even easier to plan your festival with this very convenient
What Films? Where? When? listing. So get out your diary, plan your BIFF schedule, and we look forward to seeing you soon.
Messages from the Co-Directors
The best curators, I believe, are those who can still view cinema with a sense of innocence. In many ways, I feel it helps to unlearn or decant the acquired knowledge attained from years of watching films, in order to see clearly, with fresh eyes.I have enjoyed shaping this program with fellow director, Richard Sowada. Both of us come at cinema differently, which can only enhance the flavour and offer audiences a broader palette.
Trends emerge when finalising a program and it is clear the strength of the cinema of Europe. Strong, classic European cinema at its best is on show during the 23rd BIFF. It is my personal honour to show in our Masters section, the last works of two great artists of the modern era, Kiarostami and Wajda and to provide Brisbane audiences the opportunity to see the retrospective of Russian cinematic genius Andrey Zvyagintsev. Finally, we offer a glimpse of the art of the moving image from the Baltic states; big screen cinema at its best.
We hope that you enjoy this visual journey.
Maxine Williamson
Co-Director
23rd Brisbane International Film Festival
Co-Directing BIFF this year has been the most fantastic professional and personal experience. Most rewarding has been the response from the community and industry in the re-launch of the much loved event. It’s been nothing short of overwhelming…I just wish we could include every film submitted to us in the program!
The filmic journey Maxine and I have undertaken in curating this program has been fascinating. It’s been wall-to-wall with the robust discussion and argumentative exchanges that you’d expect to happen when diving into the waters of local and international works we had the opportunity to explore.
If the audience engage in half the amount of discussion and emphatic finger waving we’ve had when selecting the titles on show in this edition of BIFF, then we’ve done our job.
I can’t wait to hear what you think.
Richard Sowada
Co-Director
23rd Brisbane International Film Festival
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