'Me & Earl & The Dying Girl' Leads Melbourne Film Fest's First-Glance Line-Up

Sundance prizewinning independent comedy-drama Me & Earl & The Dying Girl has been announced atop the first glance at this year's Melbourne International Film Festival selection ahead of the event's 64th iteration this July and August.

Directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon (Glee, American Horror Story), the film was acclaimed upon its unveiling at the Sundance Film Festival in January, receiving a standing ovation and the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award following its screening. The film stars Thomas Mann (Project X) as high-school senior Greg, who spends his time making short films with offsider Earl (RJ Cyler) until his mother, played by AHS alum Connie Britton, encourages him to strike up a friendship with recently diagnosed terminally ill classmate Rachel (Olivia Cooke, Bates Motel). Tears of all causes ensue.

Also notably a part of MIFF's offerings this year are the Iran-made, award-winning Tehran Taxi, directed by Jafar Panahi, in which the filmmaker drives a cab around the Iranian capital; Horse Money, the return feature for Pedra Costa, whose Colossal Youth screened at MIFF in 2006; and social drama From What Is Before, which lands at the festival from Philippine director Lav Diaz and took out the Golden Leopard prize at the 2014 Locarno International Film Festival.

There are several more mainstream drawcards among the first-glance selection, too, including Queen Of Earth, a US psychological drama starring Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men), the centrepiece gala screening of Holding The Man, adapted from Timothy Conigrave's lauded book of the same name, the Tokyo Film Festival prizewinning US flick Heaven Knows What, the iPhone-shot experiment of Sean Baker's Tangerine, Andrew Bujalski's offbeat Results (starring Cobie Smulders and Guy Pearce), Berlin Film Festival prizewinning film Nasty Baby (starring Kristen Wiig, director Sebastian Silva and TV On The Radio's Tunde Adebimpe), and The Forbidden Room, from festival favourite Guy Maddin.

If you're less interested in full-length features than something a little snappier, then the Shorts program will probably suit your tastes, while those with clans can enjoy the family-friendly entertainment of the Next Gen program. Alternatively, you can check out the MIFF Premiere Fund program, at which six local films will receive their world premieres, or the Vertical Cinema series, which features 10 commissioned, large-scale, site-specific works by venerated experimental filmmakers and artists, presented on 35mm celluloid and projected vertically at Deakin Edge, Federation Square. The Vertical Cinema program features works from international artists such as Tina Frank, Björn Kämmerer, Manuel Knapp, Johann Lurf, Joost Rekveld, Rosa Menkman, Billy Roisz & Dieter Kovač, Makino Takashi & Telcosystems, Esther Urlus, and Martijn van Boven & Gert-Jan Prins.

If that's not enough to keep you busy, there are plenty of other local and international films on offer - Phoenix, The Witch, The Smell Of Us, Force Of Destiny, The End Of The Tour, The Wolfpack, Racing Extinction, City Of Gold, Iris, 3½ Minutes, Ten Bullets, The Look Of Silence and Aussie flicks Another Country and Sherpa: In The Shadow Of Everest.

The 64th annual Melbourne International Film Festival will be held from 30 July-16 August, with the full program launch coming on 8 July.

Tickets will go on sale from Wednesday, 10 July. See theGuide or check The Music App for more information.