This August sees the Melbourne International Film Festival returning for another year as it celebrates the dazzling world of the moving picture. As always, there is plenty of overlap for lovers of popular tunes, with the fest also unveiling its MIFF Music On Film highlights as part of the larger program.
Running from August 6–23 across Melbourne and regional Victoria (while MIFF Online extends nationally from August 14-30), the 18+ day affair will result in more than 300 screen works on offer, ranging from features, shorts, XR experiences, and more.
This year also features a strong selection of music-focused features, including the world premiere of Adrian Russell Wills’ Tina Arena: Unravel Me, which traces the Melbourne-born pop icon’s 50 years in music, and also features new and archival interviews including Céline Dion, Lionel Richie, Katy Perry, Marc Anthony, and more.
Alternative rock is focused thanks to Jebediah: Are We OK?, which is a MIFF Premiere Fund title from Arlo Dean Cook, which focuses on the Perth quartet’s more than 30 years in the world, watching them go from darlings of triple j to grappling with the trappings of fame.
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Meanwhile, The Best Summer is a time capsule of the Summersault festival from Tamra Davis. Touring Australia in 1995 with her then-husband (Mike D of the Beastie Boys), Davis found this Hi8 footage recently while evacuating the LA Palisades wildfires, realising she had captured electric sets from the likes of Pavement, Sonic Youth, Foo Fighters, and Bikini Kill.
Meanwhile, Robert Gordon’s Newport & the Great Folk Dream revisits Bob Dylan’s infamous electric set at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival; Mischa Richter’s Summer Tour sees Deadheads following the farewell tour of Dead & Company; and The Way We Move is a close look at Amber Galloway training the generation of live music sign-language interpreters for the Deaf community ahead of Austin City Limits.
Elsewhere, directors Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard capture one of Marianne Faithfull’s final performances in Broken English; the dashed hopes and dreams of tween quartet X-Cetra are revived in Ayden Mayeri’s Summer 2000: The X-Cetra Story; and Ken Kwapis; We Are The Shaggs is the story of how four young girls were pulled from school to form a group that has gone from being called the “worst band ever” to receiving acclaim from the likes of Frank Zappa, Patti Smith, and Kurt Cobain.
That’s not all, however, because outside of the Music On Film strand of the MIFF, there’s also a batch of events that music-minded fans would love.
While Melbourne filmmaker Josef Gatti's scientifically-minded doc, Phenomena, features a score with tracks from Nils Frahm and British electronic musician Rival Consoles, director John Cameron Mitchell returns to perform a live commentary alongside a restored 4K screening of his cult glam-punk musical Hedwig And The Angry Inch for its 25th anniversary.
As part of Hear My Eyes, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard’s Michael "CAVS" Cavanagh will offer a live re-scoring of Christopher Nolan’s Memento, while Score Kiss will see composers Karl Sölve Steven and Rob Thorne walking audiences through a live-scored listening session for Taratoa Stappard's Māori gothic horror Mārama.
“We're again thrilled to reveal the full film overload of MIFF's epic 2026 program!” said Artistic Director Al Cossar at the program’s launch. “From highly anticipated festival blockbusters to bold new voices, experimentations to a family day at the flicks, MIFF is the maximalist way to enjoy all of what cinema can offer in the midst of a Melbourne Winter.
“We look forward to welcoming audiences back to the big screen this August.”
The full Melbourne International Film Festival program (and its Music On Film strand) for 2026 is out now, with tickets for this year’s events on sale from 9am AEST on Tuesday, July 14th. MIFF Members pre-sales launch at 8PM AEST on Thursday, July 9th.
