The 15th Annual Gold Coast Film Festival Reveals Biggest Program Yet

This year the Gold Coast Film Festival, taking place in late April will feature over 120 film and film-related events. In addition to the many panels, events, short films and Q&As, 32 feature films from 13 different countries will be screened including several world and Australian premieres.

The film festival will screen the Queensland premiere of XX, a horror film completely written and directed by female filmmakers including Annie Clark, known to most as American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist St. Vincent, who makes her directorial debut.

American sci-fi thriller The Circle, based on the Dave Eggers novel and directed by James Ponsoldt will be screened, featuring an all-star cast including Emma Watson, Tom Hanks, Karen Gillan, Bill Paxton, John Boyega and Patton Oswalt.

Another big international film to be shown at the festival is French drama Planetarium, starring Natalie Portman and Lily-Rose Depp (daughter of American actor Johnny Depp and French singer and actress Vanessa Paradis), as an American séance act travelling through Paris in the '30s. 

The program includes several Australian films, including the action thriller Event Zero that will be making its world premiere on the closing night of the festival and sci-fi film SFV1: The Osiris Child. The cast and crew of Event Zero, set in Sydney and based on a terrorist attack, will also take part in a Q&A after the film's screening, as will SFV1: The Osiris Child director Shane Abbess and actress Isabel Lucas (Transformers, Daybreakers).

Academy Award-winning sound designer David White and AFI Award-winning composer Christopher Gordon will take part in the festival's ‘All Ears. Sound Design and Composition’ panel to share their film audio insight and tips.

This year, for the first time the festival will also include a three-hour movie locations tour which will allow guests to see the locations of over 20 films including Kong: Skull Island, The Shallows, Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, San Andreas and Muriel's Wedding.

For the full program, head to their website.