MIFF 2026: 300 Films, 18 Days, One Very Full Melbourne

Melbourne does two things better than anywhere else in the country: hold strong opinions about coffee, and watch cinema in the cold. MIFF is the second one turned up to eleven. Three hundred-plus films across eighteen days is not a programme, it's a to-do list that stares back at you. So let's make it manageable before August makes it your whole personality.

The facts, up top

• What: the 74th Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF)
• When: 6 to 23 August 2026 in cinemas; MIFF Online runs 14 to 30 August, nationwide
• How big: more than 300 screen works, from features and shorts to XR and special events
• Opening night: 'Wicker', directed by Eleanor Wilson and Alex Huston Fischer, starring Olivia Colman and Alexander Skarsgård
• Programme and tickets: miff.com.au

Artistic Director Al Cossar calls it "the maximalist way to enjoy all of what cinema can offer." Maximalist is the word. I looked at the full list and briefly considered taking annual leave.

The ones people will be talking about

You don't have to read all 300. Here's a starting six:

• 'Bitter Christmas' — Pedro Almodóvar, doing what Almodóvar does.
• 'Dead Man's Wire' — Gus Van Sant back in the festival seat.
• 'Minotaur' — Andrey Zvyagintsev, fresh off the Cannes Grand Prix.
• 'Tina Arena: Unravel Me' — a world premiere, and a very Melbourne one.
• 'Forgotten Island' — DreamWorks Animation as the Family Gala, for the kids (and the big kid you brought).
• John Cameron Mitchell presents Hedwig And The Angry Inch — the 25th anniversary, which is a sentence that makes me feel personally ancient.

There's also 'Victorian Psycho', a Marianne Faithfull documentary, an inaugural Sovereign Shorts Gala, and Footy Shorts, because it's still Melbourne.

A taste of the programme, straight from MIFF:

How to survive 300 films

The festival villain isn't a bad film. It's decision paralysis. A rule of thumb for getting through it with your sanity:

• Pick a lane. Docos, or premieres, or the family stuff. Nobody sees everything, and the people who try just see everything badly.
• Book the hot ones first. Opening night and the big premieres go early. Grab those the day the programme opens, then browse the rest over a coffee you have strong opinions about.
• Passes beat singles past about five sessions. Doing a marathon? Get the pass. Just dipping in? Single tickets are fine, no notes.
• Can't get to Melbourne? MIFF Online has you. 14 to 30 August, the whole country. No excuses, even from a Perth living room.

My one honest opinion: the best festival plan is a short one. Three films you're genuinely excited about beats twelve you booked out of FOMO and watched half asleep. (Ask me how I know. Actually don't.)

Roll credits

MIFF is a marathon, and nobody ever won one by sprinting the trailers. Pick your sessions, pace the popcorn, and leave a gap for the film a stranger in the queue swears is the best thing they've seen all year. They're usually right. Full programme's at miff.com.au when you're ready to lose an afternoon to it.