Get ready to drink and gamble. The Brisbane International Film Festival is celebrating its 21st birthday! I first attended in 1995 and will be continuing my streak again this year. It’s one of my favourite events on the cinematic calendar.
This year’s Festival runs from November 14-25 and returns to the same major venues as last year – the Palace Centro, Palace Barracks and Tribal Theatres.
I’m foolishly jetting off on holidays to North Korea half-way through the Festival (no, seriously) but for everyone else, there will be heaps to see over the Festival’s 12 days.
There are 136 films in the 2012 programs including 43 Australian premieres and 3 world premieres. If you can’t find a movie worth seeing, you’re simply too hard to please.
Ticket prices for regular films have increased slightly this year - $17 (up from $16) but there’s some incentives to buy in bulk.
You can pick up 6 tickets for $90 (lower for concessions and BIFF Film Club members) and you’ll get a bonus daytime ticket thrown in for free. 12 tickets are $168 (with 3 free daytime tickets) and for the real film lovers, you can buy 25 tickets for $325 with 6 free daytime tickets thrown in to keep you even busier.
You can find out all the details at the BIFF website (http://www.biff.com.au) or you can access their iPhone or Android applications. Tickets can be bought online or at the BIFF box-office booth in the foyer of the old Regent Theatre.
In keeping with the same theme as my blog last year, here are 10 reasons why you need to get to BIFF 2012…
1. Find Out How Famous Filmmakers Got Started
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There’s a cool part of this year’s program where curator Kate Howat has tracked down prints of the first feature film of a small collective of famous filmmakers.
For me, the most interesting one is Paul Thomas Anderson’s Hard Eight. The cast included John C. Reilly, Samuel L. Jackson, Philip Baker Hall and Gwyneth Paltrow. It never received a cinema release in Australia (going straight to DVD) and I can remember Anderson having “creative differences” with the studio and his producers. He made sure he had a lot more control with his follow up films – Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Punch Drunk Love and There Will Be Blood.
The other films in this section are Following from Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight trilogy, Inception), Ratcatcher from Lynn Ramsey (We Need To Talk About Kevin), Shivers from David Cronenberg (Eastern Promises, A History Of Violence) and The Loveless from Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker).
An Affordable Opening & Closing Night
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Thankfully, things aren’t that expensive here in Brisbane. Both the opening and closing night films are just $35 per person. They’ll be held at the Barracks and each event includes the film and an after party with food and drink. It’s a pretty good deal if you ask me.
On top of that, both films are Australian premieres. The Festival opens on November 14 with The Sweeney, a fresh take on the British cop drama that aired on TV in the mid 1970s. Ray Winstone (Sexy Beast, The Departed) has the leading role and it looks like being a lot of fun.
The Festival closes on November 24 with Anna Karenina, straight from its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival back in September. It looks rather unorthodox (without giving too much away) and stars Keira Knightley, Jude Law and Aaron Taylor-Johnson. Both films won’t be released widely in Australia until early 2013 so this is a great chance to see them before anyone else in this country.
Watching Movies On A Roof?
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The list of films screening at the Planetarium include Alien Action – a 2006 Germany sci-fi film that pits aliens versus robots and Coral: Rekindling Venus – a 2012 Australian documentary that takes us inside our world’s beautiful coral reefs.
The Planetarium is in action during the final weekend of the Festival (Nov 23-24) and tickets are $22.
Chatting With Those In The Industry
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The 2012 Festival includes a specific industry program that allows budding filmmakers (and others who may be interested) to meet those who have already made their mark.
Three-time Academy award winning editor Walter Murch (Apocalypse Now, The Conversation, The English Patient) will be part of a 2 hour Q&A session on his life as a film editor and the changing nature of the cinematic landscape.
Oscar-nominated editor Jill Billcock (Moulin Rouge, Road To Perdition, Romeo & Juliet) will also be in Brisbane to offer her thoughts on the profession as part of a 2-hour Q&A hosted by Roger Crittenden.
All of the industry sessions will be held at the State Library Of Queensland and will be an eye-opening divergence from the many hours spent inside a darkened theatre.
A Tribute To Spaghetti Westerns
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Of all the programs, the one that’s likely to gather the most attention at BIFF this year is the tribute to spaghetti westerns. A total of 15 films have been selected by curator Giulia D’Agnolo Vallan who has helped put together similar programs for the Venice Film Festival and New York City Film Forum. This will be a “must see” for anyone who grew up watching westerns in the 1960s and 70s.
The centre point of the program occurs on Sunday, November 18 with the three films in Sergio Leone’s “Man With No Name” trilogy screening back-to-back – A Fistful Of Dollars, For A Few Dollars More and The Good, The Bad & The Ugly.
You’ll see the likes of Clint Eastwood, Burt Reynolds, Charles Bronson and Lee Van Cleef in the roles that helped make them household names.
For those new to the world of spaghetti westerns, these films will provide a great introduction in the lead up to Quentin Tarantino’s homage to the genre, Django Unchained, which is being released in early 2013.
The Bubbles Are Back
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Having proved popular last year, the Bubbles At BIFF section is back and ready to satisfy the thirsty masses. These screenings are for BIFF’s “bigger” films and include a glass of champagne on arrival for a total ticket price of $22 per person.
The list of films in this program include Rust & Bone – the new movie starring Marion Cotillard which just won best film at the London Film Festival, Amour – the latest from acclaimed director Michael Haneke who won the Palm D’or at Cannes earlier this year and Great Expectations – a fresh adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel that stars Helena Bonham Carter and Ralph Fiennes.
All of these films should earn Australian releases down the track but again, this is your chance to see them before everyone else.
Another Big Prize On Offer For BIFFDOCS
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It’s no secret that one of my favourite genres is the documentary. This year’s program includes a list of 15 documentaries, none which have screened in Australia before, that will be competing for a prize of $25,000 (the same as in 2011).
The list of films is amazing and includes West Of Memphis – the story of a trio of boys who were found guilty of a 1993 murder but then released 17 years later after new DNA evidence emerged. It looks at the hysteria that led to them being jailed and points the finger at the real killer who still walks free.
The Central Park Five covers a similar theme where five black and Latino teenagers were arrested in 1989 for the rape and beating of a woman in Central Park in New York. They too were released 12 years later and the film looks at the major players involved in their exoneration.
Other documentaries that have caught my eye include Show Me The Magic – a close-up of Australian cinematographer Don McAlpine and The Queen Of Versailles – the story of a ridiculously wealthy couple who start building the largest private residence in America just as the global financial crisis starts to hit.
Movies Under The Stars
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Following the success of last year’s drive-in program, BIFF has teamed up with Brisbane Openair Cinema to offer an outdoor movie experience at Southbank. On Thursday, November 15, you’ll be able to watch 2 films under the stars (hopefully it doesn’t rain) at South Bank’s Cultural Forecourt.
The two films are Liberal Arts – starring Elizabeth Olsen after her wonderful turn in last year’s Martha Marcy May Marlene and The Man With The Iron Fists – a crazy kung fu epic starring Russell Crowe and Lucy Liu.
Tickets for both films are $17 and having the lights of the CBD as a backdrop should make it a memorable evening.
Lars Is Back With More Crazy Stuff
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Those who attended last year’s BIFF will remember the presence of Lars Nilsen, a programmer for the Alamo Drafthouse and Fantastic Fest.
Lars will be back in 2012 and he’s brought 4 films with him that were destined for the scrapheap. They were made in the 1980s and were discovered in the strangest of places. Lars will be introducing each of the films and talking about the crazy way in which each film was rediscovered.
Perhaps the strangest film of the bunch is Carnival Magic – described in the BIFF program as “a long forgotten classic of the chimp-sploitation genre that is probably the weirdest, most inappropriate kids film ever made.” The print was recently discovered buried in the back of a movie booth and it will finally be seen in Australia… for better or worse.
There Are Heaps Of Other Great Films
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As I mentioned at the start, there are 136 films on offer in this year’s Festival. I’ve done my best to cover them in the earlier 9 points but there are so many more. Here’s a quick sample to illustrate the diversity…
ParaNorman is perfect for the family and the 3D story involves ghosts and zombies. It’s being shown during the first weekend at BIFF and won’t be released widely in Australia until January 2013. The voices include Australian Kodi Smit-McPhee, Anna Kendrick, Casey Affleck, Leslie Mann and John Goodman.
There’s a separate section on the creative spirit of artists including a documentary that I’ve heard nothing but great things about – Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present. It chronicles a 2010 piece of performance art where she sat motionless in a room for 7.5 hours each day for 3 months. Visitors to her exhibit were allowed to sit opposite and gaze into her eyes.
Chinese artist/filmmaker Ai Weiwei is celebrated during the Festival with 5 films being shown. His latest documentary, So Sorry, looks at the corrupt politicians and builders responsible when a number of dodgy buildings collapsed in the 2008 Sichuan earthquakes. At one point during his investigation, he was brutally beaten by the police and hospitalised.
If you want a crazy title, you can try Grandma Lo-Fi: The Basement Tapes Of Sigridur Nielsdottir. It’s the true story of a 70-something Icelandic grandmother who became an underground music sensation. It’s part of the Beatbox section at BIFF that focuses on the music world.
The world cinema section offers up some new films starring some familiar names including 360 with Anthony Hopkins, Jude Law and Rachel Weisz, Between Us with Julia Stiles and Melissa George, Love Is All You Need with Pierce Brosnan, No with Gael Garcia Bernal, Robot & Frank with Frank Langella, The Girl with Abbie Cornish, Smashed with Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Aaron Paul, and Sinister with Ethan Hawke.
Don’t forget that you can find out more at http://www.biff.com.au. Hopefully I’ll see you at the Festival!