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The world’s longest film festival – clocking up 25 consecutive days over 26 venues – announced two new MIFF (Melbourne International Film Festival) awards at the Closing Night Gala on August 20. The AUD$140,000 “Bright Horizons Award” – supported by the state’s film commission, VicScreen – was given to Neptune Frost, from Rwandan filmmakers Anisia Uzeyman and Saul Williams and the AUD$70,000  “Blackmagic Design Australian Innovation Award” was won by Jub Clerc, indigenous writer and director of the coming-of-age drama, Sweet As.

“I was blown away at how thoughtful this museum, still even under construction, was approaching its content and how committed it was and it still is to expanding public understanding of film history,” says Jacqueline Stewart, Director and President of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, in a recent press preview of its exhibition, Regeneration: Black Cinema, 1898-1971. Five years ago, she had been invited to participate in the Regeneration Advisory Committee of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles.

When women tell stories about women, time makes no difference. Women creators may situate their heroines in the present, past or future.

One Piece Film – Red is the new number 1 in France. Directed by Goro Taniguchi with Stephane Excoffier, Mayumi Tanaka, and Marie Braam, this animated movie is about Luffy and his crew  - they are about to attend an eagerly awaited music festival in which the daughter of the legendary pirate Shanks Le Roux will reveal her exceptional voice power, capable of changing the world.

John Patton Ford wrote and directed his first short film, Patrol, in 2010. He thought he was off and running but while he’s remained in the industry in other roles, he had to wait twelve years to finally write and direct his first feature film, Emily the Criminal – which was presented as part of the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) on the eve of its U.

Once described as the “intellectual Johnny Appleseed of the counterculture,” writer Stewart Brand, member of the Merry Pranksters and founder of the Whole Earth Catalog, cut an influential swath through the 60s, the 70s, and beyond, helping to birth and shape what we now recognize as the modern-day environmental movement.   The documentary We Are As Gods, receiving limited theatrical exposure in advance of its release across digital platforms on September 6, chronicles Brand’s standing within this community of environmental defenders, and a great schism which has now made enemies of many past friends and supporters.

For Miguel Sapochnik, director of several episodes of the epic series Game of Thrones (2011-2019), returning to the neighborhood of the characters created by George R. R.

“It’s important for me to not forget my roots because that is my core,” said avant-garde fashion designer Furne One Amato. “My foundation of being a designer started when I was a kid and my influences are from my experiences from childhood – the place where I grew up, the things that I did, my friends, the everyday hustle and bustle of life, traveling, new people.

A comedy about death is a serious matter, especially when children are included in the target audience. Tim Burton has become an expert in achieving that with both animated and live-action films: The Nightmare Before Christmas, Corpse Bride, Ed Wood, and Beetlejuice.

December 25, 2016, is a day that George Michael fans will never forget. In the midst of eating, drinking, and putting Wham’s “Last Christmas” on repeat, our phones let us know that our very own musical deity tragically and unexpectantly passed away.