Mackay International Film Festival 2019
2nd-4th August 2019
Mackay City Cinemas, 30 Gordon St, Mackay
MIFF ticket prices:
Friday, August 2 - Opening Gala (Shoplifters) including supper $22 for everyone
Individual Films: FAM Members $14 – Non-members $17
Family Film (Mirai): $11 Admission for everyone
Five movie pass: FAM members $70 – Non-members $85
(The five movie pass includes the Opening Gala and all films except Mirai, which is at a cheaper price).
* Tickets available from Mackay City Cinemas or online through www.eventcinemas.com.au/Cinema/Mackay-City/EventsFestivals/FilmArtsMackayFestival#cinemas=39,50&date=2019-08-02
*FAM member ticket discounts only available from Mackay City Cinemas.
Pre-festival film (AS PART OF THE MACKAY FESTIVAL OF ARTS)
7:00PM SATURDAY 27TH JULY AT THE PINNACLE PLAYHOUSE
PUZZLE
Director: Marc Turtletaub
2018 / US / 1hr 43m/ M / Drama
PUZZLE is a closely observed portrait of Agnes, who has reached her early 40s without ever venturing far from home, family or the tight-knit immigrant community in which she was raised by her widowed father. That begins to change in a quietly dramatic fashion when Agnes receives a jigsaw puzzle as a birthday gift and experiences the heady thrill of not only doing something she enjoys, but being very, very good at it.
After years of concerning herself exclusively with the needs and wants of her husband Louie and sons Ziggy and Gabe, Agnes has found something that she wants to do. Stepping out of her domestic bubble to pursue her new hobby, Agnes meets Robert, a wealthy, reclusive inventor who immediately recognises her talent and recruits her as his partner for an upcoming world jigsaw tournament. Each day she spends out in the world, puzzling and conversing with Robert, takes Agnes further along on the road to a new understanding of herself and her strengths.
Tickets for this movie will be available at the door on the night at the Pinnacle Playhouse (cash only), or by online booking beforehand through www.trybooking.com/book/event?embed&eid=520726
"INTIMATE AND HEARTFELT. MACDONALD IS SIMPLY LUMINOUS. BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN. BEAUTIFULLY DIRECTED. THE ACTORS ARE TO DIE FOR. A GREAT, GREAT CAST. I LOVED PUZZLE. I SAY GO!"
Pete Hammond, DEADLINE.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYxnuQtH8XI&t=83s
2018 / US / 1hr 43m/ M / Drama
PUZZLE is a closely observed portrait of Agnes, who has reached her early 40s without ever venturing far from home, family or the tight-knit immigrant community in which she was raised by her widowed father. That begins to change in a quietly dramatic fashion when Agnes receives a jigsaw puzzle as a birthday gift and experiences the heady thrill of not only doing something she enjoys, but being very, very good at it.
After years of concerning herself exclusively with the needs and wants of her husband Louie and sons Ziggy and Gabe, Agnes has found something that she wants to do. Stepping out of her domestic bubble to pursue her new hobby, Agnes meets Robert, a wealthy, reclusive inventor who immediately recognises her talent and recruits her as his partner for an upcoming world jigsaw tournament. Each day she spends out in the world, puzzling and conversing with Robert, takes Agnes further along on the road to a new understanding of herself and her strengths.
Tickets for this movie will be available at the door on the night at the Pinnacle Playhouse (cash only), or by online booking beforehand through www.trybooking.com/book/event?embed&eid=520726
"INTIMATE AND HEARTFELT. MACDONALD IS SIMPLY LUMINOUS. BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN. BEAUTIFULLY DIRECTED. THE ACTORS ARE TO DIE FOR. A GREAT, GREAT CAST. I LOVED PUZZLE. I SAY GO!"
Pete Hammond, DEADLINE.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYxnuQtH8XI&t=83s
Opening Night Film - 7:00pm Friday 3rd August
Shoplifters (Manbiki Kazoku)
Followed by supper
Shoplifters
(Manbiki Kazoku)
Director: Kore-eda Hirokazu
2018 / Japan / 121m/ M / Drama
Japanese with English subtitles
Our Opening night film, winner of the 2018 Cannes Palme d'Or, is a beautifully compassionate story about the dysfunctional but close-knit Shibata family making ends meet on the margins of Tokyo. Osamu, the head of this mismatched band makes his money selling the things he steals on daily shoplifting expeditions with his boy, Shota. They live together in a cramped apartment shared also by Osamu’s wife Nobuyo, her younger sister Aki, and frail but wily grandmother Hatsue.
One day, coming home on a freezing night, Osamu and Shota come across Juri, a little girl shivering in the cold. Impulsively, Osamu decides to take Juri in and immerse her into their life of cheerful petty thievery. Inevitably, this only draws them closer towards the authorities they are trying to avoid.
SHOPLIFTERS is filled with both good humour and touching melancholy and, while it paints a picture of poverty and disobedience of societal rules rarely seen in typical Japanese film-making, this absorbing drama is an irresistible tale about the meaning of family.
WINNER 2018 Cannes Film Festival Palme D’Or, 2019 Cesar Best Foreign Film Award, 2019 Japan Academy Prize Picture of the Year Award, 2018 Asia Pacific Screen Awards Best Film, 2019 Asian Film Awards Best Film
“A rich, satisfying and deeply intelligent film.” THE GUARDIAN
“This is a film that steals in and snatches your heart.” THE TELEGRAPH (UK)
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rwcb5ki1f-4
(Manbiki Kazoku)
Director: Kore-eda Hirokazu
2018 / Japan / 121m/ M / Drama
Japanese with English subtitles
Our Opening night film, winner of the 2018 Cannes Palme d'Or, is a beautifully compassionate story about the dysfunctional but close-knit Shibata family making ends meet on the margins of Tokyo. Osamu, the head of this mismatched band makes his money selling the things he steals on daily shoplifting expeditions with his boy, Shota. They live together in a cramped apartment shared also by Osamu’s wife Nobuyo, her younger sister Aki, and frail but wily grandmother Hatsue.
One day, coming home on a freezing night, Osamu and Shota come across Juri, a little girl shivering in the cold. Impulsively, Osamu decides to take Juri in and immerse her into their life of cheerful petty thievery. Inevitably, this only draws them closer towards the authorities they are trying to avoid.
SHOPLIFTERS is filled with both good humour and touching melancholy and, while it paints a picture of poverty and disobedience of societal rules rarely seen in typical Japanese film-making, this absorbing drama is an irresistible tale about the meaning of family.
WINNER 2018 Cannes Film Festival Palme D’Or, 2019 Cesar Best Foreign Film Award, 2019 Japan Academy Prize Picture of the Year Award, 2018 Asia Pacific Screen Awards Best Film, 2019 Asian Film Awards Best Film
“A rich, satisfying and deeply intelligent film.” THE GUARDIAN
“This is a film that steals in and snatches your heart.” THE TELEGRAPH (UK)
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rwcb5ki1f-4
Saturday 3rd August - 2pm
Wajib – The Wedding Invitation
Director: Anne-Marie Jacir
2017 / Palestine/France/Germany / 96m/ M / Drama/comedy
Arabic with English subtitles
WAJIB (“duty” in Arabic) takes us on a delightful ride for a day in a beaten-up, old Volvo as father and son hand-deliver wedding invitations across Nazareth. Shadi has returned home from Italy for his sister Amal’s upcoming nuptials and his colourful fashion sense and radical politics makes his ex-teacher father, Abu Shadi, nervous. As they make their way through the wedding guests, old tensions reignite and new ones emerge as Shadi finds so much about his hometown that’s both familiar and alienating, while Abu rolls his eyes at so many of his son’s life choices and opinions.
The underlying political and economic tension of life in Palestine is interwoven with moments of terrific comedy – for example, when the family realizes the wedding invitations have the wrong day.
Real-life father and son Mohammad and Saleh Bakri are terrific as they bicker, reminisce and needle each other, gradually revealing the many layers of their relationship. WAJIB is a hugely entertaining and illuminating slice of Palestinian life.
WINNER 2017 London Film Festival Best Film – Honorable Mention; 2017 Dubai International Film Festival Muhr Awards for Best Fiction Feature Film & Best Actor (for Mohammad Bakri and Saleh Bakri)
“…poignant, bittersweet comedy of estrangement and identity…” THE GUARDIAN
“…wry warmth and unexpected differences…” THE SUNDAY AGE
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EX63rlmQ0_Q
2017 / Palestine/France/Germany / 96m/ M / Drama/comedy
Arabic with English subtitles
WAJIB (“duty” in Arabic) takes us on a delightful ride for a day in a beaten-up, old Volvo as father and son hand-deliver wedding invitations across Nazareth. Shadi has returned home from Italy for his sister Amal’s upcoming nuptials and his colourful fashion sense and radical politics makes his ex-teacher father, Abu Shadi, nervous. As they make their way through the wedding guests, old tensions reignite and new ones emerge as Shadi finds so much about his hometown that’s both familiar and alienating, while Abu rolls his eyes at so many of his son’s life choices and opinions.
The underlying political and economic tension of life in Palestine is interwoven with moments of terrific comedy – for example, when the family realizes the wedding invitations have the wrong day.
Real-life father and son Mohammad and Saleh Bakri are terrific as they bicker, reminisce and needle each other, gradually revealing the many layers of their relationship. WAJIB is a hugely entertaining and illuminating slice of Palestinian life.
WINNER 2017 London Film Festival Best Film – Honorable Mention; 2017 Dubai International Film Festival Muhr Awards for Best Fiction Feature Film & Best Actor (for Mohammad Bakri and Saleh Bakri)
“…poignant, bittersweet comedy of estrangement and identity…” THE GUARDIAN
“…wry warmth and unexpected differences…” THE SUNDAY AGE
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EX63rlmQ0_Q
Saturday 3rd August - 4pm
Leave No Trace
Director: Debra Granik
2018 / USA / 109m/ G / Drama
In this subtle, remarkable drama, 13-year old Tom and her father, Will, live off the grid in a verdant public forest on the margins of Portland, Oregon. Clearly traumatised by his military experience, Iraq veteran Will runs exercise drills in preparation for human intrusion while he and Tom survive a low-tech, peaceable existence in tune with each other and the natural world. Occasionally, they venture into the city where Will purchases essential supplies with money made from selling his prescription medication.Will’s alienation from society is profound and, when they are discovered, he is threatened by social services’ attempts to reunite them into mainstream society. Fleeing from authority shifts Tom’s view of the world and her place in it as she is forced to face the reality of her father’s troubles. While he's taught her everything he knows, he can't give her the one thing she now craves – regular contact with other people. Based on a true story, this heart-warming and sensitive coming-of-age story and the raw and tender performances capture the inspiring bond between father and daughter.
WINNER 2018 San Diego Film Critics Society Awards National Board of Review Best Picture, 2019 National Board of Review, USA Breakthrough Performance - Thomasin McKenzie & Top Ten Independent Films“…a sympathetic, affecting, beautifully realised portrait of lives lived on the margins…” EMPIRE
“…an immensely moving portrait of a father and daughter who love each other…” ROGER EBERT
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_07ktacEGo8
Saturday 3rd August - 6:30pm
Capharnaüm
Director: Nadine Labaki
2018 / Lebanon / 123m/ M / Drama
Arabic and Amharic with English subtitles
This heartfelt drama opens with 12-year-old Zain standing in a courtroom and demanding his parents pay him compensation for bringing him into the world. The film traces through Zain’s experiences – born into a squalid world, no schooling, sharing a shoebox tenement in Beirut with his parents and various siblings and making ends meet with odd jobs and petty crime. Street-wise and caring, he rages at the adults who have created this unjust world and runs away.
He befriends Rahil, an Ethiopian refugee and her baby, Yonas, and stays in her shack to look after Yonas while she goes to work. When Rahil doesn’t come home one day, Zain is suddenly shouldered with unexpected responsibility.
Not sugar-coated but occasionally very sweet, CAPHARNAUM is an extraordinary depiction of poverty and perseverance, full of themes and characters, appropriate, given the title in Arabic translates as "chaos". Key to this production are the exceptional performances from the cast of non-professional actors many of whose own off-screen lives resemble their characters' lives.
WINNER: 2018 Cannes Jury Prize; Winner 2018 Melbourne International Film Festival Audience Award. NOMINATED: 2019 Academy Awards Best Foreign Language Film; 2018 Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or; 2019 César Award Best Foreign Film; 2019 Golden Globes Best Foreign Language Film; 2019 British Academy Film Award Best Film Not in the English Language.
“…a fairy tale and an opera, a potboiler and a news bulletin, a howl of protest and an anthem of resistance…” NEW YORK TIMES
“…an emotional powerhouse…” ROLLING STONE
Trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBecbs52Fpo
2018 / Lebanon / 123m/ M / Drama
Arabic and Amharic with English subtitles
This heartfelt drama opens with 12-year-old Zain standing in a courtroom and demanding his parents pay him compensation for bringing him into the world. The film traces through Zain’s experiences – born into a squalid world, no schooling, sharing a shoebox tenement in Beirut with his parents and various siblings and making ends meet with odd jobs and petty crime. Street-wise and caring, he rages at the adults who have created this unjust world and runs away.
He befriends Rahil, an Ethiopian refugee and her baby, Yonas, and stays in her shack to look after Yonas while she goes to work. When Rahil doesn’t come home one day, Zain is suddenly shouldered with unexpected responsibility.
Not sugar-coated but occasionally very sweet, CAPHARNAUM is an extraordinary depiction of poverty and perseverance, full of themes and characters, appropriate, given the title in Arabic translates as "chaos". Key to this production are the exceptional performances from the cast of non-professional actors many of whose own off-screen lives resemble their characters' lives.
WINNER: 2018 Cannes Jury Prize; Winner 2018 Melbourne International Film Festival Audience Award. NOMINATED: 2019 Academy Awards Best Foreign Language Film; 2018 Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or; 2019 César Award Best Foreign Film; 2019 Golden Globes Best Foreign Language Film; 2019 British Academy Film Award Best Film Not in the English Language.
“…a fairy tale and an opera, a potboiler and a news bulletin, a howl of protest and an anthem of resistance…” NEW YORK TIMES
“…an emotional powerhouse…” ROLLING STONE
Trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBecbs52Fpo
Sunday 4th August - 10:30am
Mirai
Director: Hosoda Mamoru
2018 / Japan / 98m/ M / Anime kids/family
English
This animated Japanese adventure fantasy film from the acclaimed one-time protege of the great Studio Ghibli founder Hayao Miyazaki is a daringly original story of love passed down through generations. When four-year-old Kun meets his new baby sister, little Mirai, he is no longer the centre of attention for his mother and father. The peace of his harmonious world is disrupted and he becomes increasingly jealous of the new arrival until one day he storms off into the garden where he encounters Mirai as a teenager. Together, Kun and teenage Mirai go on a journey through time and space, encountering strange guests and uncovering their family’s incredible story.
The film is inspired by the director’s experience watching his own kids interact and the result is sweet and light with some dry, well-observed humour and grace. Mirai is a sumptuous, magical, and emotionally soaring adventure about the ties that bring families together and make us who we are. Recommended for 8+
WINNER 2019 Japanese Academy Best Animation Film; 2019 Annie Awards Best Animated Independent Feature
NOMINATED 2019 Academy Awards, USA Oscar - Best Animated Feature Film; 2019 Golden Globes, USA Golden Globe Best Motion Picture - Animated
“Mirai bathes ordinary family life in a beautiful new light.” THE TELEGRAPH (UK)
“…a beguilingly sweet-natured little gem.” SCREEN INTERNATIONAL
Trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8-PW5wvt30
2018 / Japan / 98m/ M / Anime kids/family
English
This animated Japanese adventure fantasy film from the acclaimed one-time protege of the great Studio Ghibli founder Hayao Miyazaki is a daringly original story of love passed down through generations. When four-year-old Kun meets his new baby sister, little Mirai, he is no longer the centre of attention for his mother and father. The peace of his harmonious world is disrupted and he becomes increasingly jealous of the new arrival until one day he storms off into the garden where he encounters Mirai as a teenager. Together, Kun and teenage Mirai go on a journey through time and space, encountering strange guests and uncovering their family’s incredible story.
The film is inspired by the director’s experience watching his own kids interact and the result is sweet and light with some dry, well-observed humour and grace. Mirai is a sumptuous, magical, and emotionally soaring adventure about the ties that bring families together and make us who we are. Recommended for 8+
WINNER 2019 Japanese Academy Best Animation Film; 2019 Annie Awards Best Animated Independent Feature
NOMINATED 2019 Academy Awards, USA Oscar - Best Animated Feature Film; 2019 Golden Globes, USA Golden Globe Best Motion Picture - Animated
“Mirai bathes ordinary family life in a beautiful new light.” THE TELEGRAPH (UK)
“…a beguilingly sweet-natured little gem.” SCREEN INTERNATIONAL
Trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8-PW5wvt30
Sunday 4th August - 2pm
Transit
Director: Christian Petzold
2018 / Germany / 101m/ M / Drama/thriller
German and French with English subtitles
Adapted from a 1944 novel but set in the present, this thrilling drama tells the story of Georg, a German refugee who escapes to Marseille, a port for migrants fleeing an unspecified war. He carries the documents of a famous writer, Weidl, but on discovering that Weidl has taken his own life, Georg assumes the author's identity, grows ambivalent about leaving the continent, and develops an obsessive desire for Weidl’s mysterious wife.
TRANSIT is daring and brazen, stripping down an old story about a German concentration camp survivor seeking passage to North America in Nazi-occupied France and relocating it into a kind of present-day, shabby 21st-century setting where people are being rounded up and there is a sense of dread and pending collapse. The story hits at contemporary European nationalism and delivers white-knuckle intrigue with the haunted figure of Georg at the core. While there are hints of Casablanca, Kafka and science fiction, at heart TRANSIT is an unlikely, wrenching love story.
WINNER 2019 Bavarian Film Awards Bavarian Film Award Best Screenplay
Trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWioTxQiaOk
2018 / Germany / 101m/ M / Drama/thriller
German and French with English subtitles
Adapted from a 1944 novel but set in the present, this thrilling drama tells the story of Georg, a German refugee who escapes to Marseille, a port for migrants fleeing an unspecified war. He carries the documents of a famous writer, Weidl, but on discovering that Weidl has taken his own life, Georg assumes the author's identity, grows ambivalent about leaving the continent, and develops an obsessive desire for Weidl’s mysterious wife.
TRANSIT is daring and brazen, stripping down an old story about a German concentration camp survivor seeking passage to North America in Nazi-occupied France and relocating it into a kind of present-day, shabby 21st-century setting where people are being rounded up and there is a sense of dread and pending collapse. The story hits at contemporary European nationalism and delivers white-knuckle intrigue with the haunted figure of Georg at the core. While there are hints of Casablanca, Kafka and science fiction, at heart TRANSIT is an unlikely, wrenching love story.
WINNER 2019 Bavarian Film Awards Bavarian Film Award Best Screenplay
Trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWioTxQiaOk
Thanks to our sponsors
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All films will be shown at the Mackay City Cinemas, 30 Gordon St.
Contact Details:
[email protected]
Proudly brought to you by Film & Arts Mackay
Contact Details:
[email protected]
Proudly brought to you by Film & Arts Mackay
