Screenings

Opening Night - WINHANGANHA

Thursday 21st March
7:30pm, Cinema 1, ACMI, M

Presented by the National Film and Sound Archive. Please ‘Read More’ for content warnings.

WINHANGANHA (Wiradjuri language: Remember, know, think) – is a feature length, lyrical journey that intertwines archival footage and sound, poetry and original composition. Commissioned by the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA) as part of their RE/Vision project, the film examines how archives and the legacies of collection affect First Nations people and wider Australia, told through the lens of acclaimed Wiradjuri artist, Jazz Money.

Screens with short film Karanga and is followed by a filmmaker Q&A.

Ticket includes entry to the MWFF after-party.

The Royal Hotel

Friday 22nd March
7pm, 91 mins, Cinema 2, ACMI, MA15+

Canadians Hanna and Liv are best friends backpacking in Australia. After they run out of money, Liv, looking for an adventure, convinces Hanna to take a temporary live-in job behind the bar of a pub called ’The Royal Hotel’ in a remote Outback mining town. Bar owner Billy and a host of locals give the girls a riotous introduction to Down Under drinking culture but soon Hanna and Liv find themselves trapped in an unnerving situation that grows rapidly out of their control.

Satranic Panic

Saturday 23rd March
7pm, 90 mins Cinema 2, ACMI
Unclassified 15+ (horror, blood & gore)

Friends Aria and Jay head out on a devilish road trip to unearth the mystery behind the murder of Max, Aria’s brother and the love of Jay’s life. With Aria’s demon radar firing, nothing from the underworld can stand in the way as they uncover a conspiracy of prejudice and self-hatred, that leads closer to home than they’d ever imagined.

Screens with short film, Girl Coded and followed by a filmmaker Q&A.

Carbon: the Unauthorised Biography

Sunday 24th March
2:15pm, 120 mins, Cinema 2, ACMI, G

Presented by VicScreen.

With Carbon in the news every day, you might think you know everything about her. But you’d be wrong. This spectacular and surprisingly unorthodox documentary reveals the paradoxical story of the element that builds all life, and yet may end it all.

Screens with the MWFF 48hr Film Challenge entries and followed by a filmmaker Q&A.

Freshly Squeezed Shorts 1

Saturday 23rd March
12:15pm, 95 mins, Cinema 2, ACMI
Unclassified 15+

A peculiar red kite, learning to find your voice and spiritual journeys, Freshly Squeezed Shorts 1 showcases the latest and best short live action, experimental and animated films from our region's women and gender diverse filmmakers.

Our World Shorts


Saturday 23rd March
4pm, 100 mins Cinema 2, ACMI
Unclassified 15+

Join us for this special themed short film session examining contemporary women and gender diverse perspectives of the world around us. A thought-provoking mix of fiction and documentary stories exploring our natural and social environments, locally and globally, and not to be missed.

Freshly Squeezed Shorts 2

Sunday 24th March
11:30am, 90 mins, Cinema 2, ACMI
Unclassified 15+

From stories of connection, strength and resistance, to a chance sighting of Savage Garden's Darren Hayes, Freshly Squeezed Shorts 2 showcases the latest and best short films from our region's women and gender diverse filmmakers.

Sunday 24th March
5:30pm, 100 mins, Cinema 2, ACMI
Unclassified 15+

Next Gen Shorts showcases the creativity and talent of Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand’s next generation of filmmakers. From a homage to Fitzroy costuming icon, pranking ghosts, the identifiable frustrations of being a customer service worker, to moving stories of migration and motherhood, these diverse films show that the future of women's and gender diverse filmmaking looks bright!

Next Gen Shorts


Closing Night - Memory Film: A Filmmaker’s Diary

Monday 25th March
7pm, 120 mins, Cinema 2, ACMI
Unclassified 15+

Memory Film is an immersive, poetic documentary by Jeni Thornley based on her Super 8 archive (1974-2003), filmed during the decades of her personal and political filmmaking producing Maidens, To the Other Shore, Island Home Country and the collaborative feature For Love or Money.

Screening includes the presentation of MWFF 2024 shorts awards and a filmmaker Q&A.

Panels and Workshops

  • Remembering, Repeating, Working-Through: A Conversation With Jeni Thornley

    Conversation
    Friday 22nd March
    4pm, 60mins
    Gandel Lab 1, ACMI, FREE

    Jeni Thornley discusses her filmmaking practice of fifty years (1974-2023). Screening clips from Film for Discussion (1973), Maidens (1978), For Love or Money (1983), To the Other Shore (1998) Island Home Country (2008) and Memory Film: a filmmaker’s diary (2023), she tracks the evolving nature of ethics, links to community and the ebb and flow of the personal to the political and the universal.

    “I have used the medium of film to process family trauma and national and world trauma. Freud’s psychoanalytic method, ‘Remembering Repeating and Working Through’ (1914) provides a way to think about memory and history, releasing many emotions buried in the body and the unconscious”.

  • The Labour of Film: Creating Equitable Working Conditions in the Screen Industry

    Panel
    Saturday 23rd March, 11am, 60 mins
    Gandel Lab 1, ACMI, Free
    Auslan interpreted

    Presented by Screen Australia and Film and Screen Studies, Monash University.

    How can working conditions in the screen industry become more inclusive? Participation is vital to ensure a diversity of voices are heard, but long hours, tight production schedules and inaccessible workplaces can impede this goal. This panel of industry experts discusses proactive ways to achieve better participation and working conditions in the Australian screen industry—for women, disabled workers, gender diverse people, and more.

    READ ABOUT OUR PANELISTS

    Can’t make it in person? Register here to access our panel livestream.

  • Sustainable Futures in Screen

    Panel
    Saturday 23rd March, 2:30pm, 60 mins
    Gandel Lab 1, ACMI
    Auslan interpreted
    $10/$8/$5

    Presented by Film and Screen Studies, Monash University

    What is the connection between film and the environment? Cinema immerses us in the organic world and reveals new ways of thinking about nature, but it is also an industry with its own carbon footprint. This special panel explores screen futures and the environment: how to promote ecological awareness through film and television, environmentally conscious filmmaking, and how cinema shapes our perceptions of the natural world.

    Can’t make it in person? Register here to access our panel livestream.

  • The Lifecycle of Film

    Workshop
    Saturday 23rd March
    2:30pm, 180 mins
    Swinburne Studio, ACMI, $40/$30/$25
    $10 entry for WIFT Victoria member.

    Presented by VicScreen and WIFT Victoria.

    The Melbourne Women in Film Festival and Women in Film and Television Victoria (WIFT Vic) present an exciting new career development event - 'The Life Cycle of Film'. Attendees are invited to participate in two intimate round table conversations lead by industry experts and focused on a particular area in the screen industries - from development to distribution.

  • Sustainable Methods

    Workshop
    Sunday 24th March
    2pm, 120 mins
    Gandel Lab 1, $25/$20/$15

    Presented by VicScreen and Sustainable Screens Australia.

    The Sustainable Methods workshop is a unique, industry-specific opportunity led by industry veteran George McClements who will take you through:

    • the environmental impacts of the screen industry

    • those production companies, commissioners and broadcasters embedding sustainability

    • free tools and resources to help you integrate sustainable practices in your production

    If you work in production, on set or have an interest in this space, we'd love you to join us and see you contribute to our collective mission that keeps our planet in the picture.

    Sustainable Screens Australia (SSA) has a mission to enable the Australian screen industry to reduce its environmental impact and inspire audiences to act for a sustainable future. We deliver optimistic, data-driven, solution-centric tools and resources that empower screen practitioners to create productions in a more sustainable way.

Schools Program

Online Panel

Friday 22nd March, 45 mins, 12pm
Free

Presented with Australian Teachers of Media, Victoria.

Making films can have a substantial impact on our environment. Shooting on locations with large crews, cameras, lighting, vehicles, fuel, and plastics can leave a lasting footprint on the natural world, as well as generate carbon emissions and waste.

Join MWFF and ATOM Victoria for a special panel discussion with filmmakers and film climate advocates on how and why to make even small scale film productions more environmentally and sustainable.