Overview
Attending film festivals around the world is the cinephile dream, but it's rarely a reality for most movie lovers. If you spend the end of August and beginning of September each year wishing that you were at the Venice International Film Festival, you'll understand. Brisbane's own annual cinema showcase has given big-screen obsessives a way to cope two years in a row now, however, boasting Venice' Golden Lion-winning flick as part of its lineup in both 2023 and 2024.
Last year, Poor Things headed straight to BIFF from its prestigious Italian counterpart. This year, The Room Next Door is doing the same. This time, Brisbanites can look forward to the latest film from Spanish auteur Pedro Almodóvar (Parallel Mothers, Pain and Glory), which is also his English-language feature debut, with the iconic director spinning the story about a fracturing family starring Tilda Swinton (Fantasmas), Julianne Moore (May December) and John Turturro (Mr & Mrs Smith).
Also hitting BIFF direct from overseas is Venice's Silver Lion-winner The Brutalist, which picked up the fest's Best Director prize. Actor-turned-filmmaker Brady Corbet is back behind the lens after The Childhood of a Leader and Vox Lux, directing Adrien Brody (Asteroid City), Felicity Jones (Dead Shot) and Guy Pearce (Inside) while following architect László Toth and his wife Erzsébet to America from Europe after the Second World War.
The two just-announced films are on the BIFF agenda as special presentations, only screening once each. Accordingly, if you're keen to see them, you'll want to hop on tickets quickly.
BIFF 2024 takes place between Thursday, October 24–Sunday, November 3, screening at Palace Barracks, Dendy Coorparoo, Reading Newmarket, Five Star Cinemas New Farm, Angelika Film Centre and Dendy Powerhouse. The full lineup is also on the way, with tickets for the complete program on sale from Thursday, September 26. So far, the fest has revealed that backstage comedy Saturday Night will open the event and documentary Unbreakable: The Jelena Dokic Story will close it.
Similarly already on the lineup: Anora, the latest feature from Tangerine, The Florida Project and Red Rocket filmmaker Sean Baker, which won the Palme d'Or at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival; the Amy Adams (Dear Evan Hansen)-starring Nightbitch; Riley Keough (Daisy Jones & the Six) and Jesse Eisenberg (Fleishman Is in Trouble) playing a sasquatch family in Sasquatch Sunset; Aussie horror The Red; and the female Iranian judo athlete-focused Tatami.
The 2o24 Brisbane International Film Festival runs between Thursday, October 24–Sunday, November 3 at Palace Barracks, Dendy Coorparoo, Dendy Powerhouse, Reading Newmarket, Five Star Cinemas New Farm and Angelika Film Centre. For further information, or to buy tickets, head to the festival website — and check back here on Thursday, September 26 for the full program.