Overview
The phrase "Hollywood on the Gold Coast" might've been coined to describe Movie World, but the film-loving theme park isn't the only way that this patch of Queensland celebrates cinema. Plenty of flicks are made at Village Roadshow Studios. Each year, watching pictures also gets its own festival. You can see films on the Goldie every day, of course, but the Gold Coast Film Festival brings together titles that you mightn't otherwise find at the region's multiplexes — or lets you catch them first.
In 2024, 23 features grace the just-announced GCFF lineup, which will run for 12 days from Wednesday, April 17–Sunday, April 28 at HOTA, Home of the Arts and other GC venues. Bill Bennett's The Way, My Way will kickstart the fest, with the Kiss or Kill and The Nugget filmmaker turning his own memoir about walking the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route — all 800 kilometres of it — into a film. Then, at the other end of the event, Ewan McGregor (Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio) stars opposite his IRL daughter Clara McGregor (American Horror Story) in Bleeding Love, about a father-daughter road trip.
There's a fitting feel to Gold Coast Film Festival's 2024 iteration bookending its cinema showcase with titles about travel. The Goldie is that kind of destination, including luring Brisbane movie lovers down the highway to watch along. That unofficial theme comes through in other ways, too, such as in documentary Diamond of the Sea, about ironwoman Bonnie Hancock attempting to circumnavigate Australia by paddle; The Monk and the Gun, featuring an American travelling to Bhutan; and a retro screening of Cliffhanger (yes, the action-packed 90s flick), which will take place at Burleigh Brewing.
That beer-slinging spot will also host a session of music documentary The Ending Goes Forever: The Screamfeeder Story, focusing on of Brisbane's 90s indie-music favourites. Elsewhere, Steven Soderbergh (Full Circle)-produced thriller Divinity gets another Down Under run after playing SXSW Sydney 2023 — and fans of Gareth Evans' (Gangs of London) epic Indonesian action effort The Raid will be able to scope out the shiny restoration.
Another overall highlight: doco Growing Happiness, which is about Scenic Rim farmers Jenny and Russ Jenner, their move to turn their fields into a sunflower farm, plus the popular festival that now takes over their land once a year (including this April during GCFF). Or, for something completely different, Sting, which is helmed by Australian director Kiah Roache-Turner (Wyrmwood: Apocalypse), sees Ryan Corr (In Limbo) joined by Alyla Browne (The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart), Noni Hazelhurst (One Night), Penelope Mitchell (What You Wish For) and Silvia Colloca (Wellmania) — and some eight-legged creatures.
With 2024 marking two decades since one of the best blends of romance, comedy, drama and sci-fi of the 21st century reached screens in the form of Michel Gondry's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, the timing is excellent for checking out the French filmmaker's latest feature. In his first movie since 2015, the director draws from his own experience in semi-autobiographical comedy The Book of Solutions.
On a lineup that's aiming to offer a movie (or several) for everyone, musical Greatest Days features Take That's songs, My Fair Lady gets a flashback screening and The Lie: The Murder of Grace Millane dives into the true-crime case. Or, there's also a trip to a Polish village in the 19th century with The Peasants, boxing drama Heart of the Man, psychological thriller Birdeater and Samuel Beckett biopic Dance First.
Plus, short film competition SIPFEST is on the GCFF program again, returning to the HOTA Outdoor Stage with 15 bite-sized flicks — and also the annual Women in Film lunch is back. Who said hanging out on the Gold Coast just meant going to the beach?
The 2024 Gold Coast Film Festival runs from Wednesday, April 17–Sunday, April 28 at HOTA, Home of the Arts and other venues on the Gold Coast. For more information and to buy tickets, visit the festival website.