Brisbane International Film Festival 2017

Overview

After announcing its return back in June, the resurrected Brisbane International Film festival has revealed its 2017 program, the fest's first in four years. Filling the major film festival space left by the now-shuttered Brisbane Asia Pacific Film Festival — which initially replaced BIFF back in 2014 — the revived BIFF will bring 51 features, nine shorts and three other compilation screenings to Palace Cinemas' two Brisbane sites between August 17 and September 3.

The returning 16-day event, funded by Screen Queensland and run by Palace, kicks off its new beginning with the biggest film on the international festival circuit so far this year: Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or winner The Square. And while the fest starts global, it ends local. Aussie documentary The Go-Betweens: Right Here closes out the program with a loving tribute to a Brissie band so iconic, the city named a bridge after them.

In between, cinephiles can expect two world premieres, one international premiere, six Australian premieres and a range of noteworthy picks from other international and local festivals. Broken Ghost, the latest film by Aussie Summer Coda director Richard Gray, will make its worldwide debut, as will Australian-made, French and Cambodian-shot documentary Life Is a Very Strange Thing. In the Aussie premiere camp sits three titles from BIFF's four-feature Baltic spotlight, plus Kazakh film Returnee, Vietnam's The Way Station and doco The Last Dali Lama?

Elsewhere, viewers can work through Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev's body of work, including this year's Cannes jury prize winner Loveless. Also on the bill are showcase sessions of highly anticipated titles, such Berlinale and Sydney Film Festival winner On Body and Soul, the late Abbas Kiarostami's final effort 24 Frames and legendary director Agnès Varda's Faces Places.

Helping round out the 2017 selection are the high-profile likes of Ryan Gosling and Michael Fassbender in the partly SXSW-set Song to Song, adorable claymation My Life as a Zucchini, rap drama Patti Cake$ starring Australian Danielle Macdonald, British farce The Party and Todd Haynes' Wonderstruck, to name a few. Throw in Aussie efforts Ali's Wedding, Australia Day and That's Not Me, gorgeous Studio Ghibli-like Japanese animation In This Corner of the World, Takashi Miike's 100th film Blade of the Immortal, and New Zealand documentary My Year With Helen — and yep, BIFF is back.