Gold Coast Film Festival 2020 — CANCELLED

Overview

UPDATE: MARCH 14, 2020 — Organisers have announced that the 2020 Gold Coast Film Festival will no longer go ahead "following the announcement from The Prime Minister that non-essential gatherings of more than 500 people are to be suspended". Ticket holders will receive a full refund.

To find out more about the status of COVID-19 in Australia and how to protect yourself, head to the Australian Government Department of Health's website.

Turning 18 is a significant milestone, including for a film festival. So of course the Gold Coast's annual celebration of cinema is marking the occasion. On the bill: its yearly array of movies, as well as a hefty number of events.

If it's flicks you're after — world premieres, Australian premieres, local up-and-comers and hits from the international festival circuit — then the 2020 Gold Coast Film Festival has a diverse lineup waiting for your watching eyeballs. Start with opening night's I Am Woman, a biopic about Aussie singer Helen Reddy; then catch one of the most topical movies there is at the moment, aka film industry-set #MeToo drama The Assistant; then end the fest with some darkly comic thrills with the Gold Coast-shot Bloody Hell.

Other highlights include a screening of the first two episodes of Mystery Road's second season, direct from this year's Berlinale; stunning dance documentary Cunningham, about the eponymous choreographer; Imogen Poots and Jesse Eisenberg getting caught up in the maze-like Vivarium; and Kate Winslet, Mia Wasikowska and Sam Neill in drama Blackbird. Or, you can ponder a female astronaut's work-life balance in Proxima, step inside the Georgian dancing scene in coming-of-age tale And Then We Danced, enjoy the patient pace of New Zealand's Bellbird and get quirky — and obsessive over a jacket — with Deerskin.

Hugo Weaving will also be on hand for a screening of his new Aussie movie Hearts and Bones, marathoning Harry Potter flicks is on offer, and so is celebrating 40 years since the original Friday the 13th first scared cinema-goers.

Running from Wednesday, April 15–Sunday, April 26 at a variety of Goldie venues — including HOTA, Home of the Arts, Australia Fair, BCC Coolangatta and Event Cinemas Coomera — GCFF 2020 will also feature a surf film night at a brewery, short films on the beach, family flicks at the Skypoint observation deck, a 'dog-umentary' movie night, a screening of The Hangover on a boat and a rooftop session of Clueless.