Everything You Need to Put in Your Diary for May
Hit up a dazzling after-dark art festival in the City Botanic Gardens, eat seafood by the river and drink all the pinot.

Everything You Need to Put in Your Diary for May
A lot happens in this big, bustling city of ours. Think film festivals one day, exhibitions another, and everything from booze-fuelled shindigs to excuses to get outdoors in-between. And, of course, there's always more around the corner. That means that there's plenty to look forward to, and plenty of awesomeness to fill your diary to the brim.
To help you plot out things out, make plans with the gang and make the most of every moment, we've rounded up Brisbane's best happenings for May. Don't say you don't have anything to do next month.
-
Food & Drink
Greek Weekend
With Paniyiri pushed back to October due to the wet weather, The Greek Club is putting on a two-day postponement party.
-
Arts & Entertainment
The Time Travel Cafe 2022
This immersive theatre party will make you feel like you've leapt back to 1920s Paris.
-
Arts & Entertainment
Jenn Nkiru: Rebirth Is Necessary
Brisbane's Institute of Modern Art is hosting the first-ever Australian solo exhibition by Grammy-winning artist, filmmaker and Beyoncé collaborator Jenn Nkiru.
-
Arts & Entertainment
Firestarter
Bringing Stephen King's 1980 novel to the big screen for the second time, this dull remake only burns two things: its audience's time and patience.
-
Arts & Entertainment
This Much I Know to Be True
Celebrating the creative partnership between Nick Cave and Warren Ellis is a transcendent experience in this phenomenal music documentary.
-
Food & Drink
Taste of the Terraces
Eat and drink your way around Paddington's terrace precinct, with 38 venues dishing up food specials and cocktails across three days.
-
Arts & Entertainment
Northshore Sculpture by the River
Don't just stare at Hamilton's waterside scenery — spend two months peering at sculptures big and small at this free art festival.
-
Food & Drink
International Cake Show 2022
When you're not learning how to make sweet treats, you'll be eating them.
-
Arts & Entertainment
Honey House
A topsy-turvy house is popping up in Brisbane providing you with the perfect backdrop to nail your next Insta shot.
-
Food & Drink
In the Snow at Customs House
Spend winter sipping champagne and eating Moreton Bay bug croissants in igloos by the river.
-
Travel & Leisure
Dog's Day Out
Spend an afternoon celebrating pooches over a few pints at Welcome to Bowen Hills.
-
Food & Drink
Brisbane Gin Festival 2022
This boozy festival is bringing 27 craft gin distillers from around the country to Fortitude Valley for three days of masterclasses and tastings.
-
Food & Drink
Brisbane Rum Revolution
More than 40 distilleries are headed to Albion's Craft'd Grounds for a huge rum-fuelled afternoon — with over 100 different varieties on offer.
-
Food & Drink
Taco Swap
Show a photo of your regular lunch at your nearest Taco Bell store to score a free Taco Supreme between 12–2pm.
-
Arts & Entertainment
The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson
After reimagining Henry Lawson's short story for the stage and page, Leah Purcell brings her First Nations, feminist and anti-colonial take on the tale to cinemas.
-
Arts & Entertainment
Petite Maman
'Portrait of a Lady on Fire' filmmaker Céline Sciamma returns with a magical and insightful tale about childhood — and it's one of her best movies yet.
-
Arts & Entertainment
Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
'Drive My Car' may have won an Oscar, but Ryûsuke Hamaguchi's second powerful and poignant drama of the past year is equally as masterful.
-
Arts & Entertainment
'High School Musical' Party
Step back to the 00s and celebrate all of your favourite Disney hits.
-
Design & Style
The Finders Keepers Autumn/Winter Markets
Support the next wave of independent artisans at this three-day art and design market.
-
Arts & Entertainment
Two Turntables and a Title Card: 'Nosferatu'
Catch the 100-year-old horror masterpiece for free at Netherworld — over beers, and after mashing buttons.
-
Travel & Leisure
Buddha Birthday Festival 2022
The annual festival is back for 2022 with lanterns, lion dances, tea ceremonies and a big vegetarian food fair.
-
Arts & Entertainment
Anywhere Festival 2022
See theatre, comedy and cabaret performances in bars, laneways, churches, old paint factories, nurseries, sports centres and an underground reservoir.
-
Design & Style
Green Heart Fair 2022
Pick up free plants, learn about beekeeping and tuck into plant-based dishes at Brisbane's regular sustainability-focused fair.
-
Travel & Leisure
The Handmade Market 2022
Forget machines — everything at this monthly market in Queensland Museum's Whale Mall made by hand.
-
Design & Style
Brisbane Twilight Markets 2022
Shop, snack and listen to live tunes as the sun goes down in King George Square.
-
Arts & Entertainment
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Directed by 'Evil Dead' legend Sam Raimi, the latest MCU film about surgeon-turned-sorcerer Dr Stephen Strange is darker and trippier but still dispiritingly standard.
-
Food & Drink
American Express delicious. Month Out
From riverside dumplings at dusk to nights full of negronis and pasta, May is the month to eat out in Brisbane.
-
Arts & Entertainment
Monster Fest Weekender 2022
Spend three days watching weird and wonderful flicks — including cult 80s hits, new horror gems and a documentary about the original 'It' TV miniseries
-
Arts & Entertainment
After Yang
Colin Farrell is haunting in this exceptional sci-fi drama about androids, memory, family, the ties that bind and what it truly means to live.
-
Arts & Entertainment
Downton Abbey: A New Era
Despite its title, the second 'Downton Abbey' movie serves up more of the same upstairs-downstairs dramas — but Maggie Smith still steals every scene she's in.
-
Arts & Entertainment
The Good Boss
Javier Bardem is magnetic in this Spanish award-winner, which savagely and smartly satirises power, privilege and workplace life.
-
Food & Drink
GABS 2022
The Great Australasian Beer Spectapular returns to Brisbane with 120 brews, including beers inspired by cheesecake and poutine.
-
Travel & Leisure
Fish Lane Markets 2022
Shop for ceramics, art, accessories and plants at this local-focused South Brisbane market.
-
Food & Drink
Yarra Valley Rocky Road Festival At Home 2022
Get a box filled with 31 different flavours of rocky road delivered to your door.
-
Arts & Entertainment
The Northman
Directed by 'The Witch' and 'The Lighthouse' filmmaker Robert Eggers, this Alexander Skarsgård-starring Viking epic is bold, bloody, brutal and brilliant.
-
Food & Drink
The Fork Festival 2022 at TGI Fridays Robina
TGI Fridays at Robina is doing 30-percent off set-menu lunches every weekday till the end of May.
-
Arts & Entertainment
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
The one and only Nicolas Cage plays himself — and gloriously so — in this gleefully adoring and enjoyable action-comedy.
-
Travel & Leisure
Where Plants Meets Science: Virtual Laboratory
Visit this interactive digital space for beauty education and plant-powered skincare prizes.
-
Arts & Entertainment
Botanica: Contemporary Art Outside 2022
This dazzling after-dark festival turns Brisbane's City Botanic Gardens into a luminous outdoor art gallery.
-
Food & Drink
Urban Cocktail Trail 2022
Track down cocktails like Pokémon at this self-guided tour of CBD bars.
-
Food & Drink
Urban Wine Walk Brisbane Autumn 2022
Take your love of wine to the streets on this self-guided stroll between Brisbane bars.
-
Food & Drink
Sea to the City 2022
Feast your way through the ocean's finest while strolling from Eagle Street Pier to Customs House.
-
Food & Drink
Dine BNE City 2022
Cheap lunches, ten-course Italian degustations, wine walks and oyster trails — this month-long food program has it all.
-
Arts & Entertainment
Bricktionary: The Interactive Lego Brick Exhibition
Check out the A-to-Z of Lego — including more than 150 impressive models, plus six interactive building zones.
-
Arts & Entertainment
Happening
Winner of the 2021's Venice Film Festival Golden Lion, this French drama about abortion in the 1960s is haunting, confronting and important.
-
Arts & Entertainment
Vivid Sydney 2022
Vivid Sydney's annual festival of light, music and ideas is back to transform the city once again.
-
Arts & Entertainment
The Art of the Heist
GOMA's Australian Cinémathèque is dedicating two months to movies about heists — from Hitchcock right through to 'Hustlers'.
-
Arts & Entertainment
Everything Everywhere All At Once
Michelle Yeoh navigates the multiverse in this bold, clever, revelatory and gloriously chaotic funhouse of a film from the directors of 'Swiss Army Man'.
-
Food & Drink
Australian Cocktail Month 2022
Twenty-five of Brisbane's favourite bars are whipping up exclusive cocktails during this month-long festival of booze.
-
Arts & Entertainment
Gigs & Picnics 2022
Listen to free live music and grab snacks from food trucks at this free monthly hangout in the Brisbane City Botanic Gardens.
-
Arts & Entertainment
The Lost City
Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum's combined charms go a long way in this breezily entertaining action-adventure rom-com.
-
Travel & Leisure
Portside Wharf Mother's Day Market
Find a last-minute gift for your mum — or treat yourself to art, plants, ceramics, accessories and more.
-
Arts & Entertainment
Even Cheaper Budget Tuesdays at Dendy Cinemas
Head to Dendy Coorparoo for a tenner every Tuesday — or hit up Portside for $8.
-
Arts & Entertainment
Ambulance
OTT car chases, constantly zipping camerawork, a villainous Jake Gyllenhaal — when Michael Bay's latest high-intensity action flick works, it's a wildly entertaining ride.
-
Arts & Entertainment
Spanish Film Festival 2022
Movies starring Penélope Cruz, Antonio Banderas and Javier Bardem feature prominently in this year's 34-film showcase of Spanish and Latin American cinema.
-
Food & Drink
One-Cent Wings at Beerhaus
Tuck into cheap chook pieces in Bowen Hills every Thursday night.
-
Arts & Entertainment
Brisbane Street Art Festival 2022
Brisbane's annual celebration of street art is back with its largest festival yet — including 50 new large-scale murals popping up around town.
-
Arts & Entertainment
Green Jam 2022
Listen to live tunes for free on QPAC's Melbourne Street Green every Friday afternoon.
-
Food & Drink
Two-for-One Gyoza Plates
Double your dumpling fix for the same price every Tuesday at Harajuku Gyoza.
-
Food & Drink
Vegan Mondays 2022
Brisbane's huge riverside brewery serves up two-for-one vegan and vegetarian meals every week.
-
Arts & Entertainment
Making Place: 100 Views of Brisbane
With artwork dating back two centuries, this city-focused exhibition surveys pieces that've captured Brisbane and its changes.
-
Arts & Entertainment
Museum of Brisbane's Public Art Walking Tour 2022
Spend an afternoon exploring Brisbane's stunning outdoor art.
-
Travel & Leisure
Victoria Park Candyland Putt Putt 2022
Victoria Park is giving its mini golf course a candy-themed makeover so you can get tap, tap, tapping this Easter.
-
Travel & Leisure
Teneriffe Festival 2022
Celebrate this inner-city Brisbane suburb at a day-long street party filled with tunes, food, markets and booze.
-
Arts & Entertainment
'Speed': The Movie, The Play
Revisit the movie 'Speed' from the backseat of a real bus.
-
Arts & Entertainment
GC Laughs Festival
Get giggling on the Gold Coast with more than 30 comedy shows over six nights.
-
Food & Drink
Big Band Cabaret — Dinner and Show
Bright lights, glitz and a drag queen bubbling with charisma — lose yourself in a no-expense-spared fantasy.
-
Arts & Entertainment
Brisbane Writers Festival 2022
Back for a huge in-person event, this year's BWF features events at The Zoo, the RE and Sunnybank's Landmark Restaurant, alongside the State Library of Queensland and local libraries around town.
-
Food & Drink
R&B Brunch
Pair margaritas, pancakes, avocado on sourdough, bacon and eggs, and brie and crackers with old-school 90s and early 00s R&B tunes once a month.
-
Arts & Entertainment
Acoustic Wednesdays 2022
Improve your Wednesday with free live tunes over a brew in this leafy beer garden.
-
Arts & Entertainment
Blue Assembly: Oceanic Thinking
Take a dive into this ocean-focused exhibition, which showcases creative ways of thinking about earth's blue spaces.
-
Travel & Leisure
Gasworks Markets 2022
Shop for fashion, art, homewares, plants and ceramics beneath Newstead's heritage-listed old gasometer.
-
Food & Drink
Rita's Bottomless Brunch
Margarita jugs and tacos are on the menu every Sunday in Teneriffe.
-
Food & Drink
Cheese Wheel Wednesdays 2022
Eat creamy pasta scooped out of a wheel of cheese every week.
-
Food & Drink
All-You-Can-Eat Pizza Mondays 2022
Devour all the slices of pizza you can handle in 90 minutes for $25 — with a drink purchase.
-
Arts & Entertainment
'The Room' Monthly Screenings
The worst movie you'll ever see never stops selling out screenings.
-
Food & Drink
Fresh Blood Brisbane 2022
Taste your way through new drops from emerging South Australian winemakers.
-
Food & Drink
Triple T Tuesdays
Spend your Tuesday night tucking into tacos, drinking tequila and playing trivia at Bloodhound Bar.
-
Food & Drink
Bottomless Gin Brunches 2022
Sip gin cocktails, sangria and Pimm's cups over a shareboard brunch.
-
Travel & Leisure
CluedUpp: Crime Scene Investigator
Take to the streets of Brisbane to solve this interactive murder-mystery.
-
Travel & Leisure
Tides of Brisbane Boat Tour 2022
Hit the water from the City Botanic Gardens to spend three hours floating past historic landmarks.
-
Arts & Entertainment
The Big Anxiety Festival 2022
The mental health and arts festival is coming to Brisbane for the first time.
-
Arts & Entertainment
Brisbane Comedy Festival 2022
Brisbane's annual laughfest returns in April and May, with Nazeem Hussain, Ross Noble, Tom Ballard and Melanie Bracewell on the bill.
-
Arts & Entertainment
Synthony Australia 2022
A 60-plus piece orchestra performs 30 years of dance floor bangers.
-
Food & Drink
Sundays at City Winery
Sip frosé slushies, hit up the oyster bar and listen to live tunes at Brisbane's inner-city winery.
-
Food & Drink
Bottomless Sunday Brunch at Three Blue Ducks
Start your Sunday with a boozy brunch, then hang out by the pool all day.
-
Arts & Entertainment
Good Love Festival
Southeast Queensland's waterside reggae festival is back — with a new name, and in a new location.
-
Food & Drink
Sky-High Sundays
Brisbane's latest rooftop bar is serving up soda cocktails, Mediterranean-inspired dishes and R&B tunes every Sunday.
-
Food & Drink
Brisbane Distillery's True Spirit Bus
Stop by Riverside Markets every Sunday for tastings and cocktail flights.
-
Food & Drink
Pinot Palooza 2022
Two days dedicated to tasting the best burgundy from the southern hemisphere.
-
Arts & Entertainment
Potted Potter: The Unauthorised Harry Experience
Relive the wizarding franchise's seven magical books in 70 minutes.
-
Arts & Entertainment
Imaginaria
A multi-sensory playground with light-filled mazes and inflatable bubbles is taking over South Bank.