Melbourne International Film Festival Reveals First Lineup for 2016

Melbourne film buffs, you'd best get all the sunlight and exercise you can now, because the 2016 Melbourne International Film Festival is a-coming. The city's annual celebration of cinema might still be two months away, however with sneak peeks of this year's lineup popping up thick and fast, that time is certain to fly by.

We already know that MIFF 2016 is set to kick off their 65th fest with Aussie sci-fi effort The Death and Life of Otto Bloom. We also know they'll be highlighting the big screen possibilities of virtual reality and offer an impressive eight-film program for audiences of all ages. Now, the first MIFF program has dropped, giving you more features, documentaries and shorts to look forward to — 37 more, in fact.

Showcasing all things local courtesy of the fest's premiere fund, which helps finance Aussie flicks, five other homegrown films with receive their world premiere at this year's MIFF. And with psychological thriller Bad Girl, dance documentary Ella, artistic portrait Monsieur Mayonnaise, cult expose The Family and the delightfully titled Emo (the Musical) on the bill, they're certainly a varied bunch.

Looking further afield, the 2016 selection also includes the highly anticipated likes of Mia Hansen-Løve's Things to Come, which won the filmmaker the best director prize in Berlin; love-focused anthology offering Madly, featuring chapters helmed by Mia Wasikowska, Gael García Bernal and Bat for Lashes' singer/songwriter Natasha Khan; and Japanese effort Happy Hour, which has been called a cross between 13-hour French New Wave effort Out 1 and Sex and the City. Louis Theroux: My Scientology Movie stands out among the docos announced, and don't overlook the shorts, either. That's where you'll find the Danny DeVito-directed Curmudgeons, as well as Guy Maddin's psychedelic and satirical making-of effort Bring Me The Head Of Tim Horton.

Plus, in excellent news for Melburnians harbouring a severe case of film fest envy, a whole heap of movies that are about to grace Sydney's own event are also on the lineup. They include Aussie comedy Down Under in MIFF's centrepiece spot, Greek oddity Chevalier, quirky local coming-of-age film Girl Asleep, Sundance hit Certain Women, and the Tom Hiddleston-starring social satire High-Rise. Werner Herzog waxing lyrical about the internet in Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World, Laurie Anderson's intimate and affecting Heart of a Dog, behind-the-scenes political documentary Weiner, and competitive tickling portrait Tickled are also among the titles revealed so far — and yes, the list goes on.

Basically, all this alone is enough to induce a bout of scheduling anxiety, and that's without seeing the rest of the couple of hundred films in the complete, yet-to-be-unveiled program. Of course, if you're anything like us, you don't even need exact details of what's showing when to know that you'll be spending all of MIFF looking at a cinema screen.

The Melbourne International Film Festival runs from July 28 to August 14. For more information, visit the MIFF website — and check back on July 5, when the full program is announced.