Shimmerlands

Overview

Just as uni students across the country start to finish their last exams for the semester and high five each other as they realise they don't have to step foot on campus for the next few months, the team from Shadow Electric decide to throw a huge two-month summer festival — at uni, of all places. And even though it's the holidays, you're definitely going to want to go back to school for it.

The organisers — who are known for their summer outdoor cinema at Abbotsford Convent, among other events — will take over the University of Melbourne's impressive Parkville campus for two whole months of music, film and, of course, food and drink. Dubbed Shimmerlands, the festival will run both day and night throughout January and February. Making the most of the ghost town that is a university during summer, they'll turn the campus into a veritable feast of cultural delights. There'll be an outdoor cinema, two performance spaces (an indoor concert hall and outdoor music amphitheatre), multiple bars and a pop-up collection of 16 of Melbourne's best restaurants.

The 45 title-strong film program has been developed by Lauren Valmadre, director of the Human Rights & Arts Film Festival. It will include the Australian premiere of The Rolling Stones Ole, Ole, Ole!: A Trip Across Latin America, as well as the new Nick Cave documentary One More Time With Feeling, Tom Ford's Nocturnal Animals and the much-anticipated La La Land.

UPDATE 21 FEBRUARY 2017: To cap off the season, Shimmerlands is throwing a big day party from 3pm on Sunday, February 26 with music from Tim Sweeney (Beats in Space), The Egyptian Lover, Awesome Tapes From Africa and Andee Frost. Tickets are available for $35 here.

Images: William Hung and Ivanna Oksenyuk.