Melbourne International Film Festival's 2025 Lineup Spans Kristen Stewart's Directorial Debut, New Aussie Horror and 270-Plus Other Titles

If there's one word that every film festival hopes will be used to describe the experience of watching your way through its program, it's this: discovery. Maybe you'll find your new favourite movie among its lineup. Perhaps you'll glean a fresh understanding of a particular director or actor's talents. You might see a star better known for their work on-screen blossom behind the camera. You'll also hopefully peer far beyond your own patch of the world. You could become a convert to a genre or a champion of a specific topic, too. The number of ways that sitting in a cinema can prove revealing, an unearthing and an exploration goes on. They all apply to the just-announced roster of titles for 2025's Melbourne International Film Festival — a list more than 275 flicks deep.

Across Thursday, August 7–Sunday, August 24, MIFF is where The Chronology of Water, the feature directorial debut of Kristen Stewart (Love Lies Bleeding), will screen for the first time Down Under — and where Urchin, which notches up the same feat for Babygirl's Harris Dickinson, will as well. Both are heading to Melbourne fresh from their Cannes premieres. The Victorian capital's major annual film fest will also give the city its initial chance to see early pandemic-set western Eddington from Ari Aster (Beau Is Afraid), celebrate a music icon with the world premiere of Jimmy Barnes: Working Class Man, enjoy the full Norwegian Sex trilogy that culminated with 2025 Berlinale Golden Bear-recipient Dreams (Sex Love), get unsettled by Daisy Ridley (Cleaner)-led Australian found-footage horror We Bury the Dead, take the family to animated sequel The Bad Guys 2 based on Aussie author Aaron Blabey's books, pay tribute to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and much, much more.

As it does every year, the Melbourne International Film Festival has been unveiling pieces of its 2025 lineup over the course of a month or so. Accordingly, movie lovers should already know that If I Had Legs I'd Kick You starring Rose Byrne (Physical) is the fest's opening-night pick, that Parasite composer Jung Jae-il is coming to Australia to conduct the movie's score live in an Aussie exclusive and that the Cannes Palme d'Or-winning It Was Just an Accident by Jafar Panahi (No Bears) is on the lineup, too — plus The Passion of Joan of Arc with a new score by Julia Holter performed live and a heap of other titles. One film that was previously announced is Richard Linklater's (Hit Man) Blue Moon with Ethan Hawke (Leave the World Behind), Margaret Qualley (The Substance) and Andrew Scott (Ripley), but it's now just one of two of the director's features on the bill. The other: Nouvelle Vague, with the American helmer bringing the French New Wave to life.

Her Smell's Alex Ross Perry is another filmmaker with two titles on the lineup. With Videoheaven, a movie essay solely comprised from movie and TV clips, he pays tribute to the video-store era — and with Pavements, he focuses on the band Pavement via an experimental blend of documentary, narrative, musical and more. The director is among MIFF's 2025 guests as well, including as a juror for its Bright Horizons award, the fest's $140,000 official competition for filmmakers that was introduced back in 2022. After Aftersun screened in the comp's debut year, its filmmaker Charlotte Wells is this year's jury president.

The aforementioned Urchin and If I Had Legs I'd Kick You are in the running for 2025's Bright Horizon prize, as are the likes of Cannes hit Sound of Falling, Un Certain Regard award-winner The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo, the Bangkok-set A Useful Ghost, and Matthew McConaughey (Agent Elvis)- and Kurt Russell (Monarch: Legacy of Monsters)-starring crime-thriller The Rivals of Amziah King.

It isn't hard to find more standouts across the complete MIFF program, such as dramedy Sorry, Baby, which has had the film festival circuit talking since Sundance; Left-Handed Girl, with first-time director Shih-Ching Tsou boasting Anora Oscar-winner Sean Baker as her co-writer and editor; legal drama Two Prosecutors; and Kelly Reichardt's (Showing Up) Josh O'Connor (Challengers)-led The Mastermind. Others include O'Connor again in the small town-set Rebuilding, coming-of-age story Enzo from BPM (Beats Per Minute)'s Robin Campillo, Wagner Moura's (Dope Thief) Cannes-winning performance in The Secret Agent, Bi Gan's (Long Day's Journey Into Night) Resurrection, the surveillance culture examination of documentary The Perfect Neighbor, 1000 Women in Horror's cinematic celebration, Aussie animation Lesbian Space Princess, the true crime-focused Zodiac Killer Project, Peter Dinklage (Wicked) as The Toxic Avenger and horror-comedy Zombucha! with Jackie van Beek (Audrey).

The festival's retrospectives titles are always a highlight, and 2025's picks are no different — whether you're keen to mark 25 years since Looking for Alibrandi reached the screen via a 4K restoration; also see Sweetie, the debut feature from Jane Campion (The Power of the Dog), get the same restored treatment; flash back to BMX Bandits; or work your way through MIFF's largest-ever tribute to a single director via the 27-film Chantal Akerman: Traces strand.

Hitting up a picture palace in metro Melbourne isn't the only way to dive into MIFF 2025, as has also become the case every year, thanks to both its regional screenings in cinemas across the rest of Victoria and the fest's nationwide online program on ACMI's streaming platform Cinema 3. The former runs across Friday, August 15–Sunday, August 17 and Friday, August 22–Sunday, August 24, while the latter will get you tuning in virtually from Friday, August 15–Sunday, August 31.

"MIFF returns to illuminate the dark depths of Melbourne winter with a globetrotting array of exceptional cinema, incredible experiences, and the biggest festival celebration of Australian filmmaking on the planet," explains MIFF Artistic Director Al Cossar about this year's lineup.

"With over 275 films across 18 days in cinema, weekend regional expansions across Victoria and a further week online available at your place, all around Australia, MIFF is an invitation to discover a world of film, and the world on film; to up-res your cinephile credentials, and to binge your way through an epic program brimming with imagination and ideas."

The 2025 Melbourne International Film Festival runs from Thursday, August 7–Sunday, August 24 at a variety of venues around Melbourne; from Friday, August 15–Sunday, August 17 and Friday, August 22–Sunday, August 24 in regional Victoria; and online nationwide from Friday, August 15–Sunday, August 31. For further details and tickets, head to the MIFF website.