MIFF 2026 WRAP-UP

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MIFF Awards Ceremony, The Rydges Hotel. Photo: Alex De Paulis

Alex De Paulis attended the closing night awards ceremony at the Melbourne International Film Festival on August 29 and reports.

Champagne flowed and filmmakers networked at the city's theatre district hotel The Rydges for the announcing of the MIFF (Melbourne International Film Festival) filmmaking winners. Deliberating on the Bright Horizons Award and the Blackmagic Design Australian Innovation Award is an esteemed international jury led by Jury President and Australian filmmaker Sophie Hyde (Jimpa, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande) and including Desiree Akhavan, Courtney Eaton, Noora Niasari, Joe Swanberg and Tan Si En. Filmmakers from Australia, France and Mexico took home life-changing cash prizes and almost certain opportunity to keep making movies, as Alex De Paulis reports from the August 29 event.

In his address to the crowd, MIFF Artistic Director Al Cossar described the festival as a “city takeover of cinema” and described cinema as the “heartbeat” of the city of Melbourne. He later told The Burne how honored the festival was to share so much great Australian cinema. “MIFF is the biggest festival presenter of Australian cinema in the world,” he said. “We look far and wide as to what is happening in our own backyard and there are Australian filmmakers working internationally that I think are taking some really fascinating swings in different directions.” He added, “we always respond to films that kind of take the leap tonally and try to meet audiences somewhere they haven't been before, so when we see that kind of ambition with Australian filmmaking, we're enthusiastic and excited to share it with audiences.”

Comedian and host of the awards event, Rhys Nicholson, described MIFF as “this time when we become a purely international city… with the influx of artists coming to hang around MIFF, you see your idol sitting and watching a film. It’s artists supporting artists,” he adds, “and that’s a treat.”

AND THE WINNERS ARE….

Bright Horizons Award

Prize: A$140kSupported by VicScreen

Winner: French debut feature ‘La Gradiva’, directed by Marine Atlan

In her pre-recorded acceptance speech, the French filmmaker quoted Agnes Varda, who said, “cinema is my home, I think I’ve always lived in it.” Atlan is a long-time cinematographer and first-time director of this original coming of age film about a teacher and her students on a life-affirming excursion to Mount Vesuvius.

La Gravida, Bright Horizons award winning film (Photo courtesy MIFF)

Best Director Award

Prize: A$50k & Black Magic URSA Cine 12K camera valued at A$27,500.

Supported by Black Magic Design

Winner: Dario Russo, for his Australian debut feature, The Fox.

The shape-shifting black comedy about a talking fox stars Jai Courtney, Emily Browning and the late Sam Neill, in one of his final roles. Russo thanked his entire crew and his supportive parents for “never telling [him] to get a real job.”

The Fox stars Damon Herriman and Jai Courtney (courtesy: MIFF)

The Uncle Jack Charles Award

Supported by the MIFF Lumiere Patrons

Winner: Director Talia Liddle was recognized as an outstanding Australian First Nations creative within a film playing in the 2026 program for her documentary short, ‘Protest on the Dance floor’.

As Mystery Road star and jury member Mark Coles Smith eloquently described the namesake of the award - the prolific Australian actor, patron of the arts and ambassador for MIFF – as “a torchbearer for those whose stories have been silenced.” The short documentary explores the power of dancing in the Aboriginal community in Naarm/Melbourne, and Liddle emphasised in her speech how their community uses dance as a means to become “creative architects of their lives.”

Protest on the Dance Floor (photo courtesy MIFF)

The Audience Award

Supported by Intrepid Travel

Winner: Hard As Puck, a documentary from Australian filmmaker Isaac Elliot about a mixed-gender para-ice hockey team in Western Australia with plenty of underdog charm that showcases the importance of community sport.