Olivia Colman and Alexander Skarsgård lead this cheeky, star-studded and irresistible fable about a cranky fisherwoman and the sexy handwoven husband she wishes for.

In a seaside village lost to time, a fisherwoman delivers the food relied on by the townsfolk, who barely tolerate her cantankerous presence. Unexpectedly named the next to wed and sick of the disdain, she commissions the local basketmaker to weave her the perfect husband, and he goes above and beyond. When you’re married to the hottest and handiest man around, however, jealousies inevitably flare up.

Adapting Ursula Wills-Jones’s 2008 short story, this Sundance-premiering twist on a period love story – directed by Australian-born Eleanor Wilson and filmmaking (as well as real-life) partner Alex Huston Fischer, and including MIFF Accelerator alum David Michôd among its producers – is at once ingenious and charmingly irreverent. But it’s no straw-man depiction of middle-aged sexual wish fulfilment: the film uses its whimsical premise to critique small-mindedness, superstition and overzealous conservatism. Olivia Colman goes all-in for a role that recalls her fiery turn in The Favourite, while Alexander Skarsgård (Lee, MIFF 2024) is magnetic as a creature with more humanity than his human counterparts – testament to the practical effects by Joe Dunckley (Avatar) and WETA Workshop. Capped off with transportive cinematography by Oscar winner Lol Crawley (The Brutalist) and counting Peter Dinklage (The Toxic Avenger, MIFF 2025), Richard E. Grant and Melbourne’s own Elizabeth Debicki (The Tale, MIFF 2018) among its cast, Wicker is a fantasy romance that asks whether we truly know our heart’s desire.

“Quirky, winsome and enjoyably tart … a film full of lively personality and possessed of a rather humane outlook on our petty foibles.” – The Hollywood Reporter

Unclassified 18+

MIFF Opening Night: WICKER *SOLD OUT*

Archibald Prize–selected painter Digby Webster and his girlfriend, trainee chef Camille Collins, have been mutually smitten since they first met eight years ago in a Sydney pub. Living with Down syndrome and now in their thirties, they imagine a future of wedded bliss, children and a home of their own – but more difficult truths have to be embraced first, as they navigate the demands of jobs and devoted parents who tend to squeeze the brakes on their loftier ambitions. As the couple experience numerous small frustrations and triumphs from moment to moment, however, their passion for one another never wavers.

Award-winning filmmaker Trevor Graham (Chef Antonio’s Recipes for Revolution, MIFF 2021) worked closely with Webster to co-author this unique, heartwarming documentary consisting of fly-on-the-wall footage filmed over several years alongside animated flights of fancy inspired by Webster’s art. Supported by the MIFF Premiere Fund, Digby & Camille ditches the ‘inspirational’ sheen of so many films about disability for a sensitive and honest portrayal of everyday life – one that might just renew your faith in the power of love.

MIFF: Digby & Camille

From chart-topper to tabloid fodder and back again, the legendary British rock balladeer Marianne Faithfull reflects candidly on her storied past.

Plucked from obscurity by the manager of The Rolling Stones, Marianne Faithfull had her first hit in 1964 with ‘As Tears Go By’. She was 17. Hers would be a monumental career spanning six decades, punctuated by both high-profile love affairs and highly publicised struggles with drug abuse, anorexia and homelessness. But, for all its wealth of archival materials, Broken English is no conventional rock doc. Here, in a playful but sincere twist, the husky-voiced chanteuse is interviewed by a record keeper (George MacKay, Rose of Nevada, MIFF 2026) at the fictional Ministry of Not Forgetting – a bureaucratic institution overseen by none other than Tilda Swinton – while luminaries such as Courtney Love and Beth Orton chime in with their own reflections.

Directors Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard have specialised in immersive, form-defying documentaries built around musicians, from Nick Cave in 20,000 Days on Earth (MIFF 2014) to Emiliana Torrini in The Extraordinary Miss Flower (MIFF 2025). This inventive portrait of a legendary singer-songwriter is suffused with a particular, unanticipated pathos: Faithfull died in January 2025 while the film was still in production, making the rendition we see of her 2018 track ‘Misunderstanding’ – accompanied by Cave and Warren Ellis – her final recorded performance.

“Broken English is not just a documentary about Faithfull, it’s a film which is fully infused with her distinctive spirit – it is free, candid and rebellious to the core.” – Screen Daily

Unclassified 15+

MIFF: Broken English

Followed by Q&A with director Arlo Dean Cook & Jebediah band member, Vanessa Thornton.

Take a 30-year journey with the beloved Australian alternative rock band, from humble beginnings to the harder aspects of growing up.

Perth alt rockers Jebediah were a breed apart in the halcyon days of the late-90s and early-2000s Australian indie music scene. In stark contrast to the often volatile and soon-to-splinter groups they toured with, the easygoing quartet – lead singer Kevin Mitchell (aka Bob Evans), his drummer brother Brett, bassist Ness Thornton and lead guitarist Chris Daymond – stuck fast to one another. Commanding national attention on Triple J and soon channelling the cred of multiple studio albums into their own record label, Jebediah seemed like quintessential industry survivors. But as the band entered its third decade, the freewheeling lifestyle of their youth had begun to cast a shadow. With recreation shifting to addiction and connections fraying, will these lifelong friends and creative partners find a way to keep the music alive?

Built from a wealth of archival and home-movie footage ranging from the band’s humble high school beginnings through to the current day, as well as firsthand perspectives from local music icons such as Tim Rogers, Phil Jamieson and Janet English, Arlo Dean Cook’s MIFF Premiere Fund–supported documentary is a rocking roller-coaster ride and a candid cautionary tale about the price of fame.

MIFF: Jebediah: Are We OK? + Q&A

A chicken crosses the road and discovers adventure on the other side in this offbeat, moving and utterly unique bird’s-eye view on the suffering of the world.

A poultry transport driver steals a factory-farmed hen, planning to put her in a tasty soup. When he stops his truck at a servo, she escapes, evading a hungry fox and braving a busy highway before getting cooped up in a run-down seaside restaurant. All she wants is to find a safe nest to brood her own chicks – but as she repeatedly strives to find out what becomes of her eggs, she encounters a world in which hens aren’t the only creatures to be exploited.

Fans of animal-centred dramas like Andrea Arnold’s Cow (MIFF 2021) and Jerzy Skolimowski’s EO (MIFF 2022) – or even the Oscar-winning animation Flow (MIFF 2024) – will adore this feathery fancy from György Pálfi (Taxidermia, MIFF 2006). Filmed vividly at chook’s-eye level, its allegory is compelling but never didactic, witty without being gimmicky. There are no animatronics or CGI – just thrilling action and set pieces that need to be seen to be believed, along with the genuine emotion that the inimitable Hungarian auteur draws from an all-star flock of trained birds.

“A tour de force in terms of its mise en scène … It’s a funny, animal-focused ‘coming of age’ tale with no shortage of comic overtones, which casts a very serious sidelong glance at human morality.” – Cineuropa

Unclassified 15+

MIFF: HEN

Olivier and Tony® Award winner Lesley Manville (Phantom Thread) joins Aidan Turner (Rivals) in a striking new staging of Christopher Hampton’s celebrated adaptation of the classic novel, where among the glittering salons of the super-rich, one misstep can mean ruin.

Marquise de Merteuil is a master in the art of survival. Alongside the magnetic Vicomte de Valmont, they turn seduction into strategy and weaponise desire. But when their alliance collapses into rivalry, the battle between them threatens to destroy everyone in their path.

Filmed live on stage at the National Theatre, Marianne Elliott (Angels in America) directs this thrilling game of love, lies, and social warfare.

NT Live: Les Liaisons Dangereuses

Sandra Hüller’s knockout, Silver Bear–winning performance anchors this tragic folktale about a woman who poses as a male soldier in 17th-century Germany.

From the battlefields of the Thirty Years’ War, a soldier arrives in a small German village carrying a document proving his inheritance of a local farm. Facially scarred by a bullet wound, this mysterious figure proves himself to be hardworking and brave, and slowly but surely insinuates himself into the community. But the soldier has a secret: he is, in fact, a woman named Rose masquerading as a man. When she is married off to a neighbour’s daughter – with children expected from the union – Rose’s deception is put to the test.

Sandra Hüller, the Academy Award–nominated star of Anatomy of a Fall (MIFF 2023), gives a tour-de-force performance as Rose that earned her the Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance at this year’s Berlinale. Taking real-world inspiration from the notorious case of Martin Guerre, as well as hundreds of historical accounts of gender transgression, Markus Schleinzer’s (Angelo, MIFF 2019) third feature is a fascinating fictional character study.

“Not since Sally Potter’s breakout feature Orlando has a film explored gender privilege so effectively through a historical lens and via a singularly astounding European actress.” – IndieWire

Unclassified 18+

MIFF: Rose

Iceland’s glaciers – once imposing, now imperilled – loom over a personal journey through generations in Sara Dosa’s follow-up to Fire of Love.

The first Icelandic glacier was declared lost to climate change in 2019; recent studies project that, in 200 years, the country will be entirely ice-free. For celebrated author Andri Snær Magnason, the layers of history melting along with the ice have a personal connection: in the 1950s, his grandparents were among the first to explore Iceland’s glaciers, capturing their splendour in incredible colour footage that we see alongside Magnason’s own home movies.

Infusing chilly facts with a lyrical sensibility, this awe-inspiring documentary brings big environmental questions into focus through the lens of personal history. It’s a balancing act that director Sara Dosa already perfected in her breakout Fire of Love (MIFF 2022), which shone a new light on the work of pioneering volcanologist couple Katia and Maurice Krafft. Arriving at MIFF via Sundance, SXSW and CPH:DOX, Time and Water is a moving meditation on what once was, and what has already vanished.

“A poetic musing on intergenerational memory, a whimsical, yet staunchly political elegy for the glaciers, and a mournful look at the Earth in all her majesty and mystery.” – IndieWire

Unclassified 15+

MIFF: Time and Water

Viewer Advice: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers should be aware that these films contain images, voices or names of deceased persons. Contains stroboscopic imagery.

MIFF and NITV, supported by VicScreen, present four original and compelling short documentaries exploring Treaty as lived experience.

In these shorts, all from Victoria-based First Peoples writers and directors, the Wotjobaluk Nations’ underdog fight for recognition is explored; a dialogue with Senator Lidia Thorpe reveals insights into the personal impact of Treaty and sovereignty; dance floors are revealed as spaces of sovereignty, connection and liberation; and we encounter the intertwined lives of three women, each embodying a different stage of First Nations hope in Victoria’s fight for sovereignty.

Films in this package: Dya (Country) (dir. Tracey Rigney), Protest on the Dancefloor (dir. Talia Liddle), Queens To The Front (dir. Tammy Lee Rock) and Slow Hours (dir. Theo McMahon).

Unclassified 15+

MIFF: Sovereign Shorts

Followed by Q&A with director Harvey Zielinski.

After being mistaken for his brother, a young trans man adapts to a precarious new life in his estranged father’s rural town.

City boy Jake is at a loose end. Unemployed, single and holed up in a granny flat behind his family home, he lives in the shadow of his cisgender twin brother, successful real estate agent Sam. On an impulse, he takes a trip to the remote country town of Sweet Milk, where his terminally ill, estranged father (Kieran Darcy-Smith) still lives, totally unaware that Jake has transitioned. When his dad mistakes him for Sam and Jake misses the moment to correct him, an unforeseen opportunity lands in his lap: to fit in as masculine in a place where nobody suspects he’s trans. Adopting Sam’s identity, he manages to connect with his father for the first time, while a budding romance with local Toby (Hunter Page-Lochard, Kid Snow, MIFF 2024) – himself an outsider in this macho setting – offers further reinvigoration. But the longer Jake spends in Sweet Milk, the more tangled the web he weaves. How long can he hold on to his secret, and what will happen if the truth gets out?

Drawing on his own experiences, debut filmmaker Harvey Zielinski also stars in the dual roles of Jake and Sam in this fish-out-of-water dramedy supported by the MIFF Premiere Fund – a raw, sensitive tale about the long road to self-acceptance and the lies we feel we need to tell to fit in.

MA15+

MIFF: Sweet Milk Lake + Q&A

This distinctly Māori Gothic horror, set in a haunted seaside manor, tells a terrifying tale of dark family secrets and one woman’s wrath in the face of colonial violence.

In 1859, Māori teacher Mary Stevens receives a mysterious letter summoning her from Aotearoa New Zealand to North Yorkshire, England, with the promise of revelations about her family history. Upon her arrival, lord of the local manor Nathaniel Cole offers Mary board and work as a governess for his niece. Nathaniel proudly shows off his collection of Māori artefacts and fluency in te reo Māori; he claims to have a deep affection for Mary’s culture and people. But the longer Mary stays in the windswept manor, the more she senses someone – or something – in the house is trying to communicate a grave warning.

Taratoa Stappard’s striking debut feature is a chilling ghost story reckoning with the violence of British colonialism, taking the tropes and visual language of classic Victorian Gothic horror and redeploying them through a uniquely Māori lens. Ariāna Osborne runs the gamut from grief to righteous fury in her ferocious performance as Mary, while the lavish costume and production design combine with the tale to elevate Mārama to the pantheon of great ghost stories.

“A phenomenal debut, a confident piece of work that takes a familiar genre and makes it feel perfect for the story it’s telling.” – RogerEbert.com

MA15+

MIFF: Mārama

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of their award-winning debut album Glorious Heights, Montaigne is heading out on national tour to sing, dance, laugh and cry with fans old and new! Experience the album played in full with a sprinkling of beloved tunes from other eras when they hit the road in August 2026.

This historic celebration comes off the back of a motley crew of career successes, including: releasing their first independent and self-produced album it’s hard to be a fish in 2025, amassing over 64 million streams on their song 'Red Flags' with Tom Cardy, a 31 date tour of Europe and the UK alongside Eurovision collaborator Dadi Freyr, and earning a Grammy nomination for their collaboration with acclaimed indie composer Austin Wintory.

Grounded as a person but elevated as a performer, Montaigne is one of those rare artists whose talent and skill on stage and off is rivalled by their ability to connect authentically with their audience, finding joy, humour, and catharsis in every performance.

Expect powerhouse vocals, theatrical movement inspired by friend and collaborator David Byrne, a strong sense of community, and a warm, inclusive space for all. It’s time to reach glorious heights!

“glorious to watch and hear.” - themusic.com.au

"Montaigne possesses an incredible, swooping voice, sitting somewhere between Kate Bush and Lola Young, and keeps the crowd in the metaphorical palm of their hand” - God Is In The TV, UK concert review

Presented by Select Music.

Montaigne - Glorious Heights 10th Anniversary Tour

Theatre Royal

LIVE ENTERTAINMENT
Since 1854
Established in 1854, Theatre Royal began its life providing live entertainment for the thousands of diggers who migrated to central Victoria in search of gold. 

One of the first "picture palaces" to screen silent movies in 1919 and then the 'talkies' followed, Theatre Royal is firmly cemented in the evolution of Australian cinema. 

Proudly one of the oldest continuously operating theatres in the Southern Hemisphere, this historical business also holds an important place in the hearts of the Castlemaine community, coming to represent the beating heart of our vibrant, artistic town. 

A cinema, a live music venue, a bar, a bottle shop and a cultural institution all housed within a heritage listed building, Theatre Royal is a truly unique place.

ALWAYS WAS, ALWAYS WILL BE.

The Theatre Royal Castlemaine stands on Dja Dja Wurrung country. We acknowledge and pay our respects to the Dja Dja Wurrung people, as the traditional custodians of this land, and to their Elders past, present and emerging. We extend that respect to any First Nations people who are viewing this today. We acknowledge that Aboriginal sovereignty has not been ceded.

THE ICONIC THEATRE ROYAL PROVIDES THE PERFECT PLACE FOR A  UNIQUE EVENT

Share your memorable event inside this iconic venue that has hosted world class performers from around the globe and enjoy the Theatre Royal’s warm hospitality. 

TR offers a unique space as a wedding or party venue, allowing you and your cohorts to take over the venue and put on your own rock and roll party! A large, paved, beautiful garden space can hold up to 300 people for a ceremony outdoors before heading inside to make full use of the famous music venue’s stage, dance floor, cinema screen and historical atmosphere.

Live out your rockstar or cinematic fantasy and make use of the Greenroom! Couples and their closest friends can make use of the backstage accommodation, which features two double rooms and separate bathroom with claw-foot bath

Theatre Royal

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