MIFF Autumn Screenings - MIFF Shorts

The Melbourne International Film Festival returns in 2025! Over four nights experience one of the world's oldest and largest film festivals under the stars in the Bunjil Place Plaza. 

With a fabulous Australian and International MIFF film program, complete with live performances, Q&As, delicious menu and complimentary drink on arrival this is an outdoor cinematic experience not to be missed! Fear not, if the weather turns the event will be brought indoors. 

Tickets are just $10 per night, or $35 for all 4 nights – and include a complimentary drink on arrival! 

Book your Film Package and don't miss out.

MIFF Shorts

Immerse yourself in a curated collection of eccentric short narratives that wrestle with identity and belonging. Experience colourful and thought-provoking stories that include the exploits of an Indigenous one-woman wrecking crew seeking justice, a sibling rivalry fuelled by the ever present need to feel included, and a trio of individuals each searching for a shared feeling of connection amongst an urban landscape.

These films are unclassified and are recommended for audiences aged 15+.

Me and Mazzy Melancholy
Director: David Tse
Duration: 13 mins

Loneliness and longing collide in this haunted nocturnal vision of a desolate Melbourne.
A Japanese man lovingly tends to a house full of plants. A Chinese immigrant wears a penguin costume at work due to social anxiety. And a kidnapper bonds with the hostage she keeps locked up in a suitcase. Melbourne has never looked so mysterious as in this 16mm-shot, vaporwave/shoegaze-scored shrine to solitude steeped in classic Wong Kar-wai, early Tsai Ming-liang and Hou Hsiao-hsien’s Millennium Mambo (MIFF 2002 & 2023).
 

Lea Tupu’anga / Mother Tongue
Director: Vea Mafile’o

A speech therapist oversells her Tongan language skills to get a job.
Hoping to land employment, a Tongan speech therapist tells a white lie – except a headstrong patient challenges her to reconnect with her heritage. Written by star Luciane Buchanan (The Night Agent) and beautifully directed by Vea Mafile‘o (For My Father’s Kingdom, MIFF 2019), this Sundance-premiering film is a poignant story of cultural dislocation and language.

In the Shadow of the Cypress
Director: Hossein Molayemi, Shirin Sohani
Duration: 19 mins

When a beached whale runs ashore, a father and daughter disagree about its fate.
An old man with PTSD lives with his daughter in a seaside house of broken glass by the ruins of an old ship. When a whale beaches itself on the nearby shore, she wants to save it – he doesn’t. This sweeping, dialogue-free parable won Best Animated Short at Tribeca.

Honey Kaha
Director: Te Waiarangi Ratana
Duration: 19 mins

This distinctively Māori spin on the mockumentary recounts the exploits of a staunch and charming police officer.
The low-budget adventures of streetwise cop Honey Kaha are brought to life by star Dr Julia Love and her dastardly former husband, Kent Barry. Drawing from 70s Blaxploitation films, Honey Kaha is a rollicking screen caper evoking the humour of Taika Waititi and Flight of the Conchords.
 

Clown
Director: Aarushi Chowdhury
Duration: 10 mins

A colourful riff on sibling rivalries and societal expectations.
An eight-year-old Indian-Australian girl just wants to play ‘serial killers’ with her older sister, who is blatantly uninterested. All the while, both are haunted by the spectre of Western beauty standards. Clown is brought to life with striking cinematography and affecting performances.
 

DJ Small FRY
Small FRY is the host of Mooncake on Triple R 102.7FM, a program that celebrates sounds from Asia and artists of the Asian diaspora. In 2021, Mooncake won the CBAA Award for Best Music Program, recognising excellence in music programming and community broadcasting. 
As a DJ, her mixes have been featured on NTS Radio, FBi Radio, Assemble Papers and Frankie Magazine. She has also performed at festivals such as Sonia Music Festival and Beyond The Valley, as well as at galleries including National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Museum, and Science Gallery. 

@smallfryhq