MIFF Autumn Screenings - My Favourite Cake

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.
 

My Favourite Cake

Tender and funny yet politically daring, this double-Berlinale-winning late-life romance is guaranteed to steal your heart.

At 70, retired nurse Mahin lives alone in Tehran; her husband is long dead, and her daughter and grandchildren reside abroad. She’s of a mind to do as she pleases: sleeping in ’til noon, gossiping bawdily with friends and defending a girl whom the morality police have accused of an improperly worn hijab. But she’s lonely, too – so she decides it’s time to find herself a new man. That’s how Mahin ends up inviting Faramarz, an unmarried taxi driver her own age, to her home for an intimate night of orange-blossom sponge cake, illicit wine and company.

Winning the Berlinale’s FIPRESCI Prize and Ecumenical Jury Prize, My Favourite Cake is warm, charming and incisive in its depiction of older women’s inner lives – but it also breaks several entrenched Iranian cinematic taboos. Its subversiveness is such that writer/directors Maryam Moghadam and Behtash Sanaeeha (Ballad of a White Cow, MIFF 2021) were unable to accept their awards in person, as the Iranian government had confiscated their passports. The bubble of intimacy the film defiantly creates for Mahin and Faramarz may be even more precious because it’s so precarious.

“Deeply endearing on every level, from its anti-authoritarian politics to its body positivity to general joie de vivre, this is a crowd-pleaser through and through.” – Hollywood Reporter

This film is classified M, recommended for audiences aged 15+

Barbod
A classically trained multi-instrumentalist, Barbod brings an extensive range of styles and talents. Born in Tehran, he has a background in both Iranian Traditional music (Tar, Setar) and Jazz music (Guitar). A highlight of his repertoire is the fusion of traditional Persian music with contemporary jazz (Persian Jazz). He has also collaborated with a diverse range of musicians and projects, as a guitarist and a freelance musician.
Having studied at the Queensland and Melbourne Conservatoriums, Barbod holds a Bachelor of Music (Honours) and postgraduate qualifications in Music. He aims to forge pathways of unity between listeners of different cultural backgrounds, ultimately engendering better intercultural understandings. Barbod sees the musical exchange between cultures as a vital proactive step in a global world.