MIFF Premiere Fund

The Premiere Fund provides co-financing to assist the production of new quality Australian feature films (narrative-drama and documentaries) which then premiere at MIFF. Films supported by the Premiere Fund are “Stories That Need Telling” and have been selected for Berlin, Cannes, London, Rotterdam, Sundance and Toronto film festival and include Balibo, Bran Nue Dae, Buoyancy, Electric Boogaloo, H is for Happiness, Paper Planes, Putuparri & the Rainmakers, These Final Hours, The Song Keepers and The Turning.

The MIFF Premiere Fund Executive Producer is Mark Woods, a former CEO of both Screen Ireland and Ausfilm as well as having served as Head of Content Investment & International Acquisitions at Showtime Australia. Prior to MIFF, Woods co-invested in and/or Executive Produced many quality productions, including Golden Globe-nominated Rabbit Proof Fence, Cannes-selected Japanese Story, Somersault, Golden Globe-nominated Breakfast on Pluto, Cannes Palme d’Or winner The Wind that Shakes the Barley, and the Oscar-winning Six Shooter.

As a strategic minority co-financier of a range of films, the Fund deepens MIFF’s relationship with filmmaking talent and builds a pipeline of quality Australian content for the festival. Now in its second decade, the Premiere Fund has a proud history of assisting the telling of a diverse range of stories from a diverse range of talent and voices; view the Premiere Fund highlights clip here.

Other key milestones include:

• Family film Paper Planes grossed almost $10 million at the Australia/NZ box office and won the inaugural CineFest $100,000 film prize in 2014
• Premiere Fund titles have won more than 80 awards and more than 300 key festival selections including Berlin (Bran Nue Dae, Buoyancy, Emo The Musical, Galore, H is for Happiness, Make Hummus Not War, Monsieur Mayonnaise, Paper Planes, The Turning); Cannes (These Final Hours); Rotterdam (Electric Boogaloo, Machete Maidens Unleashed, Not Quite Hollywood, Have You Seen the Listers?); Toronto (Balibo, Blame, Blessed, Bran Nue Dae, Butterfly Tree, Cut Snake, Downriver, Electric Boogaloo, Loved Ones, Machete Maidens Unleashed, Mother of Rock, Not Quite Hollywood, Paper Planes)
• Indigenous-themed feature documentary Putuparri & The Rainmakers won the 2015 CineFest $100,000 Film Prize, with Cinefest Jury Chair David Wenham remarking: “A story and characters so compelling and emotionally engaging that it reinforced the power of cinema to entertain, touch us deeply and stay with us forever.”
• Khmer-language anti-slavery drama Buoyancy, which Guardian Australia praised as “a powerful reminder of cinema’s ability to provide a window to the world,” won the Ecumenical Jury Prize at 2019’s Berlinale Panorama and Best Youth Feature Film at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA), and was Australia’s official entry for the 2020 Oscars;
• Acute Misfortune was named by Guardian Australia as the Best Australian Film of 2019 and one of the ten best Australian films of the decade with the publication lauding the film about late Archibald Prize-winning artist Adam Cullen as “a biopic for the ages” that explores “big ideas about the nature of Australian culture and celebrity.”
• Family film H is for Happiness selected to open Generation K-plus at Berlinale 2020 having won the 2019 CineFest $100,000 Film Prize, with Jury Chair Rachel Ward saying: “If we have the power as jurors to change the world to be a better place, then voting for H is for Happiness to win CinefestOZ 2019 is our contribution.”
• Bran Nue Dae was voted top film overall by MIFF 2009 audiences and went onto a top-grossing Australian release as well as being selected for Toronto, London, Dubai 2009 Film Festivals and Sundance and Berlin 2010 Film Festivals
• Balibo was voted second favourite movie by audiences at MIFF 2009 (where the presence of Jose Ramos Horta generated saturation press coverage) and was selected for 2009 London, Busan and Toronto Film Festivals and won two AFIs.
• Premiere Fund films are routinely voted in the top-10 favourites by MIFF audiences with others so honoured including H is for Happiness, Buoyancy, No Time For Quiet, The Coming Back Out Ball Movie, Undermined: Tales from the Kimberley, The Song Keepers, Putuparri & The Rainmakers, In Bob We Trust, Autoluminescent: Rowland S Howard, The Wedding Party, Mother of Rock: Lillian Roxan.