Alumni

Nurturing tomorrow’s top screen directors on the journey towards their first feature-film/long-form works, the selective-entry MIFF Accelerator Lab has, across 18 editions (including 2022), been honoured to be a part of the talent development of more than 380 directors who comprise an amazing alumni.

AccLab participants traditionally are chosen by MIFF programmers from directors who have a short film selected for MIFF and are ready to step into feature-film/long-form work (Accelerator Classic); since 2011, this is augmented by Accelerator Express which enables AccLab participation by certain directors without a film in MIFF via MIFF Industry partnerships with screen agencies’ various special talent initiatives whereby a director attends AccLab as a module of the existing agency initiative.

Over the years, MIFF Industry‘s Accelerator Express partnerships have included: New Zealand Film Commission (Kāinga Initiative and Vai Pasifika Female Filmmaker Initiative and Women’s Horror Film Fund Initiative and Ngā Pouwhenua Joint Indigenous Initiative and Escalator and Ramai Hayward Maori Director’s Initiative and TalentXpress); Screen Australia (Cook2020 and Gender Matters and HotShots and Springboard); ScreenNSW (Generator Emerging Filmmakers Fund Queer Edition and ShortBlack and Screen-ability); Screen Tasmania (PitchPlotProduce); ScreenWest (West Coast Visions and Elevate70); South Australian Film Corporation (Film Lab and Pirrku Kuu Writers Room & Aboriginal Production Initiative); VicScreen (Originate and LoveBites).