MIFF Schools program

Previously known as the Next Gen section Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) has introduced the MIFF Schools program, which entails eight films selected specifically for school students screening July to August.

These films investigate themes such as individual responsibility and social culpability, the tension between fiction and documentary, social hierarchies at school, friendship, family, culture and morality.

The films have been chosen to compliment language studies in schools and span across a range of languages including French, German, Greek, Indonesian, Japanese, Mandarin and Spanish.

“There is nothing like immersing yourself in the world of a film to gain insights into other languages and cultures, and the MIFF Schools program is designed to give students such an opportunity with exceptional world cinema that isn't otherwise available in Australia,” said Thomas Caldwell, MIFF Schools Programmer.

The program includes literature to film adaptations Boy on the Bridge, a darkly edged coming-of-age story from Cyprus, which is based on author Eve Makis’ novel Land of the Golden Apple; and Fly Away Home, the portrayal of children in war adapted from award-winning author Christine Nöstlinger's autobiographical novel.

An unexpected friendship blossoms in Hello, Goodbye, the second feature film from Japanese director Takeo Kikuchi.

Salawaku is a road movie set in a stretch of the world where roads barely exist. When his older sister disappears, ten-year-old Salawaku sets off on a grand journey to find her and along the way learns to view her in a new light.

Michel Ocelot (Tales of the Night, MIFF 2011), the modern master of French animation, delivers another fantastical kaleidoscope of imagery and invention with Ivan Tsarevitch and the Changing Princess.

Also from France comes Swagger, the bold, genre-bending documentary about a diverse group of underprivileged teenagers grappling with familiar questions of love, identity and ambition.

Going one step further to blur the line between documentary and fiction is the creative docudrama Jeffrey, from the Dominican Republic. 

Stonehead is a tender and gently wrought exploration of the plight of China’s ‘left-behind’ generation, the estimated 60 million children who live with their grandparents in remote villages while their parents move to the city to find work.

The program has been designed with a range of age groups in mind and with the intention of engaging students to investigate societal challenges and cultural issues through media analysis.

For further information about the movies and for school bookings, visit the MIFF Schools website.