One of six MIFF Premiere Fund films for 2016, Ella will have its world premiere at this year's festival. Written and directed by Douglas Watkin, the film follows the journey of Ella Havelka, the first Indigenous dancer with The Australian Ballet!

We sat down with Douglas and producer Veronica Fury, and asked them a few questions.

You have directed many stories about indigenous people's lives –

Directed From Memory is a short online film following MIFF member Keith Gove as he writes, directs and acts out his memory of the Takashi Miike thriller, Audition — a film he saw once at MIFF over 15 years ago.

Here, we go behind the scenes to see how it all came together.

Ma may be Celia Rowlson-Hall's debut feature film, but the talented director and choreographer has made some extraordinary short films and music videos which are well worth catching before you see Ma (and just as worth catching after, too!)

Here are some of our favourites:

THE AUDITION from celia rowlson-hall on Vimeo.

SILENT STREET from celia rowlson-hall on Vimeo.

THE MAGICIAN fr

One of six MIFF Premiere Fund films for 2016, Monsieur Mayonnaise will have its world premiere at this year's festival. Written and directed by Trevor Graham (Make Hummus Not War, MIFF 2012), the film follows artist and filmmaker Philippe Mora (Mad Dog Morgan, MIFF 2015; Swastika, MIFF 1973) as he produces a graphic novel about his late father, mayonnaise sandwiches and Nazis!

We sat down with Gr

You see them at every screening, and MIFF couldn't run without them: we love our wonderful volunteers. They do an amazing job, and we thought you might like to get to know them better.

Sandra from Brunswick

What do you do outside of MIFF? For my daily existence, I work a desk job within the insurance industry. For fun, I play futsal/ soccer. 

How long have you been volunteering? And what keep

One of six MIFF Premiere Fund films for 2016, The Death and Life of Otto Bloom will have its world premiere and screen on Opening Night of this year's festival. Written and directed by MIFF Accelerator alumnus Cris Jones (short films The Funk, MIFF 2008; Excursion, MIFF 2003), the film stars Rachel Ward (The Thorn Birds) as the present-day Ada Fitzgerald and her daughter Matilda Brown as her young

This year MIFF welcomes over 100 guests to the festival to participate in Q&As, panel discussions, special events and to showcase their films. For the 65h MIFF we sat down for 65 seconds with some of the faces you'll be seeing over the 18 days.

Your name: Jocelyn Moorhouse

Your film: Proof

Where are you from:
A long time ago! Australia

How long have you been making films:
Since I was a teena

This year MIFF welcomes over 100 guests to the festival to participate in Q&As, panel discussions, special events and to showcase their films. For the 65h MIFF we sat down for 65 seconds with some of the faces you'll be seeing over the 18 days.

Name: Fran Strine

Your film: Hired Gun

Where are you from: San Francisco, California.

How long have you been making films: 12 years.

Without using t

This year MIFF welcomes over 100 guests to the festival to participate in Q&As, panel discussions, special events and to showcase their films. For the 65h MIFF we sat down for 65 seconds with some of the faces you'll be seeing over the 18 days.

Your name: David Stubbs

Your film: Belief: The Possession of Janet Moses

Where are you from: Wellington, New Zealand

How long have you been making fi