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The Best Films from Cannes Are Coming to Melbourne next Month

Thirty movies are making their way from France to Australia for the Melbourne International Film Festival.
Still from Jim Jarmusch's Paterson, courtesy of Melbourne International Film Festival

The full Melbourne International Film Festival lineup won’t be released until July 8, but that hasn’t stopped programmers from dropping tantalising hints about what viewers can expect next month. The latest revelation is that the festival will screen thirty film titles direct from Cannes, including some of its most acclaimed award winners.

With MIFF launching one month from today, The Creators Project decided to take a closer look at some of the flicks making their way from France to Australia.

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Paterson

Paterson tells the story of Paterson, a bus driver who lives in a small New Jersey town called Paterson. He’s also a big fan of the William Carlos Williams poem 'Paterson'—so you can see where the movie’s title comes from. The combination of veteran indie director Jim Jarmusch and brooding-man-of-the-moment Adam Driver makes a lot of sense, and although this film didn’t win the Palme d’Or at Cannes, it did pick up the alternate accolade of the Palm Dog Award—awarded to the best canine performance of the festival.

Personal Shopper

Olivier Assayas won the Best Director award for this film at Cannes, tied with Cristian Mangiu for Graduation. A perverse thriller starring the ever-surprising Kristen Stewart as Maureen, a personal assistant tasked with picking up extravagant designer dresses for her famous employer, Personal Shopper takes some dark turns as it conflates the excesses of celebrity culture with psychological trauma.

Elle

Described by Variety as a “corrosively funny” revenge fantasy, the latest from Paul Verhoeven—who brought you Showgirls, Basic Instinct and Robocop—stars Isabelle Huppert as the CEO of a video game company who calmly goes about avenging her own brutal sexual assault. It promises to be that rare thing: an honest and empowering exploitation film.

Graduation

Director Cristian Mungiu previously won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2007, and co-won the Best Director award at this year’s festival. So you can expect suspenseful, engrossing cinema from the filmmaker responsible for movies like 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days and Beyond the Hills. In Graduation, he explores the grimy systemic corruption that characterises a tiny Romanian town through depicting a troubled father-daughter relationship.

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Captain Fantastic

Screened in the Un Certain Regard section of Cannes this year, Captain Fantastic stars Viggo Mortensen as a countercultural Marxist dad who has retreated, along with his six children, into the wilderness. After a decade in isolation, tragedy strikes and the family is forced to assimilate back into Western society—and the capitalist system. Confusion ensues.

The Melbourne International Film Festival runs from July 28-August 14. You can buy tickets and view a sneak peak of the program here.

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