This year I was lucky enough to be invited to the Opening Night and Closing Gala for MIFF (I also watched a number of other movies throughout on my own, because you know, I am obsessed with film).
Given this is my industry, these events are right up my alley. I was particularly drawn to the Opening Night Gala as we were treated to the exclusive world premiere of Daniel Gordon’s The Australian Dream, as directed by Stan Grant and surrounding the controversy and terrible events surrounding Adam Goodes departure from the Australian Football League. I was particularly drawn to this having just seen the “other” documentary “The Final Quarter” which was an unbiased non-commentated version of the events surrounding. This was the story told from the victim in question, Adam Goodes and I was dying to hear it. It did not disappoint and was just an emotion packed documentary which resulted in a standing ovation for over 11 minutes. I cried a lot. Here are some photos from the red carpet and with executive producer, worldwide super-athlete (NBA) Ben Simmons!
The Closing Gala was also impactful, we watched “The Farewell”, described by Variety as “A bittersweet comedy about saying one’s goodbye” starring Awkwafina and directed by Lulu Wang. This movie really spoke to my heart as it really nailed the ethnic family structure and nuances without being tokenistic or obvious, but rather artful and beautiful in every way. Must see! S x.