The event, to be headed by managing director Colin Daniels, will be an exploration of the best in music, screen, gaming, technology, and innovation, with more than 1,000 experiences.
Melbourne International Film Festival returns to metro cinemas with a bumper program, and 70th anniversary celebrations that include a major retrospective and cinematic homages to the festival from Ivan Sen, Justin Kurzel and Soda Jerk.
"We made a horror film and it's found this wonderful audience. It's definitely unexpected. And I wouldn't even necessarily say that our film is a straight horror film, but obviously as soon as you squash someone's head, it tends to not really fall in any other genre, no matter what the rest of the movie's about."
'Blaze', 'How To Please A Woman', 'Sissy' and 'Sweet As' will contend for the best original feature prize at this year’s AWGIE Awards, while 'Mrs Harris Goes to Paris', 'The Stranger' and 'The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson' are up for the adapted gong. 'The Newsreader' leads in television with two nominations alongside 'Total Control', 'Firebite', 'Bump' and 'Heartbreak High'.
This year's AACTA Award for Best Film will be a contest between Baz Luhrmann’s 'Elvis', George Miller’s 'Three Thousand Years of Longing', Leah Purcell’s 'The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson', Thomas M. Wright's 'The Stranger', Western Sydney anthology feature 'Here Out West', and Hannah Barlow and Kane Senes' horror 'Sissy'.
Anousha Zarkesh is well placed to again win Best Casting in A Feature Film at this year's Casting Guild of Australia Awards, nominated for her work on 'The Stranger' and 'We Are Still Here'.
Radio and television personality Amanda Keller will host this Wednesday's AACTA Awards ceremony, with an array of international and domestic talent confirmed to attend.
Leah Purcell's 'The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson' leads the nominees for the Australian Film Critics Association (AFCA) Awards, which will be held later this year.