Fill the Handmaid's Tale-sized hole in your life with this panel discussion. Drawing on MIFF’s Sci-Fi Retrospective and other dystopian works, including Ben C Lucas' OtherLife, filmmakers, film critics and authors invite you to join them in talking all things dystopian and post-apocalyptic, and just how plausible a Gileadean future (or present!) may be.

Panellists include Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, Ben C Lucas, Claire Corbett and Jennifer Mills; moderated by Adolfo Aranjuez.

Recorded live at The Wheeler Centre on Thursday August 17th. Podcast produced by Al Cossar, Adele Moreira and Max Minkoff for Melbourne International Film Festival 2017.

Acclaimed comedian, writer and director Ben Elton discusses his first Australian film, Three Summers, which screened as MIFF's Centrepiece Gala, with Natalie Bailey - the UK's go-to comedy director (The Thick of It) - about this hilarious multi-story comedy set over three years at a fictional folk-music festival.

Ben and Natalie are joined by cast members Michael Caton. Magda Szubanski, Kelton Pell, Robert Sheehan and Rebecca Breeds.

Recorded at The Wheeler Centre on Saturday 13 August 2017. Podcast produced by Al Cossar, Adele Moreira and Max Minkoff for Melbourne International Film Festival 2017.

Co-presented with the Australian Directors’ Guild, the MIFF Talks Pioneering Women panel brought together influential Australian female directors and actors Gillian Armstrong, Claudia Karvan, Nadia Tass, Ana Kokkinos and Clara Law to hear the stories behind women filmmakers over the past thirty years, and what's next in the future. Moderated by Sam Lang. Recorded at The Wheeler Centre on Saturday 12 August 2017. Podcast produced by Al Cossar, Adele Moreira and Lauren Zoric for Melbourne International Film Festival 2017.

Join Melbourne gallerist William Mora and filmmaker Philippe Mora as they share their unbelievable family story with Trevor Graham, the director behind the MIFF 2016 Premiere Fund-supported film, Monsieur Mayonnaise.

Recorded on 1 August 2016 at Federation Hall, Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne. Produced by Al Cossar, Caitlin Kavanagh and Lauren Zoric for MIFF 2016. Thanks to Tooth & Claw for recording and editing. http://toothandclaw.com.au/

Journalist Martin McKenzie-Murray hears the incredible story from some of the survivors of one of Australia’s most notorious cults, The Family. Also on the panel is Lex de Man, the detective who uncovered their story and Rosie Jones, the director of MIFF 2016 documentary film, The Family.

Recorded on 31 July 2016 at Federation Hall, Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne.

Produced by Al Cossar, Caitlin Kavanagh and Lauren Zoric for MIFF 2016. Thanks to Tooth & Claw for recording and editing. http://toothandclaw.com.au/

In 2016, Virtual Reality is a new frontier in storytelling - a space currently reimagining and reinventing the language of cinema, reconstituting the idea of what a filmmaker is and what an audience is. It's a space where cutting-edge technology is being harnessed, but the rules of telling a story are still being written.

Eric Darnell is one of VR's emerging masters - best known as the writer/director of the Madagascar films (a series which has now grossed over $2.5 billion at the box office) and the director of Dreamworks' Antz, Darnell is also the Chief Creative Officer at Baobab Studios - a company described as one of the "Disneys of early VR" - with a 25 year career as a director, screenwriter, story artist and executive producer. Peopled by a collection of ex-Pixar, Dreamworks, and LucasArts employees, Baobab has already established itself, with the launch of its Ethan Hawke-starring Invasion!, as one of the formidable, singular talents working in the virtual reality space.

Katy Morrison (VRTOV) joins Eric Darnell in this session as he talks to lessons learned from the fascinating new world of VR, building immersive worlds, inspiring audiences and rewriting the rules of storytelling.

Presented in Partnership with The Wheeler Centre.

Produced by Al Cossar, Caitlin Kavanagh and Lauren Zoric for Melbourne International Film Festival 2016.

Join the conversation with ‘Britain’s greatest living auteur’ Terence Davies as he discusses his new film, Sunset Song, with David Stratton.

Recorded on Sunday 31 July 2016 at Federation Hall, Victorian College of the Arts. Thanks to Derry Sheehan and David Ellis from Tooth & Claw for recorded and editing.

Produced by Al Cossar, Caitlin Kavanagh and Lauren Zoric for Melbourne International Film Festival 2016.

Join the Australian Writers' Guild's Christine Rogers in conversation with MIFF 2015 screenwriters Kristen Dunphy (The Principal), Damian Hill (Pawno), Grant Scicluna (Downriver) and Ben Chessell (Sucker).

Recorded at Australian Centre for the Moving Image, ACMI Studio 1 on Tuesday 11 August 2015.

Thanks to JMC Academy technical crew: Michael Sanders (Editor), Damien Howard (Camera 1), Shannon Keeley (Camera 2), Executive Producers Peter George (JMC Academy Head of Film & Television) and David Pavlich (Film & Television Lecturer).

ABC's Zak Hepburn chats with film poster designer Jeremy Saunders (who has created posters for films including MIFF 2014's What We Do in the Shadows and MIFF 2015 Centrepiece Gala film Holding the Man) on a panel that includes artist-turned director Jason Lei Howden (Deathgasm, MIFF 2015), comic book artist Bernard Caleo, visual artist Sonny Day (one half of We Buy Your Kids, the team behind the #MIFF2015 artwork) and title designer Donna McCrum (Paper Planes, MIFF 2014; The Slap, MIFF 2011), to dissect the art of designing movie posters.

Recorded at The Wheeler Centre Wednesday 5 August 2015.

Thanks to JMC Academy students: Nik Bading (Editor), Michael Sanders (Camera 1), Luke Beall (Camera 2) and Executive Producers Peter George (JMC Academy Head of Film & Television) and David Pavlich (Film & Television Lecturer).

Produced by Al Cossar, Caitlin Kavanagh and Lauren Zoric, with assistance from Maria Chetcuti.

Join MIFF 2015 Vertical Cinema guests Joost Rekveld and Erwin van ‘t Hart, along with University of Melbourne film and media lecturers Wendy Haslem and Scott McQuire, and Breaching Transmissions cinema artist Sally Golding, as they discuss the development of vertical screens, expanded cinema and the future of film.

Co-presented with the School of Culture & Communication, University of Melbourne

Thanks to JMC technical crew: Nik Bading (Editor), Nick Noltemeyer (Camera 1), Dean Musumeci (Camera 2), and Executive Producers Peter George (JMC Academy Head of Film & Television) and David Pavlich (Film & Television Lecturer).

Produced by Al Cossar, Caitlin Kavanagh and Lauren Zoric, with assistance from Maria Chetcuti.