The Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) is back for 2019, taking over our lives and the entire city from August 1 – 18. Celebrating its 68th year, MIFF will feature 259 feature films, 123 shorts and 16 virtual reality experiences, including 31 world premieres screenings.

This week on Out Takes, we joined cinephiles everywhere to celebrate MIFF, the largest film festival in the Southern Hemisphere!

To help us celebrate, we were joined by MIFF Artistic Director Al Cossar who spoke about this year’s formidable line up, including its diverse line up of queer treats.

We also talked with Anoop Lukkur, the director of ‘Long Distance’, which screens as part of the Accelorator line up at this year’s Festival. ‘Long Distance’ interrogates the tension between sexual and cultural identities against the backdrop of modern day Australia.