Most Successful Ever

This year’s Festival was the most successful ever with more than 40,000 people taking part in festival activities.
 
Both the ticketed program and free events of the festival, which wrapped up on Sunday night (August 13), were extremely well-attended.
 
The response to the Festival this year has exceeded everyone’s expectations with ticket sales up by 20% and attendances up by 15% on last year’s figures.
 
This year’s festival was particularly aimed at getting the community and families more involved in activities and it has succeeded admirably.
 
Families indulged in an array of activities from watching quintessential noir flicks at South Bank Parklands to escaping into a magical fairyland at the Family Fun Day, all without spending a cent.
 
It’s of no surprise then that 11,500 people attended the public program, an increase of 32% on last year.

This figure includes 1,150 people who gathered under the stars for the BIFF in the ‘Burbs screenings, a joint initiative between Queensland Government and Brisbane City Council, which saw four films screened in public parks throughout Brisbane.
 
Cine Sparks, the Australian Film Festival for Young People, was another hit this year with an increase of 15% on the in-cinema program.  

To see more of the people and events at BIFF 2006 visit the photo galleries. 

BIFF's Showtime Top Ten

Once again, the audience has spoken and here is the BIFF Showtime Top Ten films (and Top Five in the case of our shorts) as rated by you. No. 2 (pictured below) has come out as number one with many of our Jury award winners also appearing in the Top Ten.

Feature Films

1. No.2 (New Zealand)
2. The Cave of the Yellow Dog (Mongolia/Germany)
3. Like Minds (Australia/UK)
4. Thank You for Smoking (USA)
5. United 93 (USA/UK)
6. 48 Shades (Australia)
7. The Secret Life of Words (Spain)
8. Whole New Thing (Canada)
9. Breakfast on Pluto (Ireland/UK)
10. Opal Dream (Australia/UK)

An Inconvenient Truth 
 

Feature Documentaries

1. An Inconvenient Truth (USA)
2. Unfolding Florence: The Many Lives of Florence Broadhurst (Australia)
3. Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul (Germany)
4. The Dignity of the Nobodies (Argentina/Brazil/Switzerland)
5. American Hardcore (USA)
6. Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream (Canada)
7. Into Great Silence (Germany/Switzerland/France)
8. The Perverts Guide to Cinema Parts 1, 2 & 3 (UK/The Netherlands/Austria)
9. Workingman’s Death (Austria/Germany)
10. Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema (USA)

Fuse 

Short Film

1. Fuse (Australia)
2. Rare Books and Manuscripts (UK)
3. Daddy’s Little Helper (UK)
4. Heads Up (Australia)
5. Astronauts (UK)

Win an exclusive VIP Package

You have until Wednesday 23 August to complete our survey so you can go into the draw to win our fabulous 2007 Festival VIP Package.

Start next year’s Festival off in style with overnight accommodation at the Festival hotel, champagne in the room on arrival and breakfast in the morning, two tickets to the Opening Night VIP function, film and Gala party. Then during the Fest, take advantage of having double passes to all Showcase films, two Take 5 Passes, and invitations to the Chauvel Presentation and an official guest dinner.

To complete the survey, click here.

Award Winners Announced

The Jury Award winners for BIFF 2006 were announced on Saturday 12 August at a ceremony at the South Bank Parklands. Pictured above are the six juries together at the Nepalese Pagoda by the river.

Congratulations to all the nominees and thank you to the three juries for making the difficult decision.

Winner of the FIPRESCI Award

The Cave of the Yellow Dog (Mongolia/Germany 2005) Director: Byambasuren Davaa

Winner of the NETPAC Award

Blood Rain (South Korea, 2005) Director: Kim Dae-seung

Winner of the Interfaith Award

The Masseur (Philippines, 2005) Director: Brillante Mendoza

The Cine Sparks Young People's Juries were also present to give their verdict. Visit the Cine Sparks website to find out more.  

To read more about the awards and juries click here.

A snapshot of this year

• 41,000 people attended, watched and / or participated  
• 30,000 minutes of film were shown
• 10,000 kilometres were travelled in the BIFF Mazda cars
• 1,700 bottles of Stella and 1,000 glasses of sparkling wine were consumed
• 1,000 kilometres of film were used
• 321 film sessions were shown
• 13 Festival sessions, three Cine Sparks sessions and 8 workshops sold out

The Guests

This year the Festival hosted over 80 local and international guests, from directors, writers, producers and actors, to jury members and curators of the special programme elements. Guests provided invaluable insight into filmmaking and programming processes by introducing screenings and participating in Q&A sessions and seminars.  International guests travelled from as far a-field as Iran, LA and Italy and we were pleased to host them all! Being a small Festival by international standards, BIFF tries to differentiate itself by being hospitable to guests and while we can’t name all, here are just a few:

Toa Fraser (Director and Co-Writer) and Miriama McDowell (Actor) of No. 2

Kihachiro Kawamoto (Director) Kihachiro Kawamoto Special Focus

Bob Randall (Co-Producer and Narrator) of Kanyini

Jack Thompson (Recipient of this year's Chauvel Award)

Rui Tendinha (FIPRESCI Jury)

Marrie Lee (Actor) of Cleopatra Wong

Zak Hilditch (Director, Co-Writer and Co-Producer) of The Actress

Amable ‘Tikoy’ Aguiluz (NETPAC Juror)

Michiko Yamamoto (Writer) of The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros

Follow these links to see a full list of Festival guests, or photos of guests during their time at BIFF.

The Films

With more than 300 feature films screening this year, we can’t mention every session, but here’s a few stand-out moments.

48 Shades - a world premiere and our fastest sell-out ever. The party following was packed to the rafters. Pictured above at the BIFF screening are Robin McLeavy (Actor), Daniel Lapaine (Director), Nick Earls (Author, original story), Rob Marsala (Producer), Richard Wilson (Actor).

Quest - another world premiere and was thought a controversial choice by some.

Blood Rain – A bloody tale filled with suspicion, murder, fear and revenge.  Audiences were puzzled, but enthralled…

Cleopatra Wong - the gift of signed posters from the original release of the film more than 20 years ago to every audience member was a wonderful surprise.

The Book of the Dead - Mr Kawamoto’s impromptu puppet show with one of the film's original puppets was a treat.

The Nortorious Bettie Page - these packaged sessions showed the age of the pin-up is certainly not dead!

Heading South - had tongues wagging and debates raging.

An Inconvenient Truth - this film was determined as a must see for every person living on the planet.

No. 2 - Toa Fraser's Q&A had the audience in fits of laughter.

Thanks

The 15th Brisbane International Festival has again been a fantastic success and it wouldn't have been possible without many many people. We would in particular like to thank:

• Our partners

• Our staff

• Our volunteers

And a final round of applause for you, our patrons. Thank you for your overwhelming support and the strong positive response you’ve given to the films. We look forward to seeing you all again next year – for the 16th Brisbane International Film Festival!