There’s a change in the air when Australia’s oldest, biggest and best celebration of cinema, the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF), rolls into town for it’s 63rd outing with opening night time-bending blockbuster Predestination on July 31st. The Greater Union cinema, the unofficial screening hub, is no more.

Existing venues like ACMI, Hoyts and the Kino will pick up the slack, while old favourites the Treasury Theatre and Capitol Theatre have been pressed back into service, meaning a bigger footprint and mad dashes between venues, but festival director Michelle Carey says that’s half the fun. “Just bring your sneakers!”

Here are her top tips to get you on the run this year:

Predestination

This head-scratching sci-fi noir from writer/directors Michael and Peter Spierig stars Ethan Hawke, Noah Taylor and up-and-coming Australian actor Sarah Snook (These Final Hours, Not Suitable For Children). Shot in Melbourne, Carey promises a stylish thriller. “It’s a real Mobius strip that just keeps folding in on itself. I don’t think you’re supposed to try and work out what’s going on.”

The Infinite Man

Another Australian-made time travel tale at the other end of the budget scale is South Australian writer/director Hugh Sullivan’s The Infinite Man, about a guy called Dean (Josh McConville) who mucks up proposing to his girlfriend Lana (Hannah Marshall) and tries to set things right by jumping back in time.
Alex Dimitriades (Head On, The Slap), as Lana’s ex, Terry, throws a temporal spanner in the works. “It’s very clever example of a filmmaker taking something very simple and delivering it in the clever screenwriting,” Carey says.

What We Do In The Shadows

New Zealand comedians Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement – star of Flight of the Concords – are back with a mockumentary-style take on the ever-popular vampire myth. “It’s so funny,” Carey says. “The thing with vampires, the Hollywood take is so earnest. This isn’t like that at all. There’s a lovely indie sensibility to this. Don’t be put off if you’re not a horror person, it’s not that scary.”

Appropriate Behaviour

The debut feature from writer/director Desiree Akhavan follows the travails of hip young Brooklynite Shirin (Akhavan) as she attempts to get over breaking up with her girlfriend. Girls creator Lena Dunham has already tapped her to appear in the next series, but Carey says there’s a freshness to this take on familiar hipster territory. “It really impressed me; it’s really smart and funny.”

Norte, The End of History (Norte, Hangganan ng Ka-saysayan)

The latest masterpiece from lauded Filipino director Lav Diaz, weighing in at four-hours long, it’s loosely based on Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment. “His films are usually around nine hours long, so this is relatively short and pithy. It’s really involving, and very beautifully made. It really observes the social and economic plight of the country.” Carey also recommends catching the 12-hour, 40 minute French classic Out 1, Noli Me Tangere, screening over four sessions across two days.

Jacky in the Kingdom of Women (Jacky Au Royame De Filles)

A gender reversal satire set in an Islamic fairy tale kingdom à la Cinderella, the men wear the burqas while the women rule in sexy uniforms. Jacky (Vincent Lacoste) who is treated terribly by his stepfather, wants to escape the drudgery and marry La Colonel, played by the fabulous Charlotte Gainsbourg. “It’s very black French humour that’s terrific,” Carey says. “It’s very subversive.”

Iranian

Atheist Iranian filmmaker Mehran Tamadon invited four Islamic religious leaders to his country house to discus social issues, including women wearing headscarves, freedom of the press and abortion, in this fascinating documentary. “There’s actually a lot of humour and they throw a lot of arguments about liberty back onto the filmmaker, which is very interesting and challenging,” Carey says. “If you’re someone who loves semantics and following legal debate, it might challenge some presumptions.”

Is The Man Who is Tall is Happy?

A quirky animated discussion, both in literal terms (it’s been animated by Michel Gondry) and also in the sense of great minds bumping up against each other, regular Bjork video collaborator and director of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Gondry, interviews US linguist and political activist Noam Chomsky in this genre-bending doco. “Gondry asks the sort of questions you might be a bit intimidated to do, but he’s not,” Carey says. “Noam is very patient, but he totally puts Gondry in his place and the visuals complement it nicely.”

Breadcrumb Trail

In the Backbeat musical stream, Carey also recommends Lance Bang’s doco on Kentucky post-rock band Slint and their classic album Spiderland. “They weren’t that big at the time, but they’ve since gone on to indie rock folklore. The footage is terrific. I didn’t realise how young they were at the time.”

The 2014 Melbourne International Film Festival runs from the from July 31 to August 17. The official guide will be available from July 11.