A festival of Aussie film

Regarded by some as the cultural capital of Australia, travellers planning to fly to Melbourne should note the city is especially worth a visit for its annual film festival.

Screening feature films and shorts by home-grown talent, as well as providing a forum for new international cinematic projects, the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) 2006 runs from July 26th to August 13th.

So far it has been announced that the 55th annual festival is set to open with the premiere of Lost and Found, a film by David Blake.

The closing night film of MIFF will be Suburban Mayhem, a new film by Aussie director Paul Goldman, which follows the story of suburban teenage mum, Katrina Skinner and her attempts to get away with her father's murder.

The rest of the line up is yet to be announced but film director, Paul Goldman, commented: "Its tradition as both an audience friendly festival and always being on the cutting edge, it's the perfect place to launch our film.

"I like to think that Mayhem mirrors the brave, dynamic and exciting programming of the festival. In fact we can't wait to bring our brand of mayhem to closing night!"

The festival hosts many screening categories over the three week period, with a strong Australian showcase reflecting the country's energetic film industry.

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