International premieres and stars add glitz to BIFF

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Australian premieres, an international star and a rock goddess are set to wow Brisbane audiences with tonight’s program launch for the 2013 Brisbane International Film Festival (BIFF) program.

Arts Minister Ian Walker said BIFF would host the Australian premiere of international production The Railway Man starring Nicole Kidman and Colin Firth on 13 November.

“The Railway Man is a great way to start BIFF – it was filmed locally in Ipswich and around the Gold Coast and tells the story a former British Army officer captured by Japanese forces in World War Two, and sent to a POW camp on the Thai-Burma Railway,” Mr Walker said.

“Music fans will also be delighted to see American rock royalty Stevie Nicks attend the Australian premiere of her documentary In Your Dreams, which gives an inside look at the recording of her 2011 album of the same name.”

Mr Walker said BIFF would spread its wings across the Cultural Precinct in new partnerships with the Gallery of Modern Art’s Australian Cinèmathèque for a special retrospective of Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky, and with the State Library of Queensland for BIFF’s industry program.

“BIFF will also screen special retrospectives from celebrated filmmakers including a focus on acclaimed Australian director Fred Schepisi,” he said.

BIFF will close with 12 Years A Slave, a compelling film based on the autobiography of Solomon Northup and produced by Brad Pitt, which tells the story of a free man kidnapped and then sold into slavery in Louisiana in 1841. 

BIFF Festival Director and Screen Queensland Chief Operating Officer Jennie Hughes said this year’s Festival featured films that were highlights on the prestigious international film festival circuit.

“The Railway Man, produced by leading Gold Coast producer Chris Brown, attracted significant interest at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) culminating in a US deal with The Weinstein Company for North American rights,” Ms Hughes said.

“There’s also the winner of the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Blue is the Warmest Colour, All is Lost, and Alex Gibney’s 2013 documentary film The Armstrong Lie.”

BIFF is the annual platform for Screen Queensland’s comprehensive industry program presented in association with Screen Industry Guilds, the Walkley Awards, Griffith University and the Intellectual Property Awareness Foundation. 

BIFF runs from 13-24 November.  For full details and tickets, go to www.biff.com.au

[ENDS] 22 October 2013
Media contact:     Alex Bernard     0417 252 563

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