Ahead of its nine-day 2025 run in Western Australia’s Margaret River wine region, CinefestOZ has revealed its 90-plus-title lineup.
A preview of season two of “Mystery Road: Origin,” which was shot in WA and stars Mark Coles Smith, Tuuli Narkle and Clarence Ryan, will open the festival on Saturday, August 30 at Busselton. A prequel to Ivan Sen’s films “Mystery Road” and “Goldstone,” the series continues the story of Indigenous detective Jay Swan, who was portrayed in cinemas by Aaron Pedersen.
At Margaret River on the same date, the festival will also launch with “Jimmy Barnes: Working Class Man,” fresh from its world premiere earlier in August at the Melbourne International Film Festival. Where its predecessor, 2018 film “Jimmy Barnes: Working Class Boy,” adapted Barnes’ “Working Class Boy” memoir, this follow-up documentary does the same with the text’s sequel “Working Class Man”.
CinefestOZ’s $100,000 Film Prize has long seen the event attract impressive new Australian films, with “The Moogai,” “Shayda,” “Of an Age” and “Nitram” among the award’s past winners. In 2025, “We Bury the Dead,” “Birthright,” “One More Shot” and “Songs Inside” are competing for the lucrative prize.
Another film made in WA, Zak Hilditch’s “We Bury the Dead” also features Coles Smith, alongside Daisy Ridley and Brenton Thwaites. Comedy “Birthright” is a fellow WA title, starring Travis Jeffery, Maria Angelico and Linda Cropper. Time-travel film “One More Shot,” with Emily Browning, Ashley Zukerman, Aisha Dee, Pallavi Sharda and Sean Keenan, is part of the festival’s collaboration with MIFF. About a music program for women prisoners, documentary “Songs Inside” won the Documentary Australia Award at the Sydney Film Festival.
Other CinefestOZ program highlights until Sunday, September 7 include the world premieres of “Pointe” and “It Will Find You.” In the first, Dawn Jackson focuses on dancer and choreographer Floeur Alder after a brutal attack. In the second, a generational curse is reactivated in a horror film with Pedersen and Brooke Blurton in the cast.
The festival will also preview “Tales from Outer Suburbia,” the new animated ABC series based on Shaun Tan’s book.
The family-friendly “Kangaroo,” the Vicky Krieps and Dacre Montgomery-led “Went Up the Hill,” documentary “Journey Home, David Gulpilil,” Berlinale 2025 Teddy Award-winning animation “Lesbian Space Princess,” Kiah Roache-Turner’s soldiers-versus-shark creature feature “Beast of War” — another with Coles Smith — and a retrospective session celebrating “Looking for Alibrandi’s” 25th anniversary are on the lineup as well.
In the MIFF@CinefestOZ strand, documentaries “Spreadsheet Champions,” “Careless” and “Iron Winter” will screen to WA audiences.
“This year’s festival is all about connection — between people, places and experiences — and is something I think we can all relate to in 2025,” said CinefestOZ CEO Cassandra Jordan, announcing the program.
“With that theme in mind, we have created more great value events where festivalgoers can meet and hear from filmmakers, and enjoy fabulous food, wine and conversations.”
“Along with plenty of comedy, drama, horror, sci-fi and feel-good family films, 2025 is also a big year for thought-provoking and inspirational real-life stories, with our biggest selection of documentaries ever.”
Visit cinefestoz.com for the full program.