The surreal and genre bending Fantastic Film Festival Australia (FFFA) is back with an extremely exciting lineup. For the lovers of indie, alternative, arthouse, cult, visually bizarre, and outright weird (in the best way possible) films, FFFA brings to audiences the films that challenge the traditional tropes of cinema, putting unconventional and unusual to the forefront.
Showcasing the very best in avant-garde cinema from the 24th of April till the 16th of May, 2025, venues across Melbourne and Sydney will be screening 27 eccentric films from around the world, as well as celebrating a massive scope of home grown Australian talent.
Opening up the festival with Finn Wolfhard and Billy Bryk’s directorial debut Hell of a Summer, this comedic campy slasher film is a homage to the slasher genre and a fun and cheeky way to start off FFFA.
For a groovy and shagadelic night, audiences can attend the famous nude screening (yes you read that right, and it’s exactly what you think it is) of Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery on the 11th of May; The nude screenings have a set of important guidelines to ensure that audience members feel safe and respected, which can be seen HERE.
FFFA will also be featuring an exciting partnership with Australian distribution and production company Umbrella Entertainment with Umbrella-Palooza. For one night only, Umbrella-Palooza will be exploring the cyber dystopian worlds built in cinema through talks, giveaways, and a massive triple feature screening of Cypher (2002), Hardware (1990), and Pulse (2001) on the 10th of May.
The main event of the festival centres around the works of Lynne Ramsay, a trailblazing Glaswegian director whose work knows no bounds when it comes to creating emotionally profound art. FFFA will be screening four films during the Lynne Ramsay Retrospective; Morvern Callar (2002), Ratcatcher (1999), We Need To Talk About Kevin (2011), and You Were Never Really Here (2017).
FFFA will then close out with a screening of Hard Boiled (1992), the classic from action director John Woo, with an improvised live jazz score by Melbourne based band The Rookies.
With so much more to explore at FFFA, the extensive program will undeniably capture the attention of even the most casual film goer, and is simultaneously the perfect festival for dedicated film lovers. The three week unmissable event will no doubt be full of surprises and delights, but most importantly, it is an incredibly important space where creatives’ most eclectic and meaningful works are celebrated, and adorned by viewers.
Fantastic Film Festival is running between 24th April and 16th May, 2025, across locations in Melbourne and Sydney. For more information head to the official site here.
