Winter in Melbourne: Words in Focus
Words and screens are cornerstones of Melbourne’s winter culture program, with most of the city’s biggest filmic and literary festivals taking place. And what better timing too? Winter is made for snuggling up inside listening to larger-than-life stories. As part of our ongoing Winter Series, here’s the mustn’t-miss events for those wishing to cosy up inside with a good tale.
21-30 May
Known for delivering early successes for a host of directors, actors and musicians, St Kilda Film Festival is the cool kid of the local film landscape, with the calling card of the country’s 100 best films. With a dedicated music video program, ‘Soundkilda’ and a host of associated parties, talks and events, St Kilda Film Festival well and truly belongs in St Kilda, and is worth a trip or two down to the beach.
May 26 – 5 June
Get up close and personal with the budding darlings of Melbourne’s literary scene in this buzzy, youthful festival. Catering to all from absolute beginners to freelancers looking to make a successful buck for their efforts, The Emerging Writers Festival (EWF) tackles all the nuts and bolts of learning to write and getting paid to do it. This year’s program has some particularly exuberant additions, such as ‘Selfies’, a discussion of the now-ubiquitous trend, and an interview series from Extraordinary Routines on creative individuals daily rituals.
MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
July 30 – 16 August
One of the oldest film festivals in the world and Australia’s most prominent, the Melbourne International Film Festival has something for just about everyone. Their sprawling program covers kids to geriatrics, docu-buffs to drama queens and everything in between. It’s not just the films on show that get the attention either, director’s program Accelerator and finance market 37°South are both important events for the local film landscape.
MELBOURNE WRITERS FESTIVAL
20-30 August
If EWF is your go-to for unearthing new talent in Melbourne’s literary landscape, the Melbourne Writers Festival is where the established set draw a crowd. Boasting keynote alumni from Germaine Greer to Bill Bryson to Tavi Gevinson, MWF unites a range of programming streams that explore the joys of both reading and writing literature. Whilst the program isn’t finalized yet, you can bet there will be at least a few literary superstars to grace the stage at Federation Square and beyond.
All that cultural immersion will you have needing a dreamy bed to curl up in at the end of the night. Continue the arty escape and bunker down at our Melbourne hotels; The Olsen, The Cullen, The Blackman or The Larwill Studio.
Images by Mark Gambino.
