'Seventy years ago, in January, 1952, The Australian Council of Film Societies presented a program of international films in Olinda, on the outskirts of Melbourne. The following year this event became known as the Melbourne Film Festival. What was initiated in those early days was a festival that was dedicated to screening films that might not otherwise have been seen in Australia. What has emerged, 70 years later, is an international festival with multiple programming strands, initiatives designed to support emerging careers of local filmmakers and an international festival with global influence and an enduring history. MIFF is the largest and longest surviving film festival in the southern hemisphere. Whilst it curates programs of latest releases, it also anticipates, perhaps even influences, the future of film culture.'(Introduction)
'In The Plains, David Easteal’s astonishing feature debut, we are invited to virtually take a place in the back seat of the car of the protagonist, a middle-aged lawyer named Andrew Rakowski, a real-life person, playing himself in the film. Over the course of a year, we will watch him driving down the same road, from his workplace, in the outer suburbs of Melbourne, towards home, occasionally offering a lift to his younger colleague David. ' (Introduction)
