Busselton's Orana Cinema is set to be taken over once again as Australia's premiere film festival kicks off for the 16th time in August.
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35 feature films, as well as a host of short films and community events will take place up and down the South West coast from August 29 to September 3.
The centrepiece of the six-day festival is the $100,000 Film Prize. Four feature films are up for the gong; Dramas The Rooster, and Shayda, Sci-Fi thriller Monolith, and documentary Bromley: Beyond the Dark, which follows Adelaide artist David Bromley.
"Unique Australian stories are at the heart of the CinefestOZ Film Festival," CinefestOZ Chair Margaret Buswell said.
"We hope you will love this year's film selections, which celebrate the diversity of our country and its people, and the film events where festival-goers can meet filmmakers, enjoy fantastic food, wine and music and most importantly have fun and be entertained."
Monolith is a one woman, one location thriller in which a disgraced journalist discovers a strange artifact, and hides out in her parents house as she begins to convince herself it is evidence of an alien conspiracy.
Shayda is written, produced and directed by Iranian-Australian filmmaker Noora Niasari, and stars 2022 Cannes best actress award winner Zar Amir Ebrahimi. It tells the story of a woman trying to start anew with her young daughter after fleeing domestic violence.
The Rooster stars Hugo Weaving - of Lord of the Rings and The Matrix fame - playing a volatile hermit who finds himself in an unlikely alliance with a small town cop, on the hunt for his best friend's murderer.
Ms Buswell said there are plenty more highlights, including the world premiere of thriller Bring Him To Me, starring Sam Neill (Jurassic Park, Peaky Blinders) and Rachel Griffiths (Six Feet Under, Hacksaw Ridge).
Neill also stars alongside Tim Minchin in the premiere of kids animation, Scarygirl, in which a young girl must overcome her fears to save her father from a chaotic scientist.
Ben Kingsley's new sci-fi comedy Jules will make its Australian premiere, produced by Debbie Liebling, who won three Emmys for her work on South Park.
A highlight for Aussie music lovers will be EGO - the story around Michael Gudinski's creation of Mushroom Records. It features appearances from legendary artists Jimmy Barnes, Tim and Neil Finn, Dave Grohl and Bruce Springsteen, to name a few.
The full program can be found through CinefestOZ.com, or the official CinefestOZ app, where you can search session times, book tickets and build your calendar of events during the festival.
