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MDW is proud to announce MDW’s entertainment law team has provided legal services to the following films premiering at this year’s Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF). MIFF 2026 marks the festival’s 74th edition. It is running from the 6-23 of August across Melbourne and regional Victoria, with MIFF Online available nationally from 14-30 August.
We are thrilled to congratulate our following clients on their premieres:
Death of a Shaman
Dan Jackson’s decade-in-the-making documentary follows Indigenous shaman Rafael Santi as he races to pass sacred knowledge to his grandson while his community faces mounting pressure from mining and oil corporations. Australian filmmaker Dan Jackson spent over a decade building connection with the Indigenous communities of Amazanga to tell this intimate story of one man, his family and an age-old struggle between postcolonial states and the peoples they displaced. Death of a Shaman will have its world premiere at MIFF on 9 August.
The Fox
Produced by Causeway Films, director Dario Russo makes his feature directorial debut with his film ‘The Fox’, which he wrote, edited and composed. The film follows Nick, who discovers his new fiancée Kori has been cheating on him with her best friend’s husband. After catching a talking fox, he discovers a magical pit which could fix all his problems. The film centres on the notion that you should always be careful of what they wish for! The film will have its Victorian premiere at MIFF on Wednesday, 12 August.
Hard as Puck
Produced by Forward Media’s Noel Smyth and directed by Isaac Elliott, the ‘Hard as Puck’ documentary centres around a Perth-based para hockey team, the Garden Island Pirates. Without a competition, the group play against each other, while founder Dan Perrett makes calls from the sidelines. The group face challenges of volunteer committee positions, sponsorships and having a rink to play on. However, this all changes when three women from the team represent in the World Para Ice Hockey Championships in Slovakia. The documentary will have its world premiere at MIFF on Saturday, 15 August at MIFF.
The Latcher
James Hunter, producer, makes his directorial feature debut with ‘The Latcher’. The film centres on Alice, an American midwife living in rural Australia. Alice begins to experience waking nightmares, feeling the presence of something creeping from the shadows of the bushland. As she becomes overwhelmed by the remoteness, her only safe place is her isolated home where she lost everything. The film will have its world premiere on Saturday, 8 August at MIFF.
Sweet Milk Lake
‘Sweet Milk Lake’ is director Harvey Zielinski’s debut as a filmmaker, in which he also stars as both Jake and Sam. Produced by Phillipa Campey of Film Camp, the film focuses on Jake, a boy from the city who is single, unemployed and living in a granny flat behind his family home. Living in the shadow of his cisgender twin brother, Sam, Jake decides to visit their terminally ill, estranged Father ion Sweet Milk. Unaware that Jake has transition, their father mistakes him for Sam. To connect, he assumes Sam’s identity, while building a romance with a local, Toby. The film centres around self-acceptance and the idea of needing to fit into our settings. The film will have its world premiere at MIFF on Saturday, 8 August.
MDW is delighted to have worked with so many talented creatives and to see their visions come to life on the big screen at MIFF 2026.
See you there!
