For the first time, MIFF Talks heads out of Melbourne to highlight the local filmmaking talents based in Victoria’s Goldfields region.

Between movies in our Regional Screenings program in Castlemaine, we’re hosting a roundtable discussion between the filmmaking teams of three titles that will have their World or Australian Premieres at MIFF this year. Our special guests include director Noora Niasari (Shayda), director Mark Leonard Winter (The Rooster), producer Geraldine Hakewill (The Rooster) and director Ian White (Mutiny in Heaven: The Birthday Party).

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Geraldine Hakewill is an Australian actor, producer and musician who starred in the series Wanted, for which she was nominated for a Logie Award; Ms Fisher's Modern Murder Mysteries; and most recently Wakefield. She has performed in multiple productions for the major theatre companies around the country, including as Lady Macbeth for the Melbourne Theatre Company. The Rooster marks her feature-film producing debut.

Mark Leonard Winter is an Australian actor and director. His screen roles include Little Tornadoes (MIFF Premiere Fund 2021), The Dressmaker and Fires; he is one of the founding members of independent theatre company Black Lung; and won the Best Male Actor Helpmann Award for his starring role in Birdland at the Melbourne Theatre Company. His feature directorial debut The Rooster is world-premiering at MIFF 2023.

Tehran-born, Australia-raised Noora Niasari is a writer/director and co-founder of Parandeh Pictures. She is a graduate of architecture and cinema, and her short films and documentaries have screened at film festivals from Beirut to New York. Shayda is her debut feature film and had its premiere on the opening night of the World Cinema Dramatic competition of the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. It has been selected as MIFF 2023’s Opening Night Gala film.

Ian White’s work has received of numerous awards over the years including a BANF World Media Award for best documentary of the year, several Asian TV awards and a Hero Award at the 2018 Monte Carlo TVFF. His journeys have taken him through combat zones, refugee camps and some of the most isolated areas on the planet. He has filmed alongside bomb-disposal squads, mine-clearance teams and medical units in both remote and hostile environments. Previously, he was an art director at Mushroom and Polydor Records in Melbourne.