After a two year absence, Byzanfest is back to cinema screenings. The Festival is the biggest international Orthodox Christian film festival with its focus on sharing Orthodox stories, culture and creativity from around the world.
Based in Melbourne, the Festival will run for 10 days with 20 films on offer from October 27 until November 6. In addition to this “home-coming,” it is an honour to have Yelena Popovic, writer and director of the globally successful movie Man of God, as part of our international judging panel.
What’s on the program:
We are very proud to have a diverse collection of feature-lengths and short-films.
To kick off the Festival, our Gala Night will host the Australian premiere of A Cross in the Desert, an epic cinematic movie about the life and trials of Saint Paraskevi, one of the most loved saints in Christianity. Filmed in the Jordanian Desert, the breathtaking orange-hued landscape and inspiring story makes it one of the Festival’s hot favourites.
Beyond the Peak, another Australian premiere, is a mountain-climbing/adventure documentary about a group of men from a Serbian Orthodox parish that take on Blanca Peak’s, a 4.2 km mountain. The driving motivation was for the group’s leader to come to terms with the tragic loss of his younger brother. Through obstacles and hardship, each man is challenged as they ascend to the summit.
Parallel Love, follows the path of Luxury, a band from small-town Georgia, who, on the cusp of success, suffer a devastating touring wreck with long-term consequences. In the intervening years, they continue to make records and three members of the band become Eastern Orthodox priests. Through interviews and archival footage, Parallel Love tells the gripping and poignant story of Luxury and documents the making of a new record, now as priests.
Where to learn more and buy tickets: byzanfest.com.
