The Gold Coast Film Festival’s purpose is to bring film to life in a distinctly Gold Coast way for local and visiting audiences and to help grow and support Queensland’s screen industry.
The Gold Coast Film Festival is an annual 12-day film festival in April with more than 100 film, panels, parties, pop-up cinemas and special events right across the Gold Coast.
GCFF also hosts a year-round program of special screenings and events thanks to the support of the City of Gold Coast Arts Organisations Triennial Funding Program.
The Gold Coast Film Festival is supported by the Queensland Government through Screen Queensland and Tourism and Events Queensland and features on the It’s Live! in Queensland events calendar. The Gold Coast Film Festival is supported by the City of Gold Coast and Major Events Gold Coast.

Our History

The festival was established in 2002 and in 2014 shifted from a fantasy and sci-fi focus to a broader, international direction. From 2015-2018 the festival delivered a sharp increase in attendance, reputation and support.
The festival gained recognition nationally for the introduction of innovative initiatives to support gender equality in the screen industry in 2016 and was the venue for the launch of WIFT (Women in Film TV) Australia in 2018.
In 2017, with the support of Screen Queensland, the Gold Coast Film Festival became an AACTA-Award qualifying festival for feature films, one of only seven in Australia.
What we deliver
The Gold Coast Film Festival brings diverse Australian and International films, filmmakers and film events to the Gold Coast, enhancing the city’s cultural reputation, driving tourism and delivering economic impact to the region.
The Gold Coast Film Festival reinforces our city’s position as one of Australia’s leading filmmaking destinations, by promoting emerging Australian filmmakers and creating educational and professional development opportunities for film industry practitioners
Our distinctive points of difference from other film festivals in Australia are:
- Discovery and promotion of Queensland (and Australian) independent filmmaking talent
- One of Australia’s leading festivals in championing gender equality in the film industry
- Strong Queensland film industry engagement and accessibility of industry guests at the festival
- Use of uniquely Gold Coast landscapes to bring films to life in special events

Attendance

The 2019 festival ran from 3-14th April 2019 and featured 178 films, panels and events across 14 Gold Coast locations. The Festival welcomed a record 19,650 attendances to the year-round festival program – an increase of 20% from 2018.
The Festival attracts and develop local film professionals, hosting 25+ industry panels and events with 1000+ emerging filmmakers or film professionals from across Australia attending our industry program.
We’re proud to have 93% of attendees rate the Gold Coast Film Festival as Excellent or Very Good, with 91% of attendees agreeing that “the event add appeal to the Gold Coast.”
The 2020 Gold Coast Film Festival was cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Special Guests
Each year, we bring over 150 guest speakers to the Gold Coast.
Well-known guests to the festival in the past four years include: Simon Baker, Sigrid Thornton, Sue Maslin, Jenny Cooney, Sue Milliken, George Takei, Dolph Lundgren, Luke Hemsworth, Deborah Mailman, Claudia Karvan, Kellan Lutz, Margaret Pomeranz, David Stratton, Isabel Lucas, Temuera Morrison, Daniel Macpherson, Grace Huang, Gracie Otto, John Jarratt, Hunter Page-Lochard.
The festival also brings high profile Australian film industry guests to the Gold Coast, helping to cement the Gold Coast’s reputation as a filmmaking hub and providing valuable learning and networking opportunities to local practitioners. A few of these guests over the past three years include Rob Cowan (San Andreas, Aquaman), Sue Maslin (The Dressmaker), Robert Connelly (Paper Planes, Balibo), Jan Chapman (The Piano, The Daughter), Matthew Saville (Please Like Me, Secret Life of Us) Simon Wincer (Free Willy, The Lighthorsemen), Kirsty Stark (Wastelander Panda, A Month of Sundays), Veronica Fury (Snake Boss, Electric Boogaloo), Trish Lake (Frackman, Gettin’ Square), Reg Cribb (Last Cab to Darwin), David White (Mad Max Fury Road), Christopher Gordon (Lego Batman Daybreakers), Jonathan M Shiff (Mako Mermaids), Brett Thornquest (Infini, Better Watch Out) Philippa Whitfield (Fashion Bloggers, Style Squad) Shane Abbess (Gabriel, Infini) and Anna Broinowski (Please Explain, Forbidden Lie$).
