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$).

More Info

The 2020 Gold Coast Film Festival was scheduled to run 15-26 April 2020. Following the announcement from the Australian Prime Minister on COVID-19 restrictions for events, the Festival was sadly cancelled on March 13th. 

With the support of our our partners, in particular our major partners Screen Queensland, City of Gold Coast, HOTA Home of the Arts and Tourism and Events Queensland, the Festival was able to pivot quickly and offer two key events digitally – the Screen Industry Gala Awards (where we awarded over $20,000 in cash and prized to filmmakers) and SIPFest Short Film Festival.

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 16th annual Gold Coast Film Festival ran from 17-29 April, 2018.

The 2018 Gold Coast Film Festival attracted a record attendance of 16,364.  More than a quarter (29.3%) travelled to the event from outside the Gold Coast region.

The Festival attracts and develop local film professionals, with 26% of our total audience made up of emerging filmmakers or film professionals working in the thriving QLD film industry.

The Gold Coast Film Festival 2017 attracted a record attendance of 15,309 with over 120 film and film-related events across 13 Gold Coast venues.

The 15th annual Gold Coast Film Festival will screen 32 feature films from 13 countries, including four World premieres, nine Australian premieres and eight Queensland premieres, plus a host of short films, events, panels, and intimate Q&A’s with filmmakers from 19-30 April.

Special guests at the Festival included Deborah Mailman, Sue Maslin, Kellan Lutz, Temuera Morrison, Isabel Lucas, Simon Wincer, Claudia Karvan, Jan Chapman, David Stratton, Tony Barry and more.

The 2017 Gold Coast Film Festival also introduced a city first, the Gold Coast Movie Locations Tour, which saw guests experience a 3-hour journey across the Gold Coast, visiting over 20 films including Kong: Skull Island, The Shallows, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, San Andreas and Muriel’s Wedding.

Explore the 2017 program here.

The Gold Coast Film Festival (GCFF) 2016 attracted a record 14,148 attendees across ten days of film screenings and events, increasing attendance by 12% on the previous year. The small GCFF team curated advance or exclusive screenings of films, enhanced the screening experience through Q&A and film introductions, extended the experience to after parties and complimented them through film related events. There were 6 Australian premieres, 7 Queensland premieres and films featured from 15 countries. Highlights of the festival included:

  • Opening Night Red Carpet Gala screening of Eddie The Eagle, with personal video introduction from Hugh Jackman to the largest opening night audience in GCFF history – 600 people.
  • The prestigious Chauvel Award was revived and secured for the Gold Coast after previously being part of the Brisbane International Film Festival. Recipient Claudia Karvan attended and was interviewed by David Stratton.
  • Comprehensive industry engagement, with 11 REELLIFE panels this year, featuring some of the industry’s most experienced and influential filmmakers and covering relevant and timely subjects, designed to encourage, promote and assist the local QLD film industry.
  • This year, GCFF was one of the leading mainstream film festivals in Australia in addressing the gender imbalance issues in the film industry through our Women in Film initiatives – implementing the Bechdel Test on all films, the introduction of free childcare for selected industry panels, our women in film lunch and delivering on our commitment to women making up 50% of all speakers and panellists at the festival.

Exceptional publicity helped build the festival’s profile nationally, with 281 pieces of media coverage promoting the event and the Gold Coast, including a key TV piece on national ABC TV news on a Sunday evening. The GCFF continues to contribute to the Gold Coast’s cultural reputation and helps to showcase the Gold Coast as a place with a distinct and enviable cultural identity and lifestyle, with 95% of attendees strongly agreeing or agreeing that The Gold Coast Film Festival adds to the appeal of the Gold Coast and 98% of attendees strongly agreeing or agreeing that Local residents should feel proud of The Gold Coast Film Festival.

2015 saw the 13th annual Gold Coast Film Festival hosted by a new venue, The Arts Centre Gold Coast, running from April 9–19 2015, along with various events held in more locations spanning the breadth of the coast from Helensvale to Coolangatta.

New Festival Programmer Mitch Ziems pulled together a stellar program opening with the Cannes nominated film ‘Clouds of Sils Maria’, introduced by renowned Australian Film Critic Margaret Pomeranz. Australian premieres including the William H Macy directorial debut ‘Rudderless’ and the Australian horror ‘Fear of Darkness’. Closing the festival was Alex Garland’s sci fi film, nominated over 50 times around the film festival circuit, ‘Ex Machina’.

A special 30th Anniversary screening of ‘Back to the Future’ was a crowd favourite, with Christopher Lloyd as a special guest, as well as the infamous Delorean car.

Special Q&A Screenings included ‘To Be Takai’ with George Takai taking questions, and the action film ‘Skin Trade’ with star Dolph Lundgren, and the Australian Sci Fi film ‘Infini’, with a Q&A with filmmakers, and stars Luke Hemsworth and Daniel McPherson.

As well as some first class films screening at the festival, 2015 saw a special performance by the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, performing movie masterpieces. The Film Inspired ART exhibition in Broadbeach as well as the popular Movie Trivia Night was a hit with festivalgoers.

2015 also saw the Inaugural Women in Film Luncheon, with special guests Margaret Pomeranz and Phillippa Whitfield-Pomeranz.

As is always a special feature of the film festival, there were Seminars and Workshops for high school students, to emerging filmmakers and film buffs alike, with the Future Filmmakers, Making Filmmakers and the REELLIFE Seminars. Many of the guests had their films screening at the festival, including Infini, and Frackman. Other guests included Robert Connolly, Jim Dodd from the Lego movie, Trish Lake and other industry professionals.

The 2015 Gold Coast Festival saw it’s most successful year to date, with 12,600 people attended festival – increase in film attendance by 178% on 2014 figures.

The 2014 Gold Coast Film Festival ran from April 3–13 at Birch Carroll and Coyle Cinemas, Pacific Fair Shopping Centre, Broadbeach, with various events held in other locations.

The festival program included a range of national and international films, including genre features, dramas, foreign films, pop-culture films and horror, as well as the festival’s Cool Japan and Queensland Showcase strands.

The 12th year of the Gold Coast Film Festival was re- visioned with a ten-day program with film genres from family films, Japanese Anime, drama, comedy and locally produced Indie films. Festival Director Kylie Pascoe said that 2014 marked a new beginning “ 2014 is the beginning of a new era for the Gold Coast Film Festival and I am incredibly excited by the potential for 2015 and beyond.”

The festival opening night started with an international Wes Anderson film ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’ which was a critics favourite at the Berlin Film Festival in 2014.

The Festival showcased 40 feature films including three world premieres including ‘Polygon’ with a Q&A with Director Kimberley Joseph. 15 Australian premieres including the Closing Night cult horror film ‘The Babadook’, ‘The Cure’ and ‘Canopy’, and four Queensland premiers and featured a horror movie marathon, which ran until midnight. The special guest list included John Jarratt, Temuera Morrison, Ian Collie, David Gould and various other professionals in the film industry. And with the pop culture partnership with Supanova, special voiceover guest John DiMaggio attended the event following Q&A after the premiere of ‘I know that Voice’.

Free film industry seminars included the inaugural REELLIFE program, featuring guest speakers Ian Collie (Saving Mr Banks & Rake), Director Brad Peyton (San Andreas), Richard Becker (Becker Film Group) among others. Future Filmmakers also ran this year for high school students, with special guest John Jarratt (Wolf Creek).

A year of firsts, it was also the inaugural Movie Trivia Night with ABC Gold Coast, and a Grease Sing-a-long as part of the free community screenings.

The 11th annual Gold Coast Film Festival in 2013 ran from April 18–18 at the new venue, Birch Carroll and Coyle Cinemas, Pacific Fair Shopping Centre, Broadbeach, with various events held in other locations.

The festival saw some award winning films featured, including Evil Dead, History of Future Folk, Sushi Girl, Welcome to the Punch and the Cannes nominated Antiviral and the award winning Australian film Crave. The festival program included a range of foreign films, with a Turkish program, Cool Japan and Queensland Showcase.

In partnership with Supanova and QPOW, the festival featured guests Tony Todd (Candyman) and Noah Hathaway; who attended a special community screening of Neverending Story.

A special feature of the Gold Coast Film Festival are the free film industry seminars and panels, including Future Filmmakers for high school students, and the Inaugural Pitch in Paradise competition.

The Gold Coast boasts a heritage of filmmaking, with international filmmaking introduced to the city in the late 1980’s. Fast-forward to 2017 and in the past year, major international films Pirates of the Caribbean and Thor: Rangarok have chosen the Gold Coast’s incredible locations and highly competent crew to shoot their multi-million dollar films. US productions that have chosen to shoot on the Gold Coast have a combined production budget of AU$1.7 billion alone. As the city’s flagship film event we aim to enhance the reputation of the city as one of Australia’s major filmmaking hubs. Village Roadshow Studios is a big drawcard in attracting international production to the city.  The studios offer world class film production facilities comprising of eight sound stages, three water tanks, ten production offices, editing suites, wardrobe, makeup, construction, paint and carpentry shops. Equally, the incredibly diverse range of film locations on the Gold Coast means everything from swaps to city scenes, waterfalls to beaches can be shot here. Local production is also healthy, with a steady stream of productions shooting on the Gold Coast, including in the past year, Jungle and Swinging Safari.  

Some of the recent productions on the Gold Coast include:
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
Thor: Ragnarok
Kong: Skull Island
The Shallows
Unbroken
Nest
Jungle
The Age of Adaline
San Andreas
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Screen Queensland supports film development and production and investment in Queensland. Find out more here.
More information about the City of Gold Coast film incentives and locations can be found on the More Gold Coast Film page.