Screening from Friday to Sunday at Huskisson Pictures, the festival includes three short films and nine feature films ranging from locations as far away as Canada, India, Italy, Japan, United States, United Kingdom and Palestine.

Officially opening the festival is a special homegrown feature by legendary filmmaker Rolf De Heer (Ten Canoes, The Tracker) called Charlie’s Country.

De Heer’s third collaboration with the mesmerising David Gulpilil, Charlie’s Country tells the story of Blackfella Charlie who is getting older and feeling at odds with the white policing laws in his remote Arnhem Land community and decides to try living life the old way.

Gulpilil’s performance earned him the award for Best Actor, Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival this year.

Other festival highlights include the esteemed winner of Best Film at Sydney Film Festival 2014, Two Days, One Night. Writer director brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne head this moving work starring Marion Cotillard (La Vie en Rose, The Dark Knight Rises). Cotillard plays Sandra, a woman who has been given the near-impossible task of convincing her co-workers to forsake their bonuses so that she may have her job back after taking sick leave.

Also on the program is an animated adaptation of a traditional Japanese folk story, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya. Directed by co-founder of Studio Ghibli, Isao Takahata (Grave of the Fireflies), this animation in soft hues and delicate lines tells the story of a humble bamboo cutter who finds a miniature princess.

The warm and, at times, hilarious documentary Tim’s Vermeer screens on Sunday. Texas-based inventor, Tim Jenison is obsessed with the Dutch master painter, Johannes Vermeer. He decides to painstakingly recreate Vermeer’s painting The Music Lesson in order to test out the theory: did the 17th century Dutch artist use an optical apparatus to paint such realistic imagery? The results have to be seen to be believed.

Finally, closing off the festival is the daring and successful cinematic experiment, Locke. Starring Tom Hardy (Inception, The Dark Knight Rises) as Ivan Locke, the film is captured in real-time and plays out entirely within Locke’s car as he traverses Britain’s M1 motorway on the eve of an important day in his career. Using only his car’s speakerphone, Locke must try to resolve a number of crises that are descending upon him, threatening to upturn his perfect life.

Screening times

Friday, August 22

7pm: Charlie’s Country (M)

Special Guest Q&A

Saturday, August 23

10.30am: Charlie’s Country (M)

1pm: Gabrielle (M) screens with short The Video Dating Tape of Desmondo Ray, Aged 33&¾

3pm: Human Capital (UC)

6pm: The Lunchbox (PG)

8.15pm: Two Days, One Night (UC) screens with short Yearbook

Sunday, August 24

11am: The Tale of The Princess Kaguya (PG)

2pm: Tim’s Vermeer (M)

4.30pm: Omar (M)

6.30pm: Locke (MA15+) screens with short Welcome to Iron Knob