by FilmInk Staff
Music documentaries, Australian stories and the return of BBFF’s Music Video Showcase & Party bring sound and screen together for the festival’s 20th edition.
From the extraordinary life and legacy of Marianne Faithfull to the raw energy of Australia’s 1995 Summersault tour, a larrikin road trip through the Australian bush and the next generation of music video makers, music runs through this year’s Byron Bay International Film Festival.
Celebrating its 20th edition, BBFF brings together films that look back at musical lives and defining cultural moments while continuing the festival’s long relationship with musicians, filmmakers and the creative possibilities that emerge when music meets the screen.
In Broken English, directors Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard create an unconventional and intimate portrait of Marianne Faithfull and a career spanning six decades. Inside the fictional “Ministry of Not Forgetting”, overseen by Tilda Swinton with George MacKay as interviewer, Faithfull revisits a life shaped by fame, creativity, survival and reinvention.
Featuring musical responses from Beth Orton, Courtney Love and Nick Cave, Broken English premiered at the 2025 Venice Film Festival and was subsequently selected for Sundance 2026. Faithfull died in January 2025 while the film was still in production, giving the film added poignancy as one of her final creative statements.
A very different piece of music history is unearthed in Tamra Davis’s The Best Summer, assembled from footage she shot while travelling with Australia’s Summersault tour in 1995 and 1996.
Beastie Boys, Sonic Youth, Foo Fighters, Beck, Pavement, Rancid, The Amps and Bikini Kill appear in candid interviews, backstage moments and live performances captured on Davis’s Hi8 camera. Rediscovered decades later, the footage offers an unguarded snapshot of a defining moment in alternative music. The film premiered at Sundance 2026.
Closer to home, acclaimed Australian photographer and filmmaker Stephen Dupont’s That Half Barbaric Twang follows actors David Field and Geoff Morrell and musician Tim Oxley, collectively The Number 4 Band, on the road across Australia. Described by Dupont as “a spiritual epic road movie for the love of music and country”, the film follows the trio performing their original music, often for remote and marginalised communities. Part music documentary, part road movie, it captures friendship, eccentricity and the Australian landscape alongside the band’s determination to take live music where it is rarely heard.
MUSIC VIDEO SHOWCASE & PARTY
BBFF’s long relationship with music and filmmaking continues with a celebration of the next generation of music video makers, bringing this year’s Best Music Video finalists together on Wednesday 21 October, from 6.30–9.30pm.
Fittingly, the night returns to the Arts Factory, home to BBFF’s first three Music Video Awards from 2016 to 2018. This year the celebration takes over the venue’s newly reactivated Garden Bar, reconnecting the event with a place that has its own history in Byron’s creative and music scene.
Music video has long been a space for experimentation and collaboration, and BBFF has championed the form throughout its history. Past selections have included work created alongside Goldfrapp, Massive Attack, Gotye and Deadmau5.
“Music videos are where some of the most exciting creative work begins. We love giving filmmakers a platform to test ideas, collaborate, and take their next career step,” says BBFF Festival Director J’aimee Skippon-Volke.
Across documentaries, archival discoveries, road movies and new music videos, this year’s program reflects a relationship between music and cinema that has been part of BBFF throughout its 20-year history.
The 20th Byron Bay International Film Festival runs from 16 to 25 October 2026, with screenings and events across Byron Bay and the Northern Rivers.
Program information: BBFF.com.au
Become a BBFF Friend: bbff.com.au/friends
