With $5.3m over four years from the State budget, the Melbourne International Film Festival can continue to run the core industry programs which make it so distinctive. Behind the scenes, there are sighs of relief.
The $1.3m per year to MIFF from the state government is an unspectacular but vital contribution from state government to the cultural life of Melbourne and Victoria. No-one seriously thinks that either side of politics would let it die, and the Liberal Party is just as committed to the logic of the funding as its predecessors.