The Melbourne International Film Festival has released First Glance and their sneak peek at this year’s festival program reveals a wide-ranging array of incredible narrative features, documentaries and short films - not to mention a fantastic Next Gen program specially curated for younger viewers.

Here are ten films that have already made their way onto our shortlists…

• 20,000 Days on Earth: British visual artists Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard present a biopic of post-punk poet Nick Cave that’s been described as “unclassifiable and frequently spectacular” (Salon). Watch the trailer here.

• Boyhood: Filmed over 12 years, director Richard Linklater (of the ‘Before’ trilogy) charts the growth and development of lead actor Ellar Coltrane between the ages of 6 and 18. Watch the trailer here.

• Dinosaur 13: Todd Miller recounts author Peter Larson’s involvement in the one of greatest palaeontology discoveries in history. Indiewire says, “A subset of the scientific-documentary-as-thriller tradition epitomized by The Cove and Blackfish, Dinosaur 13 is both awe-inspiring and tragic”. Watch the trailer here.

• The Infinite Man: An Australian time-travel romantic comedy from director Hugh Sullivan, this film was a hit at the SXSW Film Festival. Watch the trailer here.

• Jodorowsky’s Dune: Alejandro Jodorowsky’s much-mythologised unmade film of Frank Herbert’s seminal science fiction novel Dune comes as close to being realised as it ever will with this release from Frank Pavich. Watch the trailer here.

• Joe: Nicolas Cage stars in this neo-Western portrait of poverty and violence based on a novel by Larry Brown, and directed by David Gordon Green. Watch the trailer here.

• Listen Up Philip: Director Alex Ross Perry creates a fascinating portrait of a destructive, self-obsessed artist, brought hilariously to life by Jason Schwartzman. Watch the trailer here.

• We Are The Best! (pictured here): Lukas Moodysson adapts a semi-autobiographical graphic novel by his wife, into an authentic and uplifting portrait of Swedish punk teenagers. Watch the trailer here.

• What We Do In the Shadows: This New Zealand mockumentary about terrible roomates - who are also vampires - comes from Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement, who both perform in and direct. Watch the trailer here.

• Whitey: United States of America v. James J. Bulger: Joe Berlinger presents this eerie documentary of crimelord James ‘Whitey’ Bulger, described as being less “a true crime doc as much as a first-rate James Ellroy adaptation” (The Playlist). Watch the trailer here.

Tickets for all films will go on sale with the full program release on 11 July (or on 9 July for MIFF members). You can find out more or become a MIFF member here.

Readings is a proud sponsor of MIFF.