IT’S second-time lucky for the postponed Capital Film Festival, which tonight (May 26), unveiled its inaugural program for June 15-26.

The event will feature movie-length features, shorts and documentaries including some from this year’s Sundance, Berlin and Cannes Film Festivals and Australian films festivals.

The opening night film on June 15 will be Australian director Sophie Hyde’s “Good Luck To You, Leo Grande”, in which Emma Thompson plays Nancy, a retired, widowed school teacher yearning for a bit of adventure and a dash of sex.

That will be bookended with the closing night film “Bosch & Rockit”, the debut feature film from Australia’s Tyler Atkins. Set during the late summer on the East Australian coast, we find young father, Bosch  and his son  on the run from crooked cops.

A highlight will be the Jacques Tati Retrospective, presented in partnership with the Alliance Française Canberra.

Though he made only a handful of films, Tati was once the darling of left-wing intelligentsia in Australia. With a background in music hall and mime performance, he raised sight-gag comedy to the level of high art. The retrospective will feature his six comedy features, “Jour de Fête”, “Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday”, ”Mon Oncle”, “Playtime”, “Traffic” and the extravaganza, ”Parade”, where Tati himself plays master of ceremonies, Monsieur Loyal.

The festival will also look at new works by some of Europe’s female directors in a dedicated section of the festival which has been inspired by Sydney Film Festival.

Included in that are the winner of the Audience Award for World Cinema Dramatic at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, “Girl Picture”, an exploration of the fears and confusions of discovering one’s identity and sexuality and  “Small Body”, a debut from Italian director Laura Samani where a grieving mother embarks on a quest through hazardous terrain to give her stillborn daughter a name.

The festival is directed by Andrew Perkin, who has previously worked in programming for the Canberra International Film Festival, the Antenna Film Festival and the Sydney Film Festival.

“After a turbulent 18-month period,” he says in triumph, ”cinema across the globe has finally begun to flicker back to life.”

Capital Film Festival, Dendy Cinemas, June 15-26.