MUMBAI: The Melbourne International Film Festival, scheduled to be held from 2 to 19 August has announced its first 30 films.

Besides The Sapphires, that will be the opening night film, two other Australian thrillers have been selected in the feature film section.

While the first 100 Bloody Acres, the directorial debut by the Colin and Cameron Cairnes, is a gruesome comedy starring Angus Sampson and Damon Herriman, Last Dance, by first-time director David Pulbrook tells of the fallout of a terrorist attack on a synagogue by surviving bomber Sadiq Mohammad as he seeks shelter in the house of holocaust survivor Ulah Lippman.

Joining the Australian films will be Sundance and Cannes winner Beasts of the Southern Wild, directed by Benh Zeitlin and Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom.

In the documentary section Paul Kelly: Stories of Me is pitted against Make Hummus Not War. They are accompanied by LCD Sound system documentary Shut Up and Play the Hits and This Ain't California.

Yardbird, that premiered at the recent Cannes Film Festival will screen in the short film section along with a Disney short film Paperman and The Man that Got Away.