Ben McKenzie is an actor, comedian, writer and game designer, and he’s also GOFF’s Festival Producer. We asked him to explain himself.

How’d you get involved in GOFF?

I’ve been working with Karen as an associate producer for Cherchez la Femme for a couple of years, so I was there at the George Revival Cinema for that first conversation with Gus. I’ve been lucky enough to be in on GOFF from its conception!

Apart from GOFF, what are you working on now?

Loads of things! As well as a couple of major projects with my live games company Pop Up Playground, I’ve nearly finished Night Terrace, a new sci-fi comedy audio series starring Jackie Woodburne (Neighbours’ Susan Kennedy). I’m producing, writing and co-starring as Jackie’s sidekick, so that project has been lots of work, but also lots of fun! We’ll be releasing the whole series of eight episodes for sale online in September; so it’s kind of like a radio serial version of a Netflix show, and I can’t wait for people to hear it.

What’s one of your favourite moments involving a girl on film?

I’m a sci-fi nerd, so you can probably guess some of mine! Apart from the obvious Ripley moments in Alien, I’m also uncool enough to be moved by the scene in Alien: Resurrection when the clone of Ripley finds a room full of [SPOILER REDACTED]. Then there’s the great moment in The Dark Crystal when Jen meets another gelfling like him, Kira, but discovers she has wings. “I don’t have wings!” he complains; Kira, cool as a cucumber, says “Of course not, you’re a boy” and carries on adventuring. Most recently I loved Emily Blunt in Edge of Tomorrow, especially her casual execution of Tom Cruise whenever he made a mistake. Oh, and I love just about every moment with Chihiro in Spirited Away, my favourite Miyazaki film.

What’s something you think GOFF brings to Melbourne’s film festival scene?

I love the mix of classic and new or rarely seen films; I’ve not seen that at a film festival before, certainly not with them all given equal billing! And there’s such a diverse range of films too; I’m no film buff, so there’s loads of stuff I haven’t seen alongside a couple of films which are old favourites of mine. I hope I get to sit in on a few!

If you could see a movie made about any real life woman who would it be?

I definitely want to see a biopic about Hedy Lamarr! She was a film star, famous initially for being the first woman to perform an orgasm on screen, and then later as the most beautiful face in Hollywood – but she was also a genius! She lived this incredible life, escaping to America from a castle and loveless marriage in Austria, and then during the second world war inventing the frequency hopping spread spectrum technique still used today in most wireless technology. I researched her for a talk at The Laborastory and her life would make an amazing film.

Do you have a favourite female actor or director?

I have been a very long-time fan of Emma Thompson – everything she does delights me. Thompson’s role as Kate Lemon in The Tall Guy is sublime; she gives the most deliciously acidic sarcasm! (Plus her sex scene with Jeff Goldblum is still my all-time favourite.) Thompson is also a great director and screenwriter; her adaptation of Sense and Sensibility is brilliant, and not least for the casting of Kate Winslet, another of my all-time favourite actors. And on a very different note, I can’t leave out Tilda Swinton, whom I most recently loved in Only Lovers Left Alive, an instant classic as far as I’m concerned.