Opening night of the Melbourne International Film Festival brings out the glitterati but not the Twitterati, writes Suzanne Carbone.

MAKE it a jumbo box of popcorn because the Melbourne International Film Festival screens 226 films and 99 shorts across 18 days. Sounds frenetic but not as frenetic as Rhonda Burchmore was last night.

As a star of opening-night film The Wedding Party, red-hot Rhonda graced the red carpet outside the Regent Theatre in a sparkly mini at 6.40pm, climbed the stairs to a pre-film reception – but couldn’t stay for the film. Unfortunately, she had a pre-existing commitment. That was dashing to the Comedy Theatre at 7.30pm to dress for Calendar Girls at 8pm, the show where she sheds those clothes. It’s not over yet.

When the curtain lowered at 10.30pm, Burchmore dashed back to the Regent ballroom for the film-festival after-party to sing a tune from the film, At Last, from the Juliet balcony. The mission was accomplished with the help of her trusty driver, husband Nikolai.

Back to the red carpet, where Burchmore posed with co-stars Isabel Lucas, Josh Lawson, Adam Zwar, Nadine Garner, Essie Davis, Steve Bisley and director Amanda Jane. Hollywood star Adrian Grenier, here for his film Teenage Paparazzo, sensed he wasn’t dressing for the Oscars and wore a cardigan and scarf with his trousers and shirt. Sizing up the red carpet and the modest crowd gathered, he said: ”It’s a cute effort.”

The other Tinseltown hottie, Ashton Kutcher, leader of the Twitterati who’s plugging his film Killers, declined an invitation to the festival’s night of nights and fashion frights because he wanted to see Inception while his schedule permits. Village Roadshow’s Inge Burke, a polo player, took Kutcher for a polo lesson with the Victorian Polo Academy on Wednesday, so now Kutcher can brag to wife Demi Moore and everyone back home that he’s been to Werribee.

Festival director Richard Moore graced the red carpet, so did Premier John Brumby and Tourism and Major Events Minister Tim Holding. They may have recognised another VIP in a tuxedo, former premier Steve Bracks, who was asked for an autograph from a fan in the crowd, but he and wife Terry bypassed the red carpet.

The festival isn’t the same without popcorn and controversy. This year it’s the federal Classification board banning the gay zombie porn film L. A. Zombie. Gay zombies, along with other film-goers, are entitled to feel MIFFed. During last year’s scandal, the festival refused to bow to pressure from China to withdraw The 10 Conditions of Love, a documentary about Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer. Guess what? Last Saturday, the festival won Liberty Victoria’s Voltaire award for free speech, the gong presented by committee member Julian Burnside, QC.

This year’s mini-controversy was pro-Palestinian protester Shane McCartin standing outside the Regent with a sign saying: ”MIFF providing cultural camouflage of Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Palestine”. He is against the festival receiving funding from Israel, but, as organisers say, funding is received from other countries. Security tried to move him on but he maintained his one-man spectacle.