The EQ Media and Entertainment production The Principal will have its Australian premiere at the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) on Thursday 13th August 2015.

When ambitious educator Matt Bashir (Alex Dimitriades) is given the principal’s job at Sydney’s notorious boys-only Boxdale High School, it’s hard to know whether the move is a promotion or a career killer. A simmering cauldron of socioeconomic troubles and ethnic tensions, Boxdale is the kind of place that Bashir is determined to fix. But just when it seems like he’s making headway, the body of one of the students is found dead on the grounds, and everything Bashir has fought for starts falling apart.

Award-winning director Kriv Stenders (Red Dog, MIFF 2010) makes his first foray into TV storytelling with the riveting drama of The Principal. A richly imagined, deeply troubling journey through the multicultural landscape of Australia, The Principal – written by Kristen Dunphy (Heartbreak High) and Alice Addison (The Hunter) and produced by Ian Collie of EQ Media (Rake, Jack Irish, Saving Mr Banks) – is Australian television drama at its most powerful and accomplished: confident, confronting and full of style.

MIFF will premiere the first two episodes of this new SBS drama series. The Principal will then air on SBS in October.

You can find the full program at www.miff.com.au and tickets go on sale this Friday 10th July. MIFF runs 30th July – 16th August 2015