Mia Wasikowska's 'Restless' to open Canberra film festival

The lineup for this year's Canberra International Film Festival has been announced.

This year's cinema event, which will take place from October 26 until November 6 in Australia's capital city, will open with Restless, starring Canberra-born actress Mia Wasikowska.

The festival's director Simon Weaving told The ABC: "It is an absolute thrill to have a film with one of our own in the leading role."

Weaving also revealed that he is exhibiting some African films this year such as The Bang Bang Club.

"A personal goal of mine was to get some African cinema in there," he said. "[They have a] great storytelling tradition but [it's] often unrepresented on the screen."

The event will screen 58 films from 26 countries, but will especially focus on showcasing local talent. Toomelah, directed by Ivan Sen, tells the story of a small Aboriginal community in Northern Queensland.

Sen said of the movie: "I consciously went in there and made the film totally by myself using the local community people as the actors."

Other films included in the lineup are Olivia Newton-John's 1980s musical Xanadu and Memoirs of a Plague, Rob Nugent's documentary-style look at the troubled relationship between man and locust.

> Blog: Gus Van Sant's 'Restless': In Pictures
> 'Restless's Mia Wasikowska: 'Van Sant runs a calm set'