SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES FIRST FILMS FOR 2024

The Sydney Film Festival has announced a first wave of programming with 17 new films and events to be featured in this year’s event, set to unspool at sites all over Sydney from June 5-16. 

“This selection, though diverse in setting and scope, reveals some common themes: resilience foremost amongst them. These films offer a taste of a Festival program rich with discovery and insight, poised to captivate and inspire,” Sydney Film Festival Director Nashen Moodley said.

Two new Australian films will have their world premiere at the 71st festival. In Vitro, the highly anticipated feature from directors Will Howarth and Tom McKeith, stars Ashley Zukerman (pictured, top) in an Australian sci-fi mystery thriller set on a remote cattle farm in the near future. And in The Pool, director Ian Darling paints a cinematic portrait of a year in the life of the iconic Bondi Icebergs.

From New Zealand comes The Mountain (pictured, right), the directorial debut of actor Rachel House. Executive produced by Taika Waititi, the film centres on three children discovering friendship's healing power through the spirit of adventure as they trek through spectacular New Zealand landscapes. 

International festival prize-winners in the first release of films include winner of the Golden Shell for Best Film at San Sebastián, The Rye Horn, a story of a rural Galician midwife who flees after an illegal abortion goes awry. Winner of the Special Jury Prize at Venice, legendary filmmaker Agnieszka Holland’s refugee thriller Green Border raised the ire of some Polish politicians and inspired protests before setting a box office record.

Pepe won the Silver Bear at Berlinale 2024. The film tells the true-ish story of Pepe the hippo who broke free of Pablo Escobar’s private zoo, featuring narration from the multilingual hippo himself. Explanation for Everything (pictured, left) is a Hungarian satire about the culture wars where a student accidentally becomes a figurehead for the right when he is embroiled in a national scandal. The film won the Orizzonti Award for Best Film at the Venice International Film Festival.

One of the hits of Berlinale 2024, Sex follows two married and ostensibly heterosexual chimneysweeps who are unmoored when one of them sleeps with a man and the other begins to question the recurring dreams he’s been having about David Bowie.

Another offbeat tale in the Festival line-up is Clair Titley’s documentary The Contestant, an incredible true story of a TV contestant left naked in a room, unaware his months-long challenge was being broadcast to millions via a Japanese television show.

Gastronomes will find their appetites whetted by Menus-Plaisirs – Les Troisgros (pictured, right), director Frederick Wiseman’s mouth-watering epic set in a three-Michelin-star French restaurant; Mexican director Alonso Ruizpalacios’ La Cocina, featuring Rooney Mara and Raúl Briones in a comedic drama set during the hectic lunch rush at a New York restaurant; and Busan Film Festival favourite House of the Seasons, an intergenerational family saga set in a tofu factory in Daegu, Korea.

Documentaries include COPA ’71, the untold story of the 1971 Women’s Soccer World Cup and their fight against systemic sexism within governing bodies determined to undermine women’s soccer, and The Battle for Laikipia explores the tensions in Kenya's Laikipia region among herders, landholders, and conservationists against a backdrop of drought, politics, and colonial history.

Other highlights announced include Olivier Assayas’ most personal film yet, Suspended Time, about art, memory, and love in the time of COVID; and Oscar-nominated Pawo Choyning Dorji’s The Monk and The Gun (pictured, below), which takes place in rural Bhutan during the lead-up to his country’s first-ever election.

A special film and live music event not to be missed, Hear My Eyes: Hellraiser will give audiences the opportunity to experience Clive Barker’s 1987 extra-dimensional horror classic, re-scored live by EBM explorers Hieroglyphic Being and Robin Fox, and a synched laser-art show at City Recital Hall.

THE SCREEN-SPACE SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL FLEXIPASS TEN

There is a skill that comes with experience when you set out to pick your must-see Sydney Film Festival ten films. If I book this one, do I miss that one? If I miss that one, can I catch it at Newtown, Randwick or Cremorne? Does it have a local distributor, and a likely release soon anyway? What’s its Rotten Tomatoes rating? Wasn’t this booed at Cannes (if so, I’m in!)? And where do I even park at that time of day?! With all that in mind, Team Screen-Space zeroed in on the ten films that will have earned our time and dollars by Closing Night 2023…

THUNDER (Dir: Carmen Jaquier; Switzerland, 92 mins) In the summer of 1900, pious 17-year-old Elisabeth learns of the death of her sister, Innocente. Ripped away from her beloved nunnery, she returns home to the Valais Valley, where an encounter with three village boys and Innocente’s hidden diary awakens stirrings in the touch-starved novice. Director Carmen Jacquier’s debut draws on the staggering beauty of the mountains and rivers, in an elemental portrayal of youth caught between restriction and discovery, desire and God. BUY TICKETS

SNOW AND THE BEAR (Dir: Selcen Ergun; Türkiye, 93 min) Selcen Ergun’s directorial debut begins with a car driving through a snowy Turkish hinterland, setting an ominous note of isolation and paranoia that continues right up to the haunting final shot. The car’s driver is headstrong young nurse Asli (Merve Dizdar), who has arrived in a small village for compulsory service. The men look down upon Asli, but that is the least of her worries when a townsperson disappears and the locals settle with conspicuous certainty on a bear attack as the cause. BUY TICKETS

SISU (Dir: Jalmari Helander; Finland 91 mins) Tipping its hat to no-nonsense action movies that dominated drive-ins in the ’70s and home video in the ’80s, Finnish filmmaker Jalmari Helander’s splattery Sisu won of Best Picture, Cinematography, Music and Actor (Jorma Tommila) at Sitges on its way to Sydney; a thunderous revenge tale that pits a grizzled old geezer against a bunch of arrogant Aryans with no idea what they’re in for. BUY TICKETS

RAGING GRACE (Dir: Paris Zarcilla; UK, 99 mins) Joy is almost invisible to the rich Londoners whose houses she cleans. With cheeky young daughter Grace to support and huge visa fees to pay if she wants to avoid deportation, Joy has to take any work she can find. Zarcilla’s intelligent screenplay hits high gear when Joy lands a job as live-in caretaker at the musty ol’ Garrett Manor. Reality and fantasy combine as revelations about her strange new home bring all kinds of demons into the open. BUY TICKETS

PICTURES OF GHOSTS (Dir: Kleber Mendonça Filho; Brazil 93 mins) The Brazilian city of Recife has been home to Mendonça Filho’s family since the 1970s and it is where he discovered cinema in the grand picture palaces of the time. Shot over decades, the film features a delightful, humorous narration by Mendonça Filho himself, and is a glorious love letter to his historian mother Joselice, his neighbourhood and the films and cinemas that made him. BUY TICKETS

OMEN (Dir: Baloji; Belgium 90 mins) Banished from Congo because he was considered a sorcerer, Koffi and his partner Alice return to reconcile with his family but receive a welcome that’s anything but warm. In telling this compelling story, Baloji takes fascinating diversions through the streets of vibrant Lubumbashi, capturing unforgettable images; Omen marks the emergence of an incredible filmmaking talent. BUY TICKETS

LAST THINGS (Dir: Deborah Stratman; USA, Portugal, France 50 minS) Iridescent crystals spin and exquisite fractal patterns bloom. The camera zooms out to lunar landscapes and in on chondrules (droplets of solar nebula) glimmering like stained glass under a microscope. Stratman’s camera ekes wonder from seemingly inert matter, celebrating – in her words – the ‘delicious candy snack' appeal of the geo-biosphere. Embracing otherworldly visual thrills, Last Things takes pleasure in the unknown. BUY TICKETS

JOAN BAEZ I AM A NOISE (Dirs: Karen O'Connor, Miri Navasky, Maeve O'Boyle; USA, 113 mins) With a career spanning over 60 years, Baez has a lifetime of stories and secrets to share, but she also has boxes of never-before-seen home movies, diaries, paintings and audio recordings. This treasure trove forms the basis of a compelling doco-portrait, alongside archival footage and revealing interviews with the now 82-year-old. BUY TICKETS

GAGA (Dir: Laha Mebow; Taiwan 111 mins) Grandpa Hayung has spent his life following ‘gaga’, the spiritual traditions of the Indigenous Tayal people. Few others abide by gaga nowadays, including Mayor Toli, who has started encroaching on Hayung’s land and inspiring eldest son Pasang to run for mayor, hoping to reclaim his family’s status. Featuring a big-hearted ensemble of non-professional actors, Mebow beautifully depicts the complexities of modern family life that retains a connection to ancient culture. BUY TICKETS

BLUE BAG LIFE (Dirs: Rebecca Lloyd-Evans, Lisa Selby, Alex Fry; UK, 92 mins) Even though her mother abandoned her as a baby, Lisa Selby idolised her glamourous yet addicted parent. Flicking through photo albums and searching online she tries to find a connection, but her mother is dying and her partner is jailed for drug dealing. All this trauma, captured on iPhones and hard drives, is assembled into an emotionally raw and striking factual film. BUY TICKETS

SCREEN-SPACE'S SWIFF SIX-PASS

“It is the journey north that the Screen-Space team (i.e., me, with my +1) have undertaken six times. The pilgrimage to Coffs Harbour for the Screenwave International Film Festival, the ever-expanding regional film celebration that brings global cinema, old and new, to the N.S.W. F.N.C. If I had to pick only six, on the Festival’s popular ‘Six Pass’, here they are, but it’s academic, as I’ll be in town for two weeks and cramming my days and nights with SWIFF sessions. As should you.” - Simon Foster, Managing Editor. 

THE SPIRAL (Dir: Maria Silvia Esteve | Argentina, 20 mins)  + LUX AETERNA (Dir: Gaspar Noè | starring Beatrice Dalle, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Abbey Lee | France, 55 mins)
Sometimes cinema should be an assault on the senses, and nobody assaults like French agitator Gaspar Noè, whose oeuvre reads like a dictionary entry for ‘uncomfortable cinema’ - Climax (2018); Love (2015); Enter the Void (2009); Irreversible (2002). The pairing of his latest, Lux Aeterna, with Argentinian surrealist auteur Maria Silvia Esteve’s stream-of-subconscious nightmare The Spiral is inspired programming; a daring, disturbing descent into film as an extension of our darkest psyche.
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THE FLY (Dir: David Cronenberg | starring Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis | U.S.A, 96 mins)
As scientist Seth Brundle, whose matter transference device accidentally becomes a high-tech gene-splicer, with horrific results, Jeff Goldblum was a revelation. There was huge industry support for him in the 1986 Best Actor Oscar race, rewarding the humanity he brought to a performance mostly buried deep in prosthetic make-up (like the nomination they gave to John Hurt for The Elephant Man), but that did not eventuate. David Cronenberg’s The Fly is a near-perfect mash-up of nightmarish body-horror and heart-breaking romantic drama. Some argue that John Carpenter’s The Thing is Hollywood’s greatest remake; for me, it comes an admirable second.
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FINAL CUT (Dir: Michel Hazanavicius | starring Romain Duris, Bérénice Bejo | France, 112 mins)
The last time that Michel Hazanavicius paid homage to the wonderful world of cinema, he won the Best Picture Oscar, with 2011’s monochromatic mute musical, The Artist. That’s probably not going to happen again for Final Cut, what with The Academy’s largely poo-pooing all things horror, but the French director’s bloody, hilarious zom-com (which opened Cannes 2022) is no less an insider’s elevated spin on the giddy, ego-driven, tempestuous island that is a modern movie set. Very groovy, very gory; if you love those early Peter Jackson films, you’ll love the latest Michel Hazanavicius one.
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ENNIO: THE MAESTRO (Dir: Giuseppe Tornatore | Italy, 156 mins)
Charting the creative journey and cultural impact of the great film composer is pure cinephile catnip, and Giuseppe Tornatore’s rousing, deeply moving documentary works on that ‘fan service’ level for every second of its 156 minutes. But where it truly soars is in its study of the man’s influences and inspirations; the chords and melodies that captured his imagination then morphed into some of the greatest film soundtracks ever written. Just ask Quentin tarantino, Oliver Stone, Barry Levinson, Clint Eastwood, Terrence Malick, and many more; Tornatore did, and their answers shed a profound light on Ennio Morricone’s musical legacy.
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INFINITY POOL (Dir: Brandon Cronenberg | starring Alexander Skarsgård, Mia Goth | Canada, 131 mins)
The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree in the Cronenberg household, with son Brandon’s latest, Infinity Pool, plunging into the themes of psycho-sexual, body-horror gender conflict just as his father David did with works like Crash (1996) and Dead Ringers (1988). Cronenberg Jr. is a divisive talent - couldn’t gel with his feature debut, Antiviral (2012) but really dug his follow-up Possessor (2020) - and his latest looks to be more of the intellect-challenging, stomach-churning Canadian creepiness that we’ve come to expect from the Cronenberg clan.
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CORNERS OF THE EARTH: KAMCHATKA (Dirs: Spencer Frost, Guy Williment | Australia, 90 mins)
It’s not enough for directors Spencer Frost and Guy Williment, with surfers Letty Mortenson and Fraser Dovell along for the 3-day plane/helicopter/snowmobile ride, to seek out the most remote surfing conditions in the world. It also has to be on the east coast of Russia, in sub-arctic conditions…um, there was one more thing?...oh yeah! On the very day that their host country declares war on neighbouring Ukraine! The footage of the lads taking on the brutal cold, both on land and at sea, is breathtaking; their interactions with the surfing community of Kamchatka, heartwarming; and, the isolation from western influence as the war escalates and resources are compromised, engrossing.
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Full ticketing and session details can be found at the SWIFF Official Website.

PREVIEW: 2022 SWIFF

Screenwave International Film Festival (SWIFF) has unveiled its 2022 program, a mammoth undertaking that will bring over 130 sessions and exclusive events to the Coffs Harbour region over 16 jam-packed days, from Thursday 21st April to Friday 6th May, 2022.

Building on the success of its 2021 Festival, SWIFF has cemented itself on the Australian film festival circuit as the premiere regional film event. In addition to hosting over 80 different feature films in 2022, SWIFF is looking to break its attendance record with the addition of its new Storyland music festival, taking place on Saturday 23rd April at Park Beach Reserve, headlined by Courtney Barnett and Hiatus Kaiyote.

SWIFF Artistic Director, Kate Howat says, “People are ready to embrace shared arts experiences again. Seeing the enthusiasm for the festival has given us license to grow bolder though, both in the addition of Storyland, and in the comprehensive film line-up we’ve made for all the film tragics out there, just like us.”

SWIFF audiences will be among the first in Australia to witness The Northman (pictured, right), the latest epic cinematic masterpiece from the visionary director, Robert Eggers (The Witch, 2015; The Lighthouse, 2020), featuring an all-star line up of Alexander Skarsgård, Nicole Kidman, Ethan Hawke, Claus Bang, Anya Taylor-Joy, Willem Dafoe and, in an exciting return to the big screen after a 20-year absence, Icelandic superstar Björk.

Reinforcing its status as a truly international film event, works from 40 countries feature in this year’s World Cinema program, making it the most culturally rich line-up in SWIFF history. Highlights of the program include Kogonada’s trippy sci-fier After Yang, with Colin Farrell, Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Oscar frontrunner, Drive My Car, Sebastian Meise’s Venice Best Film winner, Great Freedom; Julia Ducornau's auto-erotica Palme d'Or winner Titane; and, the great Asghar Farhadi’s Cannes Grand Prix winner, A Hero.

Already established as a festival dedicated to local sector representation, SWIFF ‘22 will comprise a line-up of the very best in new Australian films. These include the AWGIE Award winner Ablaze, directed by Alec Morgan and Tiriki Onus, and Ithak, the story of John Shipton, father of imprisoned Australian WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, in his fight to save his son. John Shipton, Gabriel Shipton and director Ben Lawrence are guests of the Festival.

Honouring one of the most audacious filmmakers of all time, Paul Verhoeven’s catalogue of films will take centre stage in a seven film retrospective at SWIFF. Among them are the groundbreaking 1992 blockbuster Basic Instinct; the nihilistic classic, Robocop; the rarely-seen early works Spetters (1980) and Flesh+Blood (1985, and starring festival patron, Jack Thompson); and, his latest shocker, the religious satire/nunsploitation pic, Benedetta. The strand offers a unique insight into the work of a pure provocateur whose heady cinematic cocktails mix violence, sexuality, and ambiguity, with lashings of social commentary.

The program will also showcase an extensive line-up of documentaries including the Oscar-nominated Flee, a thrilling vision fusing animation and archival footage to tell the story of a gay Afghan refugee; the Australian Premiere of Sam & Mattie Make a Zombie Movie (pictured, right), the story of two New England teenagers with Down syndrome who write and shoot their first feature film; and, the self-reflexive I Get Knocked Down, from Chumbawamba founder and anarcho-punk rocker, Dunstan Bruce.

Closing SWIFF’22 will be Everything Everywhere All At Once, by visionary filmmakers Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, collectively known as Daniels (Swiss Army Man, 2016; The Death of Dick Long, 2020), a hilarious and big-hearted sci-fi action adventure starring acclaimed actress Michelle Yeoh and the iconic Jamie Lee Curtis.

SWIFF Live returns with two film screenings accompanied by live music on stage. In Beautiful Dark: The Music of Twin Peaks, the iconic music of David Lynch’s masterpiece will be performed by Beautiful Dark, a 7-piece ensemble band, taking audiences on a journey through Lynch’s strange and mysterious world. And in an exclusive partnership with The Surf Film Archive, SWIFF ‘22 will present the World Premiere of That Was Then, This is Now, collaborating with Australian director Jolyon Hoff alongside live music composers Headland, to screen on Saturday 30th April at the CHEC Theatre.

SWIFF’22 is proudly presented by Ashton Designs, with Storyland made possible by the Australian Federal Government’s RISE Fund, and the NSW State Government through the Regional Event Acceleration Fund, Create NSW, and Regional Arts NSW.

PREVIEW: 2021 IRANIAN FILM FESTIVAL

The 2021 Iranian Film Festival (IFFA) commences its nationwide rollout this week, with ten films in competition as part of this year’s celebration of Iranian film culture. Despite a 12 month period that has proved particularly difficult for international filmmakers, the 10th edition of IFFA features a complex and layered selection of award-winning features from the Islamic Republic.

“We have had a very strong year for Iranian cinema, enabling us to present a fantastic and diverse range of films for our audiences in Australia,” said Festival Director, Armin Miladi. “In particular, we are delighted to present three films from female filmmakers.” 

Foremost among these is the Opening Night film Titi, written, produced and directed by Ida Panahandeh. Steeped in Iranian Gypsy lore, it is the story of a friendship between a hospitalized, critically ill physicist, working on a theory about black holes, and an eccentric hospital housekeeper named TiTi, possessed of supernatural powers that she must use to take her new friend on a mystical odyssey.

A highlight of the IFFA will be writer-director Massoud Bakhshi’s Yalda: A Night of Forgiveness, a searing based-on-fact drama about a young woman, sentenced to death for an act of self-defence, who seeks atonement on live television. The riveting and superbly acted film, which poses a critical moral conundrum born out of a theocratic system that disfavours women, won the Grand Jury Prize (World Cinema Dramatic) at last year’s Sundance Film Festival. 

Other highlights of the capital city screening schedules include The Wasteland (Dasht-E Khamoush; pictured, below right), an incisive look at life on the outskirts of Iranian society focussing on a brick factory supervisor who acts as go-between for the workers and the boss; Majid Majidi’s Sun Children, the story of 12-year-old Ali and his three friends who survive doing small jobs and committing petty crimes to make fast cash; and Shahram Mokri’s Careless Crime (Jenayat-E Bi Deghat; pictured, top), in which a modern-day plot to burn down a movie theatre replicates a historical tragedy that occurred four decades ago, as Iranian society was teetering on revolution.

A sidebar presentation will focus on the culture and music of Southern Iran, the region adjacent to the Persian Gulf, as seen in two rousing documentaries - Raha Faridi’s Chicheka Lullaby, a study of the alternative artist and musician Ebrahim Monsefi, and Mohsen Nesavand’s Sebaloo, which highlights the African music culture of the region and one of its greatest proponents, Mahmoud Bardaknia. The centrepiece of the sidebar will be Manijeh Hekmat’s recent hit, Bandar Band (pictured, above right), a music-infused twist on a road movie that follows a band's day-long journey across a flooded Tehran landscape.

 IFFA 2021 will also honour late director Kambuzia Partovi with a screening of his final film, The Truck (Kamion), the story of a Yazidi woman and her two children escaping an ISIS massacre. Partovi was a writer and co-director, known for Closed Curtain (2013), winner of Best Screenplay at Berlinale 2013; Café Transit (2005), his nation’s submission for the Foreign Film Oscar race; and, his groundbreaking family film Golnar (1989), which used music and puppet animals to help the lives of villagers in rural Iran. The director died on November 24, 2020 in Tehran due to complications from Covid-19.

The 10th Iranian Film Festival unfolds in Perth at Luna Cinemas Leederville, 20 - 26 May; in Brisbane at the Elizabeth Picture Theatre, 27 May - 2 June; at Cinema Nova in Melbourne, 3 - 9 June; and in Sydney at Dendy Newtown, 10 - 16 June. An online version of the festival will be held from 20-30 June 2021 Australia-wide. Full session and ticketing information can be found at the festival’s Official Website.