PREVIEW: 2020 SCREENWAVE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

The pure love for the magic of cinema with which the Screenwave International Film Festival (SWIFF) has always been curated is more evident than ever in 2020. Launching January 9 in Coffs Harbour and Bellingen on the New South Wales’ mid north coast, the 5^th annual SWIFF will present 72 feature films from 20 countries over 15 days in a program that solidifies the regional community’s film celebration as one of Australia’s most important cultural events.

“For as long as I can remember, I’ve been in love with films,” says Festival Co-director Kate Howat who, with partner and fellow co-director Dave Horsley (pictured, below; left, with Howat) handling logistics, spends the best part of her year sourcing acclaimed local and international works. “This is a festival by film lovers for film lovers. Even if you don’t know it yet, I guarantee there’s something here just for you.”

Adds Horsley, “In an ever-shifting cinemascape, [with] lots of interesting conversations going on between streaming services and cinemas, one thing is clear - films are playing a bigger role in our lives.” He cites the year-to-year growth of attendance numbers as evidence of just how crucial film festival culture is to the diverse demographics of the region. “To see the festival turn such a significant corner – with over 70% of all weekend sessions sold out last year – gives the greenlight for the boldest and biggest SWIFF line-up yet.”

That bold approach can be seen in the films chosen to top and tail this year’s roster. Opening Night honours have gone to Taika Waititi’s Jojo Rabbit, a sweet natured if occasionally caustic coming-of-age tale set in Nazi Germany, featuring Der Führer (played with typical satirical verve by the director) as the buffoonish imaginary friend of an impressionable, nationalistic Aryan boy (Roman Griffin Davis).

Closing out the festival will be one of the few big screen sessions afforded Justin Kurzel’s hotly-anticipated, critically-lauded True History of the Kelly Gang, starring George McKay, Essie Davis, Nicholas Hoult, Charlie Hunnam and Russell Crowe. Festivalgoers will join the growing legion of fans of Thomasin McKenzie, with the New Zealand actress playing key roles in both films.

The World Premiere of Ryan Jasper’s debut feature doc Monks of The Sacred Valley emerges as the centerpiece film in SWIFF’s Australian film strand, which features twelve of the year’s most acclaimed domestic efforts. Set to unspool are Josephine Macerras’ festival-circuit hit, Alice; Jennifer Kent’s brutal revenge thriller, The Nightingale; the human-trafficking saga Bouyancy, with director Rodd Rathjen attending to discuss the making of his Berlinale award winner; and, Maya Newell’s In My Blood it Runs (pictured, right), an intimate study of 10 year-old indigenous boy Dujuan’s struggle to reconcile his heritage and contemporary culture.

Earning its stripes as a global film event, SWIFF will screen new works from such revered auteurs as Terrence Malick (A Hidden Life); Francois Ozon (By The Grace of God); Olivier Assayas (Non-Fiction, with Juliette Binoche); Pedro Almodovar (Pain and Glory, with Antonio Banderas and Penelope Cruz); and, Ken Loach (Sorry We Missed You). Anticipating huge demand amongst local cinephiles, three sessions have been locked in for Celine Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire, the moment’s most talked-about arthouse hit and winner of the Cannes’ Best Screenplay and Queer Palm honours in 2019. Says Howat, “[It’s] a burning testament to love and friendship with an ecstatic ending for the ages.”

There is a darker hue to the SWIFF 2020 line-up with some of the year’s most challenging works playing in strands designed for the more fearless filmgoer. The weird and wonderful films in the ‘Wild Side’ line-up include Nicholas Cage and Joely Richardson in renegade director Richard Stanley’s adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s parasitic alien invasion head trip, Colour Out of Space and wild and crazy director Gaspar Noe’s reverse-cut re-edit of his shocking masterwork, now titled Irreversible: Inversion Integrale. The strand ‘Let’s Talk About Sects’ will feature director Ari Aster’s cut of Midsommar, with a whopping 22-minutes of flowers, folk music and full-daylight gore reinstated into the wildly-divisive original version. Also slated is Australian Pia Borg’s short Demonic, a look back at the Satanic Panic hysteria of the 1980s, set to play in a double-feature session with co-directors Britt Poulton and Dan Madison Savage’s cult-commune drama, Them That Follow, starring Australian actress Alice Englert; pictured, above).

Two very different takes on ‘Classic Cinema’ will highlight the Retrospective sessions at SWIFF 2020. The brilliance of Italian film maestro Frederico Fellini will be celebrated with screenings of his classics 8½ (1983) and La Dolce Vita (1960), while arguably the greatest silly comedy of all time, Airplane! (aka Flying High!) from the twisted minds of the Zucker/Abrahams team, will be celebrated with a one-off 40^th anniversary screening.

The 2020 Screenwave International Film Festival runs January 9-24 at the Jetty Memorial Theatre, Coffs Harbour, and the Bellingen Memorial Hall, Bellingen. Full program details, session times and ticketing information can be found on the official website.