PREVIEW: 2023 INNER WEST FILM FESTIVAL

From March 31 to April 2, a selection of venues across Sydney’s vibrant inner suburbs will play host to an impressive roster of award-winning Australian and World premieres as part of the inaugural Inner West Film Festival. 

“Sydney’s Inner West is one of Australia’s most creatively and culturally vibrant communities, a home to artists, musicians, writers, actors and filmmakers, and host to some of Australia’s best live music venues, restaurants, bars and cinemas,” explained Dov Kornits, co-founder/director of the Harbour City’s newest film celebration. “The only thing the Inner West was missing was its very own film festival.”

Premium venues such as Palace Cinemas Leichhardt and Dendy Cinemas Newtown will host over 15 special events, spanning a diverse range of genres, documentaries and live Q&As. Supported by Inner West Council, Inner West Film Fest will launch with the Sydney premiere of director Jub Clerc’s Indigenous coming-of-age story Sweet As (pictured, right), direct from an international film festival run that has seen it earn honours in Melbourne, Berlin and Toronto. The screening will be a free community outdoor event held at Marrickville Golf Club on March 31.

The World Premiere of the dance drama The Red Shoes: Next Step, co-directed by Jesse Ahern and beloved local actress Joanne Samuel, is a major programming coup for the new festival team, with the Juliet Doherty-starrer headed for general release Down Under from April 6. Other high-profile premieres include the first Australian showings for Camille Hardman’s and Gary Lane’s US doco Still Working 9 to 5, an entertaining look at the impact of the classic film comedy; Jason Wayne Trost’s CGI superhero fantasy/satire, FP 4EVZ; and, Georgian director Ioseb 'Soso' Bliadze’s acclaimed drama, A Room of My Own.

Along with such potent local indie cinema as Molly Haddon’s sibling saga The Longest Weekend, Susie Dee and Trudy Hellier’s all-girl nighttime odyssey SHIT and John Hughes and Tom Zubrycki’s underground cinema deep-dive Senses of Cinema, come fresh works from such diverse international film cultures as Ireland, Finland and Belgium (co-production entities on Klaus Härö’s My Sailor, My Love); The United Kingdom (Chris Foggins’ crowdpleaser Bank of Dave, with Hugh Bonneville); Switzerland, Ukraine and France (partners on Elie Grappe’s sports drama, Olga); and, Italy and Germany (bad-boy auteur Abel Ferrara’s religious biopic Padre Pio, starring Shia LeBeouf; pictured, below).

Other highlights include two retro screenings - Alan White’s 1999 drama Erskineville Kings (pictured, top), one of the few features shot in the inner-city and featuring early roles for Hugh Jackman and Joel Edgerton, which will screen from a 35mm print; and, a 4K restored version of Sergio Leone’s epic 1968 western classic, Once Upon a Time in The West, starring Henry Fonda.  

Fellow fest founder and co-director Greg Dolgopolov says, “We want to bring the community in the Inner West together for an exciting celebration of film. We want to [acknowledge] not just the cultural richness of the Inner West, but the medium of film itself, and its ability to bring people together. We are so excited to kick off what will hopefully become an essential date on Sydney’s cultural calendar every year and will make one of Australia’s most vibrant artistic and cultural hubs even more exciting.”

Full program and session details can be found at the 2023 INNER WEST FILM FESTIVAL official website.