PREVIEW: 2023 FANTASTIC FILM FESTIVAL AUSTRALIA

Daring, unconventional, cutting-edge cinema is returning to Melbourne and Sydney with the 2023 edition of the Fantastic Film Festival Australia (FFFA). Running from April 14-30, FFFA has a panoramic celebration of new and provocative films locked in place for the more courageous filmgoer.

With a line-up of 27 features, the Festival is offering its biggest program yet. From animated cowboys to queer magical realism, s**t-stained deathtraps to outback horrors, this year's program of often weird, occasionally wonderful screening options will unfold alongside Q&A panels, live performances, a scratch-and-sniff movie experience, music video blind dates, and the bold and bawdy ‘nude session’.

According to Festival Director, Hudson Sowada, "This year's program pushes the limits of storytelling and challenges conventional notions of reality. We're excited to showcase such an eclectic range of films, and we encourage audiences to take risks and embrace the strange."

Opening Night honours go to writer/director Nida Manzoor’s Polite Society, a distinctive genre mash-up that premiered earlier this year at Sundance Film Festival. The crowd pleasing film follows Ria Khan (Priya Kansara, in a star-making performance), a martial artist-in-training on a mission to save her sister Lena from an arranged marriage.

International features set for Australian Premieres include the biggest grossing film in Belgium last year, Zillion (pictured, above), chronicling the odyssey undertaken by a computer genius who creates the biggest discotheque in the world; Holy Shit!, a gross-out comedy and survival thriller set entirely in a Portaloo packed with explosives; and, the latest in the Evil Dead franchise, Evil Dead Rise, which will unfurl at a midnight showing.

Australian films in the 2023 line include The Survival of Kindness, an allegorical journey across a plague-ravaged wilderness by legendary filmmaker Rolf de Heer, who will be in attendance for a Q&A at the first Sydney screening; Sam Curtain’s Beaten to Death, a savage cat-and-mouse game set in remote Tasmania; Blur, a Giallo-style psycho-horror with supernatural mystery and ghastly practical effects from filmmaker Andrew Miles Broughton; and, Zac Cooper’s The End of History, which follows Australian techno producers Darcy and Pat's pursuit of creative greatness in changing and challenging Berlin.

Venturing beyond the traditional cinema experience is the world's first scratch and sniff session, called Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Stink-O-Vision. Audiences are taken on a olfactory journey through the sewers of New York City, accompanied by a menu of bespoke scents; simply scratch the corresponding number on the scent card when the icon flashes on screen. The other key retro screening on the roster is Audition, cult director Takashi Miike's 1999 classic starring the unforgettable frightening Eihi Shiina (pictured, right).

 And while details are remaining understandably vague, FFFA is rumoured to be screening a work, direct from its Toronto Film Festival premiere, that is so courted in controversy it can’t even be named in the program.  This secret presentation of what FFFA is calling ‘An Untitled and Perfectly-Legal Coming-Of-Age Parody Film’ will give audiences a rare chance to be among the few people in the world to watch this film. The director will be joining for a series of in-person Q&As.

Closing the Festival in showstopping style is the modern exploitation film LION-GIRL, a post-apocalyptic sci-fi film about the last defender of humanity against the ANOROC, a new species that emerged after a tsunami of meteors. Featuring character design by the legendary Manga artist Go Nagai, the film promises an outrageous and unhinged story, along with practical effects and gratuitous nudity.

FANTASTIC FILM FESTIVAL AUSTRALIA runs Friday, 14 April to Sunday 30 April 2023 at the Lido Cinemas, Hawthorn in Melbourne and the Ritz Cinemas, Randwick in Sydney.

Visit the event’s Official Website for session and ticketing details.

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.

PREVIEW: 2022 VETERANS FILM FESTIVAL

The 7th Veterans Film Festival (VFF) relocates to Sydney from Canberra for the first-time next month, with the prestigious event unfolding at the Hoyts Entertainment Quarter and neighbouring Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS). The expansive program will present more than 20 new and retrospective films and an engaging program of art, master classes and script readings.

Running from November 3-6, VFF will open with the Australian Premiere of Lila Neugebauer’s Causeway, starring Jennifer Lawrence (pictured, above) as an Afghanistan War veteran with traumatic brain injury who struggles to adjust to life back home. It will be the only theatrical screening of the critically-acclaimed film ahead of its international premiere on AppleTV on November 4.

Other feature film highlights include the documentary The Skin of Others, profiling the life of Aboriginal soldier and journalist Douglas Grant; the Stan Original film Transfusion, directed by Matt Nable and starring Sam Worthington (pictured, right) as a former Special Forces operative; and, the Ari Folman-directed animation feature Where is Anne Frank?, a reworking of her iconic wartime story, told through her imaginary friend in modern day Amsterdam.

Two strands of short films bring works from countries such as The Netherlands (Niels Bourgonje’s Barrier); Belgium (Donald Merten’s War Games); Norway (Hans Melbye’s Masters of Conflict); the United Kingdom (Olivia Martin McGuire’s Freedom Swimmer); Italy (Stefano Monti’s Terzo Tempo); New Zealand (Isaac Lee’s The Haka); and, the United States (including Justin Koehler’s Ride Away).

Two stunning animation works from Iran are booked - Farnoosh Abedi’s The Sprayer, recently voted Best Animation short at the 2022 Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival, and Balance, from director Barzan. And from the nation of Ukraine comes Rainer Ludwig’s The Veteran’s Dramedy, a co-production with Germany, and the powerful animated short Life and death, from the Volunteer Animation of Ukraine anonymous collective.

Two-time Oscar nominee Bruce Beresford will preside over a jury that includes actors Jenni Baird and Alan Dukes, who will adjudicate on the prestigious Red Poppy Awards, awarded to the best feature and short films. Beresford will also present a retrospective of his wartime films, including a 25th anniversary screening of  Paradise Road (1997), starring Cate Blanchett, Glenn Close and Frances McDormand; Breaker Morant (1980), for which Jack Thompson earned Supporting Actor honours at the Cannes Film Festival; and, the box office hit Ladies in Black (2018), starring Angourie Rice. 

Also getting a rare big screen showing is Bill Bennett’s A Street to Die (1985; pictured, below) featuring Chris Haywood as the Vietnam veteran fighting for legal recognition of the damage done to him by the defoliant Agent Orange. In a special event, producer David Elfick’s new World War II feature Kamarada, set to be shot with Phillip Noyce in Timor-Leste, will receive a live script-reading presentation.

The relocation of the festival to Sydney is intended to expand the close association with AFTRS who are partnering with VFF to deliver the new Screen Warriors program. This groundbreaking initiative provides support for veterans who want to partake in industry training and employment in the film sector.

The three-day, four-night festival includes an exhibition of artwork from veteran artists and photographers, including a selection of Mike Armstrong’s work from his recent Voices of Veterans exhibition and the Persona exhibition opening soon at the Australian National Veterans Art Museum (ANVAM). 

TICKETS are now on sale for the 2022 VETERANS FILM FESTIVAL here.

GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE CELEBRATED IN WINNER’S ROSTER AT SYDNEY SCIENCE FICTION FILM FESTIVAL AWARDS NIGHT

Beniamino Cantena’s debut feature VERA DE VERDAD and hometown favourite Jonathan Adam’s charming short DAILY DRIVER have taken Best Film honours in their respective categories in The 2021 Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival, held Sunday at the Actors Centre Australia.

The films led an eclectic roster of winners selected from the 21 features and 78 short films made eligible as part of the festival's first ever foray into ‘hybrid programming’. The 4-day live event wrapped Sunday 14th, while the online program will run via the Xerb streaming platform until Thursday 25th.  

An Italian/Chilean co-production that comes to Sydney via festival placements in Torino, Trieste, Brussels and Chuncheon, Vera De Verdad tells a deeply moving story of soul transference and shared destiny and stars Marcelo Alonso and Maria Gastini, both nominated in their respective lead acting categories. (Pictured, right: Vera de Verdad director, Beniamino Cantena) 

The Best Film category is named in honour of the late production designer Ron Cobb, whose conceptual artistry is central to the iconic status of such works as Star Wars, Conan the Barbarian, Alien, Aliens, The Abyss, Total Recall and the TV series Firefly. Cobb married an Australian woman and lived in Sydney from the 1970s until his passing in September, 2020.    

Other feature film winners included Ben Tedesco, crowned Best Actor for his self-directed performance in the lockdown time-loop drama NO TOMORROW; Peruvian actress Haydeé Cáceres for her wordless but wondrous lead turn in Aldo Salvini’s MOON HEART; and, exciting multi-hyphenate Carlson Young for her unique vision as director of the festival’s Opening Night film, THE BLAZING WORLD (pictured, left).

Also in contention for Director and Actor trophies, Daily Driver took top short film honours but ceded other categories to U.K. filmmaker Ryan Andrews (Best Director for HIRAETH) and French leading man Denis Hubleur (Best Actor for CAUSA SUI). Melbourne-based Jessica Tanner earned Best Actress for her blistering turn as the shell-shocked victim of cyclical domestic abuse in Andrew Jaksch’s controversy-courting drama TODAY.

The Audience Award winners were Eddie Arya’s RISEN, an ambitious alien invasion epic that filmed in Sydney and Canada over a four year period, and Spanish effects master Jorge Corpi’s CGI short-film thrill-ride, ELLIPSIS.

The 2021 Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival ‘Virtual Festival Experience’ will continue until November 25 here: https://xerb.tv/channel/sydneysciencefictionfilmfestival/virtual-events

The full list of award nominees and winners are:              

BEST ACTOR in a SHORT FILM

• Ryan Shrime, ORBITAL CHRISTMAS
• (WINNER) Denis Hubleur, CAUSA SUI
• Eric Whitten, PRISONER #1616
• David Lee Huynh, SOLITARY
• Andrew Scott, COGNITION
• Callum McManis, DAILY DRIVER

BEST ACTRESS SHORT FILM

• Akiva Pacey, GIRL ON THE MOON
• Liz Cha, MARY’S ROOM
• (WINNER) Jessica Tanner, TODAY
• Olivia Ross, HIRAETH
• Irene Fernández, FAITH
• Lauren Grimson, MAYA

BEST ACTOR FEATURE FILM

• Marcelo Alonso, VERA DE VERDAD
• Tony Brockman, A GUIDE TO DATING AT THE END OF THE WORLD
• (WINNER) Ben Tedesco, NO TOMORROW
• Richard Rennie, CLAW
• Tom England, REPEAT
• Wang Ziyi, ANNULAR ECLIPSE

BEST ACTRESS FEATURE FILM

• Kerith Atkinson,  A GUIDE TO DATING AT THE END OF THE WORLD
• Chynna Walker, CLAW
• Carlson Young, THE BLAZING WORLD
• Lois Temel, LIGHTSHIPS
• (WINNER) Haydeé Cáceres, MOON HEART
• Marta Gastini, VERA DE VERDAD

BEST DIRECTOR SHORT FILM

• Camille Hollet-French, FREYA
• Jonathan Adams, DAILY DRIVER
• Carol Butrón, FAITH
• (WINNER) Ryan Andrews, HIRAETH
• Andrew Jaksch, TODAY
• Oliver Crawford, EVOLUTIONARY 

BEST DIRECTOR FEATURE FILM

• Kelsey Egan, GLASSHOUSE
• Aldo Salvini, MOON HEART
• Eddie Arya, RISEN
• Zhang Chi, ANNULAR ECLIPSE
• (WINNER) Carlson Young, THE BLAZING WORLD
• Beniamino Catena, VERA DE VERDAD 

BEST SHORT FILM

• MAYA
• (WINNER) DAILY DRIVER (Producers: Jonathan Adams, Andrew Boland)
• HIRAETH
• FREYA
• REMOTE VIEWING
• EINSTEIN TELESCOPE 

THE RON COBB AWARD - BEST FEATURE FILM

• (WINNER) VERA DE VERDAD
• MOON HEART
• RISEN
• ANNULAR ECLIPSE
• GLASSHOUSE
• THE BLAZING WORLD  

AUDIENCE AWARD

• Feature Film - RISEN (Producer: Eddie Arya)
• Short Film - ELLIPSIS (Producer: Jorge Corpi)

HORROR HONOURED AMONGST CANNES 2021 WINNERS LIST

The twisted psychology and skewed world view of the serial killer is central to two of the top award winners at the 2021 Festival de Cannes. Julia Ducornau’s Titane, a nightmarish study of a killer impregnated by a car, won the coveted Palme d’Or, with Caleb Landry’s portrayal of Australia’s worst mass murderer in Justin Kurzel’s Nitram earning the Best Actor trophy.

Photo credit: Valerie Hache / AFP

"There is so much beauty and emotion to be found in what cannot be pigeonholed,” said Ducornau, who exploded onto the horror scene in 2016 with her cannibal thriller, Raw. Her latest exploration of body-horror themes and aesthetics has stunned critics on the Croisette. “Thank you to the Jury for calling for more diversity in our film experiences and in our lives,” the French director said, upon receiving her award from actress Sharon Stone, “And thank you to the Jury for letting the monsters in.”

Caleb Landry was not quite so outspoken in accepting his award, presented to him by French actress Adèle Exarchopoulos. Citing nerves and a genuine fear he would have thrown-up if he had tried to speak, he gave no podium speech. (Pictured, right; credit - Christophe Simon / AFP)

Other major winners were Best Director Leos Carax, for the rock-opera romance Annette; Best Actress Renate Reinsve, for Joachim Trier’s stirring drama The Worst Person in the World; and, Best Screenplay recipient Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, for Drive My Car.  

It would appear that Jury members steadfastly refused to compromise their opinions with two tied awards announced - the Grand Prix was shared between Asghar Farhadi’s A Hero and Juho Kuosmanen’s Compartment No. 6, while Nadav Lapid Ahed’s Knee and Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Memoria tag-teamed the Jury Prize. (Pictured, left; Julia Ducorna and Sharon Stone; credit - Andreas Rentz / Getty Images)  

Wrapping up a vibrant 12-day event that succeeded in recapturing the starpower and spontaneity of great festivals of the past, competition jury head Spike Lee fluffed his duties but couldn’t spoil last night’s award ceremony. Lee inadvertently read out the Palme d’Or winner at the start of the evening and not the end, meaning Ducornau sat wriggling with glee in her seat for the duration of the event, waiting to collect her award.

Best Actress winner Renate Reinsvem, with Lee-Byung-Hun (credit - Andreas Rentz / Getty Images) 

The full list of 2021 Festival de Cannes winners:

COMPETITION
Palme d’Or: TITANE
Grand Prix — TIE: Asghar Farhadi, A HERO AND Juho Kuosmanen’s COMPARTMENT No. 6
Director: Leos Carax, ANNETTE
Actor: Caleb Landry Jones, NITRAM
Actress:  Renate Reinsve, THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD
Jury Prize — TIE: Nadav Lapid AHED'S KNEE and Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s MEMORIA
Screenplay: Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, DRIVE MY CAR

OTHER PRIZES
Camera d’Or: MURINA, Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović
Short Films Palme d’Or: ALL THE CROWS IN THE WORLD, Tang Yi
Short Films Special Mention: AUGUST SKY, Jasmin Tenucci
Golden Eye Documentary Prize: A NIGHT OF KNOWING NOTHING, Payal Kapadia
Ecumenical Jury Prize: DRIVE MY CAR, Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Queer Palm: THE DIVIDE, Catherine Corsini

UN CERTAIN REGARD
Un Certain Regard Award: UNCLENCHING THE FIST, Kira Kovalenko
Jury Prize: GREAT FREEDOM, Sebastian Meise
Prize for Ensemble Performance: BONNE MERE, Hafsia Herzi
Prize for Courage: LA CIVIL, Teodora Ana Mihai
Prize for Originality: LAMB, Valdimar Johannsson
Special Mention: PRAYERS FOR THE STOLEN, Tatiana Huezo

DIRECTORS’ FORTNIGHT
Europa Cinemas Label: A CHIARA, Jonas Carpignano
Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers Prize: MAGNETIC BEATS, Vincent Maël Cardona

CRITICS’ WEEK
Nespresso Grand Prize: FEATHERS, Omar El Zohairy
Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers Prize: Elie Grappe and Raphaëlle Desplechin, OLGA
GAN Foundation Award for Distribution: Elie Grappe and Raphaëlle Desplechin, ZERO FUCKS GIVEN
Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award: Sandra Melissa Torres, AMPARO

CINÉFONDATION
First Prize: THE SALAMANDER CHILD, Theo Degen
Second Prize: SALAMANDER, Yoon Daewoon
Third Prize — TIE:LOVE STORIES ON THE MOVE, Carina-Gabriela Dasoveanu and CANTAREIRA, Rodrigo Ribeyro