Sydney Film Festival line-up announced
Thursday, May 12, 2016 at 10:26AM Whilst the world's cinephiles eyes are all turned to the mother of all film festivals, Cannes, down under the Sydney Film Festival have just announced their cracking line up. While it's not one of the most prestigious festivals, it's carved a perfect spot for itself on the cinematic calendar in June each year. It's one of the first festivals to be able to screen films only previously shown at Sundance and Berlinale in the first half of the year, and the then just concluded Cannes film festival. Sydney Film Festival of course has its own world premieres of Australian films, and while this year doesn’t have as many as previous years, there’s some exciting works all the same. Here is just a sample of what’s in store for Sydney siders.
Australian World Premieres
Opening the Festival and also running in competition will be Ivan Sen’s Goldstone, which is a sequel to his Mystery Road which opened the festival in 2013. Ivan Sen is one of Australia’s most influential and consistent Australian directors whose casts always reflect the diversity of Australia and in particular the traditional owners of the land, so this is a must see. There’s even Jacki and David Wenham to bring the star wattage. Other Aussie treats to keep an eye out for is queer teen drama Teenage Kicks by Craig Boreham, and gore fest horror film Red Christmas by Craig Anderson refreshingly featuring Dee Wallace as a middle aged horror heroine.
Auteurs, LGBT films, and documentaries after the jump!
Auteurs, if you prefer
SFF has snagged a couple of exciting gets direct from Cannes including Spielberg’ s The BFG, and far more excitingly Xavier Dolan’s competition title It’s Only the End of the World starring Marion Cotillard, Gaspard Ulliel, Léa Seydoux and Vincent Cassell. The very notion of Ulliel and Dolan being in the same room at the same time is enough to make a gal faint, but the film should also be the next in a strong line of hits for Dolan. There’s also Pedro Almodovar’s Julieta, professional stress inducer Thomas Vinterberg’s The Commune, a holy trinity of actresses - Michelle Williams, Laura Dern and Kristen Stewart - in Kelly Reichardt’s Certain Women (also running in competition), and a whole retrospective on Martin Scorsese.
Queer, here, and it’s a great year (for LGBT films)
They always have a great selection of LGBT themed films and this year is no exception. Aside from the aforementioned world premiere of Teenage Kicks, there’s also, André Téchiné’s Being 17 about young men’s sexual discovery, Closet Monster by Stephen Dunn; a surreal coming of age film featuring Isabella Rossellini voicing a hamster, and the Oscar finalist Viva by Paddy Breathnach, in competition, about a young upcoming Cuban drag queen that looks set to tug bejewelled heart strings. Excitingly there’s also Desde allá by Venezualan Lorenzo Vigas which won the Golden Lion at Venice last year about a relationship between a wealthy man and a young street thug.
Documentaries that are Doc-u-meant-for-me’s
Another Australian world premiere is the documentary Destination Arnold by Sascha Ettinger Epstein following two indigenous Australians training for a bodybuilding competition. Festival favourite Alex Gibney is back with Zero Days, 2016 Documentary short Oscar winner A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, Werer Herzog’s Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World, and in the can’t-make-this-stuff-up category is the surprisingly sinister Tickled from David Farrier and Dylan Reeve about the world of endurance tickling competitions.
This is just a peak at the hundreds of films on offer. Head to the official website for a more in depth look.
Any films you’ve got your eye on? Plan your timely Sydney holiday in the comments.
Reader Comments (6)
Gente, deu ruim no Brazil. GOLPE
I'll be visiting for the first few days of the festival. So very looking forward to Goldstone, It's Only the End of the World, and Certain Women most of all, but excited to get to see Kiki, Strike a Pose, Lo and Behold, and a few Chinese titles, too.
I want to see 'Wiener'.
Firstly, it's so weird coming to this site and seeing a headline about Sydney Film Festival
Secondly: Uhm guys... One of TFE's most faithful readers (15 years and counting) has an LGBT [short] film in the competition and you totally skipped it! Grr ;)
http://tix.sff.org.au/session_sff.asp?sn=You+Deserve+Everything
I'm interning at this year's festival! This is a great lineup.
Goran - that's great! I didn't cover any of the shorts really to keep things short and snappy but I'll make sure to see it if I can make the session.