2016 marks 63rd edition of the festival that will feature a number of international acts.
This month, June 8-19, Sydney will once again host its world renowned film festival. Featuring 244 films from 60 countries including 25 World Premieres and representing hundreds of fresh perspectives and new stories from across Australia and around the world Sydney Film Festival continues to allow their audience to explore the world of cinematography.
The Festival will kick off with the world premiere of Goldstone – a story about an indigenous detective Jay Swan (Aaron Pederson) arriving in the frontier town of Goldstone on a missing persons enquiry, which in turn becomes a trigger to a network of organized crime and corruption. Written and directed by Ivan Sen, Goldstone is one of the 12 movies in the main competition to win Sydney Film Prize and $60,000 cash award. The remaining titles screening in Competition are new works from acclaimed directors: Boo Junfeng (Apprentice), Kleber Mendonça Filho (Aquarius), Kelly Reichardt (Certain Women), Brady Corbet (The Childhood of a Leader), Oliver Hermanus (The Endless River), Xavier Dolan (It’s Only the End of the World), Martin Zandvliet (Land of Mine), Ivo M. Ferreira (Letters From War), Peter Middleton and James Spinney (Notes on Blindness), Anurag Kashyap (Psycho Raman), and Paddy Breathnach (Viva).
The winner will be announced on the Festival’s closing night, June 19.
In addition to the main competition the Festival will feature a series of talks and panel discussions. This will include Mel Gibson discussing his role in the Cannes selected film Blood Father and his latest directorial offering Hacksaw Ridge (In Conversation With Mel Gibson). Academy Award winning Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy will share her experiences as a woman making films in Pakistan, following the screening of her feature A Journey of A Thousand Miles (Meet The Film Maker: Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy) hosted by Macquarie University’s Kathryn Millard.
Sydney Film Festival’s animation programmer Malcolm Turner will give an overview of the indie and alternative animation scene in Not So Black And White. And renowned film critic and guest programmer Tony Rayns, will interpret the Korean indie cinema scene in Korea on the Verge: Social Faultlines in Korean Cinema.
On top of that, participants will get to enjoy a selection of gourmet restaurants, technology hub with Virtual Reality films and more. Tickets for the Festival are available now on the official website.