SWIFF 2020: Beach. Mountains. Film.
100+ sessions · 70 features · 25 shorts · special guest + events
The Screenwave International Film Festival, held each Summer beachside on the Coffs Coast, has announced its fifth program – and it’s stacked.
A record seventy different feature films are set to draw thousands of film lovers again into Coffs Harbour and Bellingen from all over Australia between January 9th and 24th, heralding in a new decade with directors, producers, actors, and writers flowing into the region to present their films.
Waititi's Jojo Rabbit to open SWIFF 2020
Together with lead sponsor Ashton Designs, SWIFF 2020 will present over 100 feature film sessions, along with the festival’s signature SWIFF Live events program combining live performance with projection. Audiences will be able to see light-bending live music projection art performances by Alon Ilsar, a world first arctic surf film live soundtrack event performed by Headland, and kicking off the festival on January 9th Opening Night will be Taika Waititi’s new anti-hate Nazi satire, Jojo Rabbit
Let's Talk About Sects
The Summer film fest’s 70-feature film strong line-up is broken down into themed sub-strands (for easier consumption!). Audiences will be able to delight in World Cinema, International Documentaries, a 100th birthday retrospective of Federico Fellini called I Dream of Fellini, an addictive cult program called Let’s Talk About Sects, Australian Cinema, Music & The Makers, Ireland Calling, and the Wild Sides genre film program.
Watch the trailers
Headliner films announced
Festival guests include APSA and AACTA-winning director Rodd Rathjen (pictured left, Buoyancy), SXSW Grand Jury-prize winning director Josephine MacKerras (Alice), Partho Sen Gupta & Rachel Blake (Slam), and Sydney Film Prize-winning documentarian Sascha Ettinger-Epstein (Life After The Oasis).
Key film highlights include southern fried Mark Twain buddy wrestling film The Peanut Butter Falcon, award magnet French character drama Portrait of a Lady on Fire, stirring Balkan sustainability documentary Honeyland, Palme d’Or-nominated Ken Loach film Sorry We Missed You, Palme d’Or winning alumni Hirokazu Kore-eda’s star-studded French language debut The Truth, along with one of the first screenings in Australia of master filmmaker Terrence Mallick’s new German film A Hidden Life.
Comedies this year include The Art of Self Defense (including a career-best performance by Jesse Eisenberg),
To round out the line-up, SWIFF will present a number of special events including the Nextwave Youth Film Awards, National Theatre Live: Fleabag, SWIFF Industry Connect filmmaker networking session, and a 40th Anniversary interactive screening of Flying High (Airplane!) called Surely You Can’t Be Serious.
Red Carpet premieres head to SWIFF
The line-up also includes the Australian Premieres of Cumar: A Galway Rhapsody, Always In Season, and Gaspar Noe’s newly released cut of Irreversible: Inversion Integrale, along with the World Premiere of Bellingen-based documentarian Ryan Jasper Walsh’s debut feature film Monks of the Sacred Valley – a controversial doco shot in Tibet, uncovering the demolition of Tibetan monks’ homes – the victim of China’s push towards modernisation.
Visiting the Coffs Coast
SWIFF is produced by Screenwave, a Coffs Harbour-based film and screen culture company. Screenings and events for the festival are held in Coffs Harbour and beautiful Bellingen. For information about booking your SWIFF holiday on the Coffs Coast, visit SWIFF’s accommodation partners page to find out places to stay and eat while you’re in town, or visit www.coffscoast.com.au.