SWIFF 20
In 2008, raw, observational documentary The Oasis spotlighted the lives of a group of vulnerable teens living in a Sydney youth refuge – starting a nationwide conversation around youth homelessness. There were televised forums and nationwide media coverage, with the film distributed to every high school in Australia. Then prime minister Kevin Rudd pledged to …
An inventive, pitch-black satire that challenges on screen depictions of beauty in a film about filmmaking. Mabel (Jess Weixler, Teeth, The Death of Dick Long SWIFF’20), is a movie star taking on an ‘artsy’ role in a European auteur’s (Charlie Korsmo, delivering a brutal Werner Herzog impression) English language debut – a cheesy, 1940’s horror …
Following on from the 2018 breakout horror hit, Hereditary, Ari Aster brews up a tisane of terror in the dizzying daytime nightmare, Midsommar. Emotionally fragile Dani (Florence Pugh, Lady Macbeth SWIFF’18) is still lost in the fugue of a recent family tragedy when she joins her boyfriend, Christian and his friends on a trip to …
NSW Premiere. It’s the not too distant future and the newest drug craze to hit the streets, Hype, has turned America into a John Carpenter-esque warzone. But when the favourite watering hole of a tightknit group of Veteran of Foreign Wars buddies is threatened by a maniacal drug lord and his crazed army of mutated …
Nine female filmmakers come together to produce eight short films, forming together to tell the life story of Pacific Islander woman, Vai. Although the nine filmmakers come from a diverse array of islands, the name of their protagonist has a common meaning – water. As we pass through the day, Vai is seven years old …
One of the most potent films about filmmaking – and often cited by other filmmakers as one of the greatest movies ever made – Federico Fellini’s 8 ½ is a feverish, fantastical invention. By 1963, Fellini had made, by his count, seven and a half films. Hence 8½ is like an opus number: this is …
NSW Premiere. International artist and activist, Ai Weiwei, follows on from 2017’s critically acclaimed The Human Flow – the Chinese-born accomplished artist and documentarian continues his examination of the refugee crisis in Europe, recording the hopes, fears, and dreams of individual people desperate for peace. Whittled down from 900 hours of footage, each individual story …
“One of the defining British films of the decade” – The Guardian. Stunningly shot on vintage 16mm and processed by hand, Mark Jenkin’s Bait is a timely and funny, yet poignant new film that gets to the heart of a community facing unwelcome change. Martin Ward is a cove fisherman, without a boat. His brother …
Winner · Best Irish Film · Dublin Film Critics Circle. Winner · Best Feature · Irish Film Festival, London. Major cities worldwide strain with skyrocketing housing prices. Irish director, Paddy Breathnach’s (I Went Down) latest feature, scripted by Booker Prize winner Roddy Doyle, hones in on this pulse, spending 36-hours in Dublin with Rosie Davis …
From the schvmmm of a lightsaber to the swell of an orchestral score, the power of sound lies at the heart of cinema. This is a history lesson that will exhilarate even the most seasoned cinephile. Director Midge Costin (a feature film sound editor for over 25 years) and her crew of predominantly female film …