Sydney Film Festival

The 63rd Sydney Film Festival program has officially been launched.

From Wednesday 8 June to Sunday 19 June 2016, the 63rd Sydney Film Festival offers audiences another exciting season of cinema amidst a whirlwind of premieres, red-carpet openings, in-depth discussions, international guests and more. Each year the Festival’s programming team curates 12 days of cinema sourced from world-famous film festivals, including Cannes, Sundance, Toronto and the Berlinale; as well as Australia’s finest productions.

The festival will screen 244 films from 60 countries, with 25 world premieres (including 12 World Premiere short films), 139 Australian premieres (including 13 Australian premiere short films) and three international premieres.

The 2016 Festival opens with the world premiere of Goldstone, a stylish and intelligent outback noir from acclaimed Indigenous writer-director Ivan Sen, presented by Distinguished Partner, Lexus Australia. Goldstone’s stellar Australian cast includes Aaron Pedersen, Jacki Weaver, David Wenham, and David Gulpilil. The film sees Pedersen reprise his role as Indigenous detective Jay Swan who audiences first met in Sen’s Mystery Road, which opened the Festival in 2013. Whit Stillman’s Love & Friendship, an adaptation of Jane Austen’s comical early novella ‘Lady Susan’ – starring Kate Beckinsale, Chloë Sevigny, Australian actor Xavier Samuel and Stephen Fry – is presented by Distinguished Partner, Princess Cruises, and will close the Festival.

World premieres at the Festival include five Australian films, beginning with Ivan Sen’s Goldstone. Festivalgoers will be the first to see: Down Under, Abe Forsythe’s provocative black comedy with an all-star Australian cast (Lincoln Younes, Rahel Romahn, Damon Herriman, David Field and Marshall Napier) set during the aftermath of the Cronulla Riots; Craig Boreham’s Teenage Kicks, a powerful new queer drama, four years in the making, with a brilliant line-up of young Australian talent (Miles Szanto, Daniel Webber, Charlotte Best and Shari Sebbens); Australian theatre veteran Stephen Sewell’s directorial debut with the erotic political thriller Embedded; and Craig Anderson’s spooky thriller Red Christmas starring horror legend Dee Wallace.

Eight Australian documentaries will have their world premieres at the Festival, including six documentaries competing for the Documentary Australia Foundation Award for Australian Documentary: Baxter and Me, Constance on the Edge, Destination Arnold, Embrace, On Richard’s Side and The Baulkham Hills African Ladies Troupe. Two will screen in the International Documentaries program: Suzy & the Simple Man and Winter at Westbeth.

Sydney Film Festival also presents an Official Competition of 12 films that vie for the Sydney Film Prize, a highly respected honour that awards a $60,000 cash prize based on the decision of a jury of international and Australian filmmakers and industry professionals.

The Festival will take place across greater Sydney at the State Theatre, Event Cinemas George Street, Dendy Opera Quays, Dendy Newtown, Skyline Drive-In Blacktown, Art Gallery of NSW, Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace Cremorne, Casula Powerhouse, the Festival Hub at Sydney Town Hall and SFF Outdoor Screen.

For more information visit: www.sff.org.au