Film buffs rejoice!
The Sydney Film Festival today gave us a peek into what they have for us in 2015, and it looks completely excellent.
The preview for the 2015 schedule included 37 of the films that will be showing at the June festival. Festival Director Nashen Moodley believes the preview announcement gives us a pretty good idea of what’s to come for the 2015 festival, saying,
“This preview gives you a picture of the depth and breadth of the range of features and documentaries you will discover in our full program. Think of it as a comprehensive survey of the state of our world, showcasing the larger and smaller stories, trends, issues and concerns that make us who we are today.”
The SFF preview included:
- Irish-Aussie thriller Strangerland, starring Nicole Kidman, Hugo Weaving, and Aussie model Maddison Brown
- Slow West, a new twist on the classic western starring Michael Fassbender, with Australians Kodi Smit-McPhee and Ben Mendelsohn
- Mr Holmes, starring Sir Ian McKellen as a 93-year-old Sherlock Holmes obsessing over his last unsolved case
- A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence, winner of the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival
- 54: The Director’s Cut, a painstakingly restored version of the controversial 1998 melodrama about New York’s hedonistic disco heyday
- 99 Homes, a thriller about the 2008 global financial crisis starring Michael Shannon and Andrew Garfield
- Eisenstein in Guanajuato, from iconic British director Peter Greenaway
- Indian noir Sunrise, starring Life of Pi’s Adil Hussain
- Best of Enemies, which looks at the legendary televised clashes between intellectual heavyweights Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley Jr
Of the 37 films announced in the preview, 24 are Aussie premieres and 10 are iconic pieces of cinema, so whether you’re after something new, or want to revel in some nostalgia, SFF have you covered. The preview also included details of the special program Essential Bergman: Selected by David Stratton, who was the Director of the Sydney Film Festival from 1966 to 1983.
The announcement also included the inclusion of new inner west venue, Dendy Newtown. They join the current official festival screening venues, The State Theatre, Dendy Opera Quays, Art Gallery of NSW, Event Cinemas George Street and the Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace Cremorne.
The complete schedule, which includes 200+ films, will be released on May 6th at 11am. Start clearing your diary now cinephiles, because June is gonna be real busy for you.
