Sydney Film Festival to be first major festival for Sydney audiences following lifting of COVID restrictions

The 68th Sydney Film Festival has officially launched its program and will be the first major festival to reopen to Sydney audiences from 3rd-14th November as COVID restrictions are lifted for the city. To make the program as accessible as possible, the Festival will also present a bespoke program online through SFF On Demand from 12th-21st November, offering 56 feature-length films and 13 shorts from the wider program.

In 2021 the Festival will present 233 films from 69 countries, bringing together hundreds of international and local stories. There are 111 feature films, including prize-winners from prestigious festivals around the world; 50 documentaries tackling crucial contemporary issues from established and upcoming documentarians; and 72 shorts.  Of these films almost half are directed or co-directed by woman filmmakers.

Sydney Film Festival Director Nashen Moodley notes “this year’s 68th Sydney Film Festival arrives at a historic and celebratory time for the city, as we come together again with people we have desperately missed, and in the places we yearn to return to – cinemas!”

“With major disruptions in cinema releases, the Festival selection brings together some of the best films of the last two years; extraordinary works from major award-winners to some of the most anticipated films of the year.”

“The Festival opens with Here Out West, stories from eight talented Western Sydney writers, directed by five powerhouse women directors, and closes with Wes Anderson’s comedy-drama The French Dispatch.”

“From Venice Best Director prize-winner Jane Campion with The Power of the Dog, to Denis Villeneuve’s star-studded reimagining of Dune, to the incendiary shock of 2021 Cannes Palme d’Or winner Titane, this year’s program has one of the most diverse and exciting line-ups in SFF history.”

Moodley  adds “It is extremely unusual and fantastic to have in a single Festival program the works of so many of the great, distinctive filmmakers of our time: Pedro Almodóvar, Wes Anderson, Jacques Audiard, Jane Campion, Mark Cousins, Ildikó Enyedi, Asghar Farhadi, Miguel Gomes, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Mia Hansen-Løve, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, Oliver Hermanus, Heddy Honigman, Avi Mograbi, Jafar Panahi, Rachel Perkins, Christian Petzold, Mohammad Rasoulof, Paul Schrader, Céline Sciamma, Paolo Sorrentino, Denis Villeneuve, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Frederick Wiseman, Jasmila Žbanić, Zhang Yimou and many more.”

Head of Screen NSW, Grainne Brunsdon added “Screen NSW is proud to support the 68th Sydney Film Festival. This year marks the physical return of the Festival, which we’ve been looking forward to more than ever, as we reunite with some of our favourite cinema spaces, to enjoy cutting-edge productions from NSW and around the world. I hope you enjoy the Festival.”

Festival Venues

Official Festival venues for 2021: The State Theatre, Event Cinemas George Street, Dendy Cinemas Newtown, Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace Cremorne, Ritz Cinema Randwick, and Casula Powerhouse. Plus new to SFF in 2021: Palace Central Broadway, Palace Chauvel Cinema Paddington and Palace Norton Street Leichhardt.

The Festival’s outdoor screen, SFFTV @ Pitt St returns to Pitt St Mall during the Festival. Audiences can catch short films and trailers for must-see Festival films on the giant, double-sided screen.

The full Sydney Film Festival 2021 program can be found online at sff.org.au.

SFF On Demand

Single rentals start from $15, with a variety of packages available from $14-$130. SFF Demand program and tickets available at ondemand.sff.org.au 

Tickets to Sydney Film Festival 2021 are on sale now. Visit sff.org.au for more information. https://www.sff.org.au/