Sydney Film Festival

Art Gallery of New South Wales

Retrospective

Sat, 13 Jun 10:15am

Useless

Acclaimed auteur Jia Zhangke (Caught by the Tides, SFF 2024) documents China’s clothing industry from three perspectives: factory workers, a fashion designer, and a tailor.

A swirling epic that wowed audiences at the Berlinale, Dao is a life-affirming journey that contrasts a wedding in France with a memorial service in Guinea-Bissau to produce a mesmerising meditation on love, sadness and joy.

Event

Sat, 13 Jun 11am

The Hub, Lower Town Hall

Platform Pitch – For Film’s Sake Incubator

Back for a fourth year, the For Film’s Sake Incubator challenges emerging filmmakers to form new collaborations and develop original projects over just four days. Their ideas will be pitched live to an expert industry jury—complete with on-the-spot feedback and a live audience.

Winner, Grand Prix, Cannes. The much-anticipated new film by Russian master Andrey Zvyagintsev is a brave, taut and explosive thriller that brilliantly melds the personal and the political.

Sat, 13 Jun 12pm

Dendy Newtown

The Last Whale Singer

This thrilling animated adventure follows a self-doubting teenage humpback whale who must find his voice (with a little help from his friends) in order to save the ocean.

Winner of Sundance’s World Cinema Documentary Prize, this enthralling film follows a mother and daughter trying to stop their picturesque mountain home from becoming a NATO base.

Art Gallery of New South Wales

Retrospective

Sat, 13 Jun 12:15pm

Man Marked for Death, Twenty Years Later

A masterpiece of Brazilian cinema, this is quite a filmgoing experience. The Teixeira family was torn apart by political violence in the 1960s.

Event Cinemas George Street

Sat, 13 Jun 12:45pm

Remake

Revered filmmaker Ross McElwee (Sherman's March, SFF 1986; Bright Leaves, SFF 2004) returns after 14 years with a heart-rending tribute to his lost son. Award winner, Venice 2025.

An all-deaf cast enrich this atmospheric thriller in which a young woman arrives at a remote wellness retreat for Deaf people where nothing is as it seems. Toronto 2025.

Sukundimi Walks Before Me

This powerful doc follows an Indigenous PNG community’s campaign to preserve their future, when the Sepik River, ‘the Amazon of the Asia-Pacific’, is threatened by mining.

The Hub, Lower Town Hall

Masterclass with Kleber Mendonça Filho

Join recent Oscar nominee for Best Picture (The Secret Agent) and this year’s jury president Kleber Mendonça Filho for an in-depth masterclass on his distinctive approach to storytelling.

Sold Out

Sat, 13 Jun 2pm

Palace Central Cinemas

Chronovisor

In this strikingly original debut, a professor becomes obsessed with a mysterious occult device capable of visualising the past. Rotterdam, MoMA New Directors/New Films 2026.

Back by popular demand

The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist

An AI future seems inevitable. Oscar winner Daniel Roher (Navalny, SFF 2022) and Charlie Tyrell break open all the promise and perils in this illuminating doc. Sundance 2026.

The first dual winner of the Best Actress Award at Cannes, this sprawling, emotional epic by Ryusuke Hamaguchi (Drive My Car, SFF 2021) stars Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto as two women who form a life-altering friendship.

All Of A Sudden

The heart-warming story of a Delhi street artist's attempt to cycle from India to Sweden to reunite with the love of his life, from Oscar-winner Orlando von Einsiedel.

The Cycle of Love

Winner, Jury Prize, Cannes. Valeska Grisebach's (Western) crime drama is a mysterious and intoxicating journey following a woman on a mission in the rough Bulgarian borderlands.

The Dreamed Adventure

Everybody to Kenmure Street

This Sundance award winner captures the dawn immigration raid that sparked an unprecedented community uprising in Glasgow. Featuring Emma Thompson and Kate Dickie.

Jai Courtney and Emily Browning star alongside Olivia Colman as a talking fox and Sam Neill as a magpie in this absurdly comic Australian folktale from Dario Russo (Danger 5). SXSW 2026.

The Fox

A hysterical debut and instant classic from the genius behind How To with John Wilson. An unexpected meditation on politics, celebrity, religion and urbanism. Sundance 2026.

The History of Concrete

La Bola Negra

Winner, Best Director, Cannes. This stirring, decades-spanning exploration of queer desire in Spain is one of the most exuberant, sensual and dazzling films of the year, featuring Penelope Cruz, Glenn Close and Julio Torres.

Winner, Grand Prix, Cannes. The much-anticipated new film by Russian master Andrey Zvyagintsev is a brave, taut and explosive thriller that brilliantly melds the personal and the political.

Minotaur

A smouldering romance ignites between two Mexican drug dealers while evading cartels and the law in this gay-love thriller. Venice Queer Lion Winner, produced by Diego Luna.

On the Road

This post #MeToo documentary reveals how defamation laws are weaponised to silence survivors. Featuring human rights lawyer Jennifer Robinson, Amber Heard and Brittany Higgins.

Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Léa Seydoux star in the wondrous latest from Ildikó Enyedi (On Body and Soul, Sydney Film Prize 2017), following three era-spanning stories connected by a tree.

Silent Friend

An offbeat Aussie crowd pleaser following the world’s greatest whistling competition, from the eccentric competitors to passionate devotees, as egos clash and notes soar. Toronto 2025.

Flexipasses

SEE MORE,
Spend less

Redeem up to 4 tickets per screening, swap sessions, enjoy great value, and access tickets first on 6 May.

Flexipasses

SEE MORE,
Spend less

Redeem up to 4 tickets per screening, swap sessions, enjoy great value, and access tickets first on 6 May.

Save $76

Flexipass 10

$199

Perfect for sharing or sampling. 10 tickets at $19.90 each, redeem up to 4 per session.

Save $175

Flexipass 20

$375

Great for regular Festival‑goers. 20 tickets at $18.75 each, redeem up to 4 per session.

Save $330

Flexipass 30

$495

Our best‑value Flexipass. 30 tickets at $16.50 each, redeem up to 4 per session.

Save $69

Youth Pass 6

$96

For ages 15–24. Score 6 tickets at $16 each, redeem up to 2 per session.

The Hub

lower town hall

Where Sydney Film Festival steps off the screen.

Guests

who's attending?

Meet the filmmakers of SFF 2026.

SFFTV

martin place

Our giant outdoor screen in Martin Place.

Late Announce – Special Screenings

Winner, Best Actor Award, Cannes Un Certain Regard. This stirring, autobiographical drama follows a Congolese teen chasing his music dreams while juggling family pressure, exams and political unrest.

Winner of the Cannes Best Actor Award, the new film by Sydney Film Prize winner Lukas Dhont (Close, SFF 2022) is an ambitious, moving queer romance about two soldiers during World War I.

Coward

When Parisian gay gym-queen-supreme Jim contracts a virus that will turn him and others straight, his only hope for a cure is a shy fanboy twink. A hilariously camp, animated, musical romp direct from Cannes.

Jim Queen

The legendary 1986 FIFA World Cup game between Argentina and England – featuring Maradona’s infamous ‘Hand of God’ goal and played in the shadow of the Falklands War – is the centre of this thrilling, joyous Cannes-selected documentary.