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Blue Bayou

Justin Chon2021USA

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Quo Vadis, Aida?

Jasmila Žbanić2020Bosnia and Herzegovina

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Mon 8 at 6:00pm State Theatre

Wash My Soul in the River's Flow

Documentary A cinematic reinvention of Archie Roach and the late Ruby Hunter’s 2004 award-winning concert – a fertile music collaboration with Paul Grabowsky and the Australian Art Orchestra.

Fri 12 at 9:00pm State Theatre

Drive My Car

Feature The prolific Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Cannes Competition contender takes a Haruki Murakami short story as the basis for an intricate and potent drama of secrets and lies.

Thu 11 at 6:15pm State Theatre

Bosch & Rockit

Feature A magical father-and-son story, imbued with the salt and sun of Australia’s east coast, starring Luke Hemsworth, Isabel Lucas, Leeanna Walsman and upcoming pro-surfer Rasmus King.

Sat 13 at 9:30am State Theatre

Drive My Car

Feature The prolific Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Cannes Competition contender takes a Haruki Murakami short story as the basis for an intricate and potent drama of secrets and lies.

Fri 5 at 6:00pm Palace Central 1

Close-Up

Feature Walking a sophisticated tightrope between documentary and fiction, Close-Up takes a bizarre crime and artfully reworks it for the big screen.

Sat 13 at 1:30pm State Theatre

River

Documentary The creative team behind Mountain (SFF 2017) reunite for the cinematic poetry that is River: director Jennifer Peedom, Richard Tognetti, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, writer Robert Macfarlane and narrator Willem Dafoe.

Sat 13 at 8:30pm Hayden Orpheum Cremorne 5

Parallel Mothers

Feature Pedro Almodóvar returns, following his triumphant Pain and Glory (SFF 2019), with a dramatic tale of motherhood and historical trauma starring Penélope Cruz.

Sun 7 at 12:00pm State Theatre

The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson

Feature Leah Purcell wrote, directs and stars in this period Western about a determined mother protecting her children – a searing reimagining of Henry Lawson’s classic with an Indigenous female gaze.

Wed 10 at 6:00pm State Theatre

Limbo

Feature Promising young Syrian musician Omar is one of a group of refugees stuck on a remote Scottish island in this hilarious and poignant award-winner and BAFTA nominee.

Sat 13 at 8:30pm Palace Central 1

Crossing Paths

Feature A unique interactive cinema experience where viewers choose the story. A comedic and addictive experiment in audience participation from Sydney-based director JJ Winlove (June Again).

Fri 12 at 2:45pm State Theatre

A Hero

Feature Straight from the Cannes Competition: the latest feature from celebrated Iranian director Asghar Farhadi (A Separation, Sydney Film Prize 2011, Oscar Best Foreign Language Film 2012).

Tue 9 at 6:15pm State Theatre

Petite Maman

Feature Céline Sciamma’s follow-up to Portrait of a Lady on Fire (SFF 2019) and Tomboy (SFF 2011) is an evocative and magical tale of mothers and daughters. In Competition, Berlinale 2021.

Dive Into the Program

See more strands

Official Competition

The most “audacious, cutting-edge and courageous” films that truly move the art form forward.

Special Presentations

A selection of highly anticipated premieres, festival hits and local highlights.

Prize-winners from prestigious festivals and new works that deserve to be known.

Documentary Australia Foundation Award

Documentaries competing for the Documentary Australia Foundation Award for Australian Documentary.

International Documentaries

Controversial, mesmerising, eye-opening and visually stunning international documentaries.

Dendy Awards for Australian Short Films

10 short films compete for three illustrious prizes.

Find all the film festival fun for families with our top Family picks from across the globe.

Quality motion pictures from the weird and wild side of world cinema.

Sounds on Screen

Films about music and musicians make for some of the most compelling cinema created.

Radical and innovative films by artists who transform our experience of what cinema can be.

YOUR GUIDE TO THE FESTIVAL

Click to watch videos introducing you to 2021’s most exciting films.

Elevator Pitch

Maria Alvarez - Le Temps Perdu
Your Guide to the Program

Let Natalie Tran walk you through her picks!
Elevator Pitch

Radu Jude - Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn
Elevator Pitch

Blerta Basholli - Hive
Elevator Pitch

Alan Brain - The Rumba Kings
Elevator Pitch

Tuija Halttunen - How To Kill A Cloud

OFFICIAL COMPETITION

Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn

Feature Opening with an extremely explicit, long and awkward homemade sex tape, Radu Jude’s incendiary and hilarious critique of Romanian society won the Berlinale Golden Bear.

Drive My Car

Feature The prolific Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Cannes Competition contender takes a Haruki Murakami short story as the basis for an intricate and potent drama of secrets and lies.

The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson

Feature Leah Purcell wrote, directs and stars in this period Western about a determined mother protecting her children – a searing reimagining of Henry Lawson’s classic with an Indigenous female gaze.

Flee

Documentary A thrilling documentary fusing animation and archival material to tell the story of a gay Afghan refugee in Denmark who kept his painful past a secret for two decades. Winner, Sundance Grand Jury Prize: Documentary.

The Hand of God

Feature Paolo Sorrentino’s deeply personal film is an exquisite reflection on family, sport, love, desire, tragedy and cinema against the backdrop of 1980s Naples. Winner, Grand Jury Prize, Venice.

Limbo

Feature Promising young Syrian musician Omar is one of a group of refugees stuck on a remote Scottish island in this hilarious and poignant award-winner and BAFTA nominee.

Memoria

Feature Straight from the Cannes Competition, Thai auteur Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s mystical and mysterious new film stars Tilda Swinton as a woman visiting Colombia who is haunted by a loud sound.

Petite Maman

Feature Céline Sciamma’s follow-up to Portrait of a Lady on Fire (SFF 2019) and Tomboy (SFF 2011) is an evocative and magical tale of mothers and daughters. In Competition, Berlinale 2021.

Quo Vadis, Aida?

Feature Inspired by true events, Jasmila Žbanić’s (Grbavica) gripping, Oscar-nominated thriller sees a UN translator in Srebrenica attempting to save her family as conflict rages around them.

The Story of My Wife

Feature A sea captain makes a bet to marry the first woman who enters a café in this twisted romance by Ildikó Enyedi (2017 Sydney Film Prize On Body and Soul). Cannes Competition 2021.

There Is No Evil

Feature Banned from making films in Iran, Mohammad Rasoulof won the Berlinale Golden Bear for this powerful take on the death penalty and its impact on Iranian society.

Undine

Feature Romance and the supernatural combine in Christian Petzold’s (Phoenix, SFF 2015; Transit, SFF 2018) playful and enigmatic film starring Paula Beer and Franz Rogowski.

SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS

Bergman Island

Feature Set on Ingmar Bergman’s island home, multi-award winner director Mia Hansen-Løve’s Cannes-selected film stars Tim Roth, Vicky Krieps, Mia Wasikowska and Anders Danielsen Lie.

Blue Bayou

Feature Direct from Cannes Un Certain Regard, director Justin Chon and Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl) star in this moving and timely story of a family man suddenly facing deportation.

Bosch & Rockit

Feature A magical father-and-son story, imbued with the salt and sun of Australia’s east coast, starring Luke Hemsworth, Isabel Lucas, Leeanna Walsman and upcoming pro-surfer Rasmus King.

Burning

Documentary Focusing in on the 2019-20 bushfires, Oscar-winning filmmaker Eva Orner (Taxi to the Dark Side, SFF 2018) interrogates Australia’s woeful record on climate change action.

Great Freedom

Feature This era-spanning epic follows Hans (Franz Rogowski) in his quest for love and freedom as he is repeatedly imprisoned for being gay. Fast-tracked from Cannes Un Certain Regard.

Lingui, The Sacred Bonds

Feature Acclaimed Chadian filmmaker Mahamat-Saleh Haroun’s Cannes Competition contender tells the story of a single mother whose world collapses when she discovers her teenage daughter is pregnant.

Love Songs for Tough Guys

Feature Vanessa Paradis stars in a delightfully unconventional comedy about ageing crooks finding love through poetry and the performing arts. Official Selection, Cannes 2021.

Parallel Mothers

Feature Pedro Almodóvar returns, following his triumphant Pain and Glory (SFF 2019), with a dramatic tale of motherhood and historical trauma starring Penélope Cruz.

Paris, 13th District

Feature Palme d'Or winner Jacques Audiard’s (A Prophet, Rust and Bone, Dheepan) tale of Parisian young love and sex is a vibrant adaptation of Adrian Tomine’s graphic novel Killing and Dying.

The Power of the Dog

Feature Jane Campion won Best Director at Venice 2021 for this tense Western exploring masculinity. Starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons and Kodi Smit-McPhee.

River

Documentary The creative team behind Mountain (SFF 2017) reunite for the cinematic poetry that is River: director Jennifer Peedom, Richard Tognetti, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, writer Robert Macfarlane and narrator Willem Dafoe.

Titane

Feature Winner of the 2021 Cannes Palme d’Or, Julia Ducournau’s (Raw) incendiary film combines body horror, serial killings, gender fluidity, extreme violence, family drama and sex with cars.

Wash My Soul in the River's Flow

Documentary A cinematic reinvention of Archie Roach and the late Ruby Hunter’s 2004 award-winning concert – a fertile music collaboration with Paul Grabowsky and the Australian Art Orchestra.

The Worst Person in the World

Feature Renate Reinsve won Best Actress in Cannes for her tremendous performance as a young woman indecisive in love and life in Joachim Trier’s Nordic romcom.

Zola

Feature Based on an infamous 2015 tweetstorm, this exhilarating girl gaze stripper saga stars Taylour Paige (Ma Rainey's Black Bottom), Riley Keough (American Honey) and Nicholas Braun (Succession). Sundance 2020.

SFF ON DEMAND VIRTUAL PROGRAM | 12 - 21 NOV

SEE WHAT ELSE IS AVAILABLE

Quo Vadis, Aida?

Feature Inspired by true events, Jasmila Žbanić’s (Grbavica) gripping, Oscar-nominated thriller sees a UN translator in Srebrenica attempting to save her family as conflict rages around them.

A Fire Inside

Documentary When Australia’s 2019-20 bushfires horrified the world, the selfless acts of everyday Aussies inspired us all. But the triple whammy of drought, fire and pandemic has taken an astounding toll.

Hive

Feature Winner of three major awards at Sundance 2021, this outstanding drama is based on the true story of a Kosovo war widow fighting against patriarchy.

Swan Song

Feature A fabulously snippy hairdresser (screen legend Udo Kier; Bacurau, SFF 2019) escapes his nursing home and treks across small-town Ohio to fulfil the dying wish of a former client.

Apples

Feature When amnesia sweeps the world, a man with no memory takes part in an experiment to reconstruct his identity. Venice, 2020. Winner of more than 10 international awards.

Slalom

Feature A teenage competitive skier is drawn into the orbit of her domineering coach in this unflinching portrait of abuse and obsession. Cannes 2020.

Le Temps Perdu

Documentary An award-winning documentary following a charming group of literature aficionados who have been meeting in the same Buenos Aires café for 20+ years to read Proust’s classic work.

The Filmmaker's House

Documentary A wryly funny fiction-non-fiction hybrid, in which UK filmmaker Marc Isaacs ingeniously turns his funding frustrations into a positive, and ends up filming anyone who’s around.

Under the Volcano

Documentary The story of Montserrat’s celebrated recording studio and the musicians – including Dire Straits, Elton John and the Police – enticed by its idyllic Caribbean vibe.

SUPPORT SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL

Sydney Film Festival relies on the generosity of its audience to remain viable. Please make a donation so that we can continue travelling the world through the transformative experience of great cinema.

Learn how you can help

Become a Director's Patron

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