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Tycoon

Directed by Charlotte Zhang
Canada
2025
89 mins
Unclassified 15+
One of the buzziest premieres at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, Tycoon plays as Miami Vice for the doom scroll era. A glitchy, dystopian portrait of the City of Angels.

Defiantly DIY in spirit, Tycoon marks the debut of Canadian visual artist Charlotte Zhang. Set in 2028 Los Angeles, the film conjures a city gripped by paranoia – beset by cockroach plagues, ICE raids, wildfires, and livestock epidemics. Amid these crises, two young hustlers drift through the sprawl in a stolen car, hatching schemes for survival. Shot on lo-fi digital and Super 8, Tycoon unfolds with a restless, freewheeling energy punctuated by kinetic montage sequences and a brilliant soundtrack of synth, doo-wop and Dinah Washington’s soul-jazz ballad, “This Bitter Earth,” a nod to Charles Burnett’s LA classic Killer of Sheep (SFF 1978), a touchstone for Zhang’s vision.

“The kind of lo-fi transmission that comes along only once or twice in a generation and defines a certain era of filmmaking, Tycoon is a DIY marvel.”
Jordon Cronk, Film Comment
“Tycoon is a staggering portrait of a city on fire.”
Leonardo Goi, The Film Stage
“… a stroboscopic good time of fuzzy digital textures and Angeleno nightscapes a la Miami Vice.”
Vadim Rizov, IndieWire
“The kind of lo-fi transmission that comes along only once or twice in a generation and defines a certain era of filmmaking, Tycoon is a DIY marvel.”
Jordon Cronk, Film Comment

Films showing at this event

Acetone Reality

A teetering montage of blocky pixels, smeared chromatics and CGI voices cascade and collide in this hypnotic short.

Screens with Tycoon

Tickets

Fri 5 June 2026, 8:50pm
Past Event
Palace Central Cinemas - Cinema 1
Palace Central - Cinema 1
Assisted ListeningWheelchair
Wed 10 June 2026, 8:15pm
Past Event
Palace Central Cinemas - Cinema 1
Palace Central - Cinema 1
Assisted ListeningWheelchair
Wed 10 June 2026, 8:40pm
Past Event
Palace Central Cinemas - Cinema 2
Palace Central - Cinema 2
Assisted ListeningWheelchair
See more, save more with a Flexipass or Youth Pass

Limited seats are available for patrons requiring access for wheelchairs, low vision and hearing loop. Please contact our ticketing team directly on 1300 733 733 or tickets@sff.org.au to complete your booking, or see our Access & Inclusion page for more information.

  • Program Strand
    FLUX: Art+Film
  • Year
    2025
  • Classification
    Unclassified 15+
  • Country
    Canada, USA
  • Language
    In English
  • Director
    Charlotte Zhang
  • Producer
    Charlotte Zhang, Kenneth Andrew Sarmiento Yuen
  • Cast
    Miguel Padilla-Juarez, Jon Lawrence Reyes, Kenneth Andrew Sarmiento Yuen
  • Screenwriter
    Charlotte Zhang
  • Cinematographer
    Charlotte Zhang
  • Editor
    Charlotte Zhang
  • Genre
    Experimental, Fantasy & Sci-Fi, Women Directors, Thriller & Crime
  • Premiere
    Australian Premiere
  • Company Credits
    Festival Contact: Charlotte Zhang
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Sydney Film Festival acknowledges Australia’s First Nations People as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the land, and pay respect to the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, upon whose Country SFF is based.

We honour the storytelling and culture of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities across Australia.

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