International Documentaries

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Experience some of the finest non-fiction filmmaking from around the world – bold, moving works that challenge, inspire, and captivate. The remarkable true stories in this year’s line-up need to be seen to be believed. Immerse yourself in a transformative program that celebrates the power of real-life storytelling.

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2000 Meters to Andriivka
An unflinching, critically acclaimed film from the Ukranian frontlines by Oscar-winner Mstylslav Chernov, following soldiers on a mission to liberate Russian-occupied Andriivka.
Past Event
Guest
Documentary
Agatha’s Almanac
This exquisite and delightful portrait of 90-year-old Agatha, who lives and thrives alone on her farm with quiet joy, was lovingly crafted by her artist niece. Hot Docs 2025.
Past Event
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All I Had Was Nothingness
Forty years after Claude Lanzmann’s seminal Shoah, director Guillaume Ribot has created a powerful companion piece, crafted from 220 hours of unused footage from the original film.
Past Event
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Always
Winner of the top prize at CPH:DOX, this strikingly beautiful film follows a boy poet’s coming of age in rural China, and marks the arrival of a major new voice in Chinese cinema.
Past Event
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André Is an Idiot
Fun-loving André delayed getting a colonoscopy only to discover that he’s dying. In this Sundance Audience Award-winner, join André on his hilarious and heartfelt journey to the end.
Past Event
Documentary
Assembly
A breathtaking kaleidoscope of queer black excellent takes over New York City art space The Armory, as visionary artist Rashaad Newsome constructs a multi-sensory extravaganza that is galvanising, moving and unmissable. SXSW 2025.
Past Event
Documentary
Beat the Lotto
A rip-roaring tale about the mathematician who, along with a ragtag syndicate, plotted to fix Ireland’s National Lottery in 1992, captivating the nation and sparking rabid debate.
Past Event
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Blue Road – The Edna O’Brien Story
The fearless Irish literary icon reflects on a storied and scandalous life, with her diaries read by Jessie Buckley and commentary by Gabriel Byrne. Toronto and DOC NYC, 2024.
Past Event
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Chain Reactions
This grisly love letter to the all-time horror classic The Texas Chain Saw Massacre – which turns 50 this year! – is elevated by insightful testimonials from legends of the genre, including Stephen King, Karyn Kusama, Patton Oswalt and Takashi Miike.
Past Event
Documentary
Come See Me in the Good Light
Winner of the Sundance Festival Favourite Award, this tear-jerking yet joyous film follows a poet couple navigating their life together after an incurable cancer diagnosis.
Past Event
Documentary
Cutting Through Rocks
Winner, Documentary Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. This rousing film follows a motorbike-riding, pioneering councilwoman in rural Iran and her tireless fight for women’s rights.
Past Event
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Documentary
Farming the Revolution
This immersive documentary captures a mass movement in vivid close-up, as 12 million farmers challenge the Indian government, forcing it to retract its unjust farm laws.
Past Event
Documentary
Folktales
A “folk school” in the middle of Norway’s Arctic provides the backdrop for this heartwarming tale of self-discovery following three teens learning life lessons – including dog sledding.
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A Frown Gone Mad
In Bouba’s Beauty Salon in Lebanon, clients open up about their lives as their faces open up for Botox and filler in this unique and graphic yet mesmerising IDFA prize-winning doc.
Past Event
How Deep Is Your Love
In this awe-inspiring and visually rich documentary, scientists race to explore the ocean floor – one of Earth’s last frontiers – before deep sea-mining destroys it forever.
Past Event
Documentary
How to Build a Library
Two tenacious Kenyan women join forces in an attempt to decolonise and restore Nairobi’s historic McMillan Library, which remained whites-only until 1958. Sundance 2025.
Past Event
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Documentary
Lowland Kids
With their island home sinking into the sea, America’s first climate refugees must make an impossible decision. A raw, redolent doc produced by Darren Aronofsky, CPH:DOX 2025.
Past Event
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Documentary
Make It Look Real
For the first time on screen, witness the important work of an intimacy coordinator, one of the most discussed film industry jobs today, in this buzzy Australian SXSW title.
Past Event
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Documentary
Mistress Dispeller
This Venice award-winning and startling doc introduces us to Teacher Wang, a Chinese “mistress dispeller” – that is, a professional for-hire whose job it is to end marital affairs.
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Mr. Nobody Against Putin
This urgent, Sundance prize-winning documentary follows a brave and charismatic Russian teacher as he exposes shocking new propaganda at his school amid the invasion of Ukraine.
Past Event
Documentary
Only on Earth
Spectacular visions of wildfires in Galicia illustrate the breakdown in the connection between humans, animals and the environment, in the ever-urgent climate crisis. Berlinale 2025.
Past Event
Documentary
The Perfect Neighbor
Made up almost entirely of police bodycam footage, this haunting Sundance award-winner captures the shocking escalation of a dispute between neighbours, fuelled by festering racism.
Past Event
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Predators
This gripping film pulls back the curtain on the controversial, paedophile-hunting reality TV hit To Catch a Predator from the 2000s, and examines its complex cultural legacy. Sundance 2025.
Past Event
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Documentary
The Shadow Scholars
An Oxford professor investigates the multi-billion-dollar industry of ghost-written university essays, and travels to Kenya to meet the “shadow scholars” who write them.
Past Event
Documentary
The Shepherd and the Bear
Yves, a retiring shepherd in the exquisite French Pyrenees, is seeking a successor – a task made difficult by the recently rewilded bears attacking his flock. IDFA 2024.
Past Event
Documentary
Silent Observers
In this evocatively enigmatic doc-fiction hybrid, homespun myths ripple through a ramshackle village in Bulgaria, and local creatures harbour the souls of residents. IDFA 2024.
Past Event
Documentary
Speak.
Five talented U.S. high school orators prepare for the ultimate public speaking tournament in this rousing, Sundance-selected doc that has echoes of Spellbound (SFF 2003).
Past Event
Documentary
Tokito: The 540-day Journey of a Culinary Maverick
Tradition meets modernity in this sumptuous film, in which a Michelin-starred chef takes on his biggest challenge yet: opening a world-class restaurant in Tokyo in just 540 days.
Past Event
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Twiggy
British supermodel and enduring cultural icon Twiggy is a refreshingly open book in this charming doc by Sadie Frost (Quant), which features a constellation of famous faces.
Past Event
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Documentary
Unwelcomed
An epic journey over the Andes and into Chile structures this eye-opening documentary, which walks alongside the people at the heart of the Venezuelan migrant crisis. Winner of a major award at Hot Docs 2025.
Past Event
Documentary
Videoheaven
Narrated by Maya Hawke, Alex Ross Perry’s (Her Smell, SFF 2019), Videoheaven is an enjoyably intellectual history of video stores, assembled from hundreds of film and TV clips.
Past Event
Documentary
A Want in Her
Evoking Aftersun, an Irish artist and filmmaker folds old home movies into a present-day reckoning with her mother’s alcoholism. Compassionate and vulnerable, and a hit at IDFA.
Past Event
Documentary
Writing Hawa
A vital personal account of three generations of Afghan women, shot over five years and set against the turbulent backdrop of the Taliban takeover. FIPRESCI Award winner at IDFA.
Past Event
Documentary
Yalla Parkour
Filmmaker Areeb Zuaiter reconnects with her Palestinian roots through a decade long friendship with a Gazan parkour athlete. Winner, Grand Jury Prize for International Competition at DOC NYC.
Aboriginal FlagTorres Strait Flag

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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