- Sydney Film Festival returns for its 72nd edition from June 4 until 15, 2025.
- The full lineup has been revealed, including more than 145 feature films as well as documentaries.
- Features are divided into eight categories: Aussie Hooks, Celeb, Family, LGBTQIA+, Award-Winners, True Stories, Sport and Cinephile.
After an initial announcement of 17 titles a few weeks ago, Sydney Film Festival has revealed the full program for its 72nd edition, set to open from Wednesday, June 4. Presenting 201 films from 70 countries, including 17 world premieres, six international premieres and 137 Australian premieres, the festival is one of Sydney’s most celebrated cultural events and is an opportunity to experience some of the world’s best cinema.
Some of cinemas big names, including Tom Hiddleston, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Jacob Elordi, Dave Franco and Alison Brie, will appear on big screens across the city, and many directors will make their feature debut. The program also includes 15 films that will come direct from the Cannes Film Festival, too, including Kelly Reichardt’s 1970s-set art heist drama The Mastermind.
Here we have the full list of the feature films set to screen at this year’s Sydney Film Festival. This doesn’t include the documentaries, of which there are around 60 to choose from.
Aussie Hook
Together (2025)
The Opening Night film comes from Australian writer-director Michael Shanks who makes his debut with this off-the-wall film, that was a breakout hit at Sundance at the start of the year. Real-life couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie star as long-term love Tim and Millie, who relocate to the country for a quieter life. Things soon start to get strange with body horror and other unhinged happenings.
READ MORE: Watch the most anticipated Australian film of the year at Sydney Film Festivalโs Opening Night
Slanted (2025)
Continuing the film industry’s growing fascination with body horror, director Amy Wang (a writer on the upcoming Crazy Rich Asians sequel) presents her first feature-length directorial work goes in a very different direction. A Chinese-American teen undergoes a full racial transformation to become white in this satirical body horror, exploring questions of modern beauty standards and assimilation.
Dangerous Animals (2025)
Australian filmmaker Sean Byrne has picked up numerous awards at film festivals over the years, for the likes of The Loved Ones and The Devil’s Candy. At this year’s Sydney Film Festival, his latest movie makes its world premiere. Surfer, Zephyr, is abducted by a shark-obsessed killer and attempts to escape before she’s fed to the sharks. Starring Yellowstone‘s Hassie Harrison and Suicide Squad‘s Josh Heuston, we have high hopes for this one.
Fwends (2025)
Sophie Sommerville explores themes of friendship, urban life and the transition into adulthood, describing “how being in your 20s means staring into a dark, deep, meaningless void”. Relatable. Two old friends, Jessie and Em, reconnect over a weekend in Melbourne and navigate the city streets as well as personal revelations.
Went Up The Hill (2024)
Samuel Van Grinsven won the Audience Award for Best Feature Film at the 2019 Sydney Film Fest with his debut feature film, Sequin in a Blue Room. Here’s hoping his offering this year earns similar success. It follows a man’s return to New Zealand for his mother’s funeral. Blending psychological horror with grief, trauma and family secrets, it’s one of the heavier ones.
Lesbian Space Princess (2024)
Talk about a change of pace. This animated musical follows lovesick Princess Saira’s planet-hopping quest to rescue her ex-girlfriend from the villainous Straight White Maliens. It blends sci-fi adventure with LGBTQ+ satire and musical numbers. If that’s not enough, it also picked up the Teddy Award for Best Feature Film at the 75th Berlinale.
Birthright (2025)
Acclaimed Western Australian theatre and web series director Zoe Pepper presents her feature debut. Birthright follows evicted and unemployed Cory and his pregnant wife as they are forced to move in with his parents. His desperation for success takes a shocking toll on the family.
Death of An Undertaker (2025)
This dark comedy-documentary hybrid is set in Sydney’s Leichhardt and follows the final days of funeral director Michele Salamone during the early onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Combining observational documentary footage with fictionalised scenes, this marks Christian Byers’ directorial debut (he acted in The Narrow Road to the Deep North).
Celeb
On Swift Horses (2024)
Fans of Jacob Elordi, Daisy Edgar-Jones or Will Poulter, listen up. Daniel Minahan’s movie adaptation of Shannin Pugahl’s acclaimed debut novel is led by the trio, and Edgar-Jones and Elordi are also credited as executive producers. The sweeping romantic drama sees two queer protagonists navigate forbidden love, personal freedom and social expectation in 1950s America.
The Friend (2024)
Scott Mcgehee and David Siegel’s The Friend, which had its premier at last year’s Telluride Film Festival, is another easy pick for future-favourite. Adapted from Sigrid Nunezโs bestselling novel, following a solitary writer who forms an unexpected bond with her late friendโs Great Dane after his suicide, the film stars Naomi Watts, Bill Murray and Constance Wu.
The Mastermind (2025)
The Crown and Challengers actor Josh O’Connor fronts Kelly Reichhardt’s The Mastermind which competed for the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. He plays an artist who is plotting a major art theft during the Vietnam War. Ambition, deception and survival are explored against a backdrop of 1970s America.
The Life of Chuck (2024)
If you’re a die-hard fan of Stephen King’s If It Bleeds collection, make sure you don’t miss this. Mike Flanagan has adapted the novella for the big screen, and Tom Hiddleston takes the lead as Chuck Krantz. He’s an ordinary man whose life is mysteriously linked to the world’s endโall of which is revealed in reverse chronology. The star-studded lineup doesn’t end there either: Mandy Moore choreographed a standout dance sequence, and the ensemble cast includes Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave), Karen Gillan (Doctor Who) and Mark Hamill (Star Wars).
Vie Privรฉe (2025)
Following its premiere at Cannes Film Fest, Rebecca Zlotowski’s Vie Privรฉe will make its Australian premiere at Sydney Film Festival. Jodie Foster (The Silence of the Lambs) plays renowned psychiatrist Lilian Steiner, who launches a private investigation into the suspicious death of a patient. The supporting cast includes Virginie Efira (Benedetta), Daniel Auteuil (Jean de Florette), MathieuAmalric (The Grand Budapest Hotel), Vincent Lacoste (Sorry Angel), and Luana Bajrami (Portrait of a Lady on Fire).
Twinless (2025)
The Maze Runner star Dylan O’Brien stars opposite Aisling Franciosi (The Nightingale) in James Sweeney’s feature. A grieving twin forms a bond with a twinless man, but their friendship soon becomes entangled in manipulation, blurred identity and emotional dependency.
Blue Moon (2025)
Richard Linklater and Ethan Hawke claim the Before Trilogy and the critically-acclaimed 2014 film Boyhood among their previous successes. The dynamic duo reunited for their ninth collaboration and the result is Blue Moon. It follows a Broadway lyricist as he confronts his fading career on opening night of the musical Oklahoma! The Substance‘s Margaret Qualley and All Of Us Strangers actor Andrew Scott star alongside each other.
The End (2024)
Joshua Oppenheimer reimagines the apocalypse as a musical-thriller, following a wealthy family in a bunker desperately clinging to their illusions as the world burns above. Performances by Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton), Michael Shannon (Nocturnal Animals), George MacKay (1917) and Moses Ingram (The Queen’s Gambit) earned the film a Golden Seashell nomination at the San Sebastiรกn International Film Festival last year.
The Ballad of Wallis Island (2025)
Initially a short film project that was nominated for the 2008 BAFTA Award for Best Short Film, James Griffiths has extended it with Carey Mulligan (Promising Young Woman) leading the feature. A retired lottery winner reunites a long-separated folk duo for a private concert, which unfolds into a meditation on creativity, friendship and the unresolved tensions of a past romantic and musical partnership.
Pike River (2025)
Based on the true story of the 2010 Pike River Mine disaster, which killed 29 men and led to one of New Zealand’s longest-running fights for justice and corporate accountability, Robert Sarkies’s Pike River was shot on location in New Zealand’s South Island, with the support of the Pike River community.
Bring Them Down (2024)
This epic Irish rural thriller marks Christopher Andrews’s feature directorial debut and has already picked up Best Picture at Fantastic Fest 2024, the Douglas Hickox Award for Best Debut Director at British Independent Film Awards 2024. Christopher also stars in it, appearing alongside Barry Keoghan and Colm Meaney. A sheep farmer is caught between his domineering father and a rival family’s escalating aggression, with family trauma, long-standing feuds and cycles of violence among the explored themes. The film uses Irish language to highlight cultural divisionsโAbbott undertook Irish lessons for the role.
READ MORE: Will you book to watch the 14-hour documentary screening at Sydney Film Festival?
Family
How To Train Your Dragon (2025)
The Family program is headlined by the new How to Train Your Dragon, a live-action remake of the animated classic. You probably know the story by now: Viking teen Hiccup (Mason Thames) defies tradition and bonds with a dragon, Toothless. Gerard Butler stars as Stoick, alongside other cast members including Nick Frost, Julian Dennison and Bronwyn James.
Night of the Zoopocalypse (2024)
Brace yourself. This animated comedy-horror sees zoo animals battle a mutant zombie outbreak after an alien virus crash-lands at their zoo. Phew. David Harbour (Stranger Things), Gabbi Kosmidis (Big Top Academy), Scott Thompson (The Kids in the Hall) and Paul Sun-Hyung Lee (Kim’s Convenience) voice the animated animals.
LGBTQIA+
Love (2024)
A straight female urologist and a gay male nurse in Oslo navigate differing views on love, intimacy and companionship in the second instalment of Dag Johan Haugerud’s trilogy on contemporary relationships. It follows Sex which premiered at the 74th Berlinale last year.
Dreams (Sex Love) (2024)
The final feature of Haugerud’s trilogy follows a 17-year-old’s explorations of love, sexuality and self-discovery, revealed through her intimate writings that reveal and intense infatuation with her teacher. It’s already picked up the Golden Bear Best Actress Award and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at this year’s Berlinale.
Straight on Till Morning (2024)
Directed by Craig Ouellette, this psychological horror follows a lesbian couple whose romantic road trip is derailed by a terrifying encounter with a twisted rural family. Queer relationships, survival and trauma are explored through the lens of the horror genre.
Award Winners
On Becoming a Guinea Fowl (2024)
Rungano Nyoni’s latest feature, following her acclaimed debut I Am Not a Witch, is a darkly comedic yet harrowing drama about a young woman returning to Zambia. Susan Chardy debuts in the lead role, which earned her the 2024 British Independent Film Award for Breakthrough Performance. Upon her return to Zambia, the young woman is confronted by generational trauma at her abusive uncle’s funeral. Dreamlike imagery, folklore and dark humour are used to explore the ways in which societies avoid confronting uncomfortable truths. The feature won the Un Certain Regard Award for Best Director at Cannes 2024.
The Blue Trail (2025)
Director Gabriel Mascaro presents a near-future Brazil where the elderly are marginalised under the guise of honour. Award-winning Brazilian actors Denise Weinberg and Rodrigo Santoro star in the feature that was filmed entirely in the Amazonian region of Brazil in Manaus, Mancapuru and Novo Airรฃo. A 77-year-old woman escapes a state-run retirement convoy and embarks on a surreal journey through the Amazon in search of freedom.
One of Those Days When Hemme Dies (2024)
Turkish director Murat Firatoฤlu plays the lead role in his feature that won the Special Jury Prize in the Orizzonti section at last year’s Venice Film Festival. Not bad, for his directorial feature debut. It follows Eyรผp, a rural labourer in south-eastern Turkey, who devises a plan to escape debt and reclaim dignity, as themes of labour exploitation, toxic masculinity and resistance unfold.
Alpha (2024)
Father and son reunite in the Alps, where old wounds, power struggles and the unforgiving mountain terrain push their tense relationship to the limit. Directed by Jan-Willem van Ewijk and starring real-life father and son Gijs cholten van Aschat and Reinout Scholten van Aschat, it won the Label Europa Cinema Awards during its premier at the Venice Film Festival 2024.
Little Trouble Girls (2025)
Urลกka Djukiฤ won the FIPRESCI Prize at the 2025 Berlinale with this feature debut. She tackles themes of adolescence, power dynamics and the tension between personal desire and religious upbringing as 16-year-old Lucia navigates shifting friendships during a weekend choir trip.
The Wailing (2024)
Director Pedro Martรญn-Calero must be pleased, having won the Best Director Award at the San Sebastian Film Festival during The Wailing‘s premiere. Three women, separated by time and geography, are haunted by the same unseen entity accompanied by a horrific wailing.
Harvest (2024)
Based on Jim Crace’s 2013 novel, Anthina Rachel Tsangari’s feature follows a small medieval village whose inhabitants are struggling to comprehend mysterious vanishings, set across seven hallucinatory days. Performances by Caleb Landry Jones (X-Men: First Class), Harry Melling (Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone) and Rosy McEwen (Blue Jean) helped earn the film the Gold Hugo for Best Feature at the 2024 Chicago International Film Festival and the Audience Award in the International Competition at the Mannheim-Heidelberg International Film Festival.
Sorry, Baby (2025)
Agnes is a grad student who’s using sharp wit and intellectual detachment to process trauma following a sexual assault. Written, directed by and starring Eva Victor in her feature debut, it premiered at Sundance Film Festival 2025, where it won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award.
The Things You Kill (2025)
A grieving academic returns to Turkey and coerces his enigmatic gardener into executing revenge for his mother’s death in Alireza Khatami’s powerful film. It premiered at Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, scooping up the Directing Award for World Cinema Dramatic.
Deaf (2025)
Eva Libertad’s feature debut stars deaf actor Miriam Garlo as รngela, who struggles to connect with her hearing partner and newborn daughter. It’s a poignant portrayal of life in a hearing-dominated society, inspired by Eva’s real-life bond with her sister, lead actor Miriam. It picked up the Panorama Audience Award and CICAE Art Cinema Award when it premiered at Berlinale earlier this year.
Invention (2024)
Directed by Courtney Stephens and co-written and produced with lead actor Callie Hernandez, whose real-life father inspired the narrative, Invention follows a woman who inherits her father’s electromagnetic healing device. She navigates grief, belief and myth in contemporary America. The feature premiered and won the Best Performance โ Filmmakers of the Present award at the 2024 Locarno Film Festival.
Moon (2024)
Kurdwin Ayub directs this feature that premiered at last year’s Locarno Film Festival, where it won a Special Jury Prize. It follows Sarah, a former MMA fighter from Austria, who takes a job training three sheltered sisters in Jordan, uncovering unsettling realities along the way.
Ciao Bambino (2024)
Filmed entirely in black and white, Edgardo Pistone’s debut feature won Best First Film at the 2024 Rome Film Fest. Intergenerational debt, sexual exploitation, forced migration and the impact of poverty on youth in Naples’ criminal underworld are explored, as the audience watched 17-year-old Attilio become entangled with a Ukranian sex worker while trying to repay his father’s loan shark debts.
Hanami (2024)
Nana is a young girl growing up on the Cape Verdean island of Fogo after her mother emigrates. The debut feature by Denise Fernandes earned her the Best Emerging Director award at Locarno, and the Roger Ebert Award at Chicago International Film Festival.
True Stories
The Legend of the Vagabond Queen of Lagos (2024)
In this fictionalised account of the 2017 demolition of the Otodo-Gbame settlement in Lagos, a mother becomes entangled in a political struggle after discovering hidden money. The Agbajowo Collective premiered the feature film at TIFF 2024.
Sport
Racewalkers (2025)
Phil Moniz and Kevin Claydon have directed one of the first narrative features to centre on the racewalking sport. An eager outsider forms an unlikely friendship with a former baseball player who stumbles into competitive racewalking. Through their search for purpose through sport, resilience and male friendship are also explored.
Cinephile
Happyend (2024)
A coming-of-age story set in the near-future, Happyend follows high school friends during a time of increasing government surveillance and political unrest in Tokyo. Directed by Neo Sora, the film explores youth activism, resistance and friendship in a society that’s tightening control over personal freedoms. A ream of first-time actors stars in Sora’s fiction feature debut.
Islands (2025)
Set in a resort in Fuerterventura, former tennis pro becomes entangled in a suspected murder involving a tourist family. It’s the English-language debut of director Jan-Ole Gerster, who is known for A Coffee in Berlin (2013).
Diciannove (2024)
Dive into the restless angst of being 19, where uncertainty, impulsivity and self-doubt defin the messy path to adulthood. Starring newcomer Manfredi Marini as Leonardo, he handles the complexities of adulthood as he leaves his hometown in Palermo to study literature in London. It’s produced by Luca Guadagnino, known for Call Me by Your Name and Challengers.
Obex (2025)
Topics of media addiction, digital escapism and the dangers of living through screens are increasingly important as we become ever-more reliant on tech. Albert Birney uses physical, in-camera special effects, black and white cinematography and DIY animation to create a retro-futuristic world in his feature. Watch as a lonely man in 1987 Baltimore submits his image to a new computer game, only to be pulled into its digital realm to rescue his missing dog.
Lurker (2025)
Primetime Emmy Award-winner and The Bear writer Alex Russell makes his feature directorial debut with Lurker. A retail employee infiltrates the inner circle of a rising pop star in Los Angeles, blurring the lines between admiration, obsession and control.
DJ Ahmet (2025)
When a teenage shephers in rural North Macedonia discovers electronic dance music, rebellion against tradition and his strict father ensues. Its premiere at Sundance 2025 marked the feature debut of writer-director Georgi M Unkovski, who’s known for his award-winning short Sticker (2019). Lead actor Arif Jakup was discovered in the very village where the film was shot, following an extensive casting process that saw 3,000 young actors audition.
The Mohican (2024)
A Corsican goat herder refuses to sell his land to the mafia, leading to a deadly confrontation and island-wide manhunt. Les Misรฉrables star Alexis Manenti puts on a stellar performance, with his use of Corsican dialect earning him (and the film) high regard at last year’s Venice International Film Festival.
Eighty Plus (2025)
Veteran Serbian filmmaker ลฝelimir ลฝilnik is known for his Golden Bear-winning Early Works (1969)and Teddy Award-winning Marble Ass (1995). Returning with his 30th feature-length work, it is a cross-generational drama exploring history, restitution and personal legacy.
Milan Kovaฤeviฤ stars as an elderly jazz pianist who returns from Germany to reclaim his family estate, only to uncover long-buried secrets of land ownership, shifting regimes, and personal inheritance.
What Does That Nature Say To You (2025)
Following a poet’s uneasy visit to his girlfriend’s family home, repressed tensions and class anxieties are slowly revealed through Hong Sang-Soo’s exploration of South Korea’s youth. It was entirely shot, directed, edited and written by Hong Sang-Soo.
Mr Burton (2025)
Toby Jones (The Hunger Games & Captain America) stars as Philip Burton, the Welsh schoolteacher who mentored and legally adopted future screen legend Richard Burton, who’s played by Harry Lawtey (Joker: Folie ร Deux). Based on a true story, it made its theatrical debut in the UK and Ireland in April 2025.
Miroirs No. 3 (2025)
The fourth feature-length collaboration between director Christian Petzold and lead actress Paula Beer is a psychological thriller about an aspiring pianist, Laura, whose life is upended after surviving a car crash and entering the home of a family with unclear motives.
Saba (2024)
Inspired by real-life caregiving experiences, Maksud Hossain’s film highlights Bangladesh’s lack of disability infrastructure. Set in Dhaka, a young woman struggles to care for her paraplegic mother while working long hours to fund life-saving surgery. It was nominated for the Grand Prix at the Osaka Asian Film Festival earlier this year.
The Heart of a Muscle (2025)
After his son briefly goes missing during a barbecue, a Cape Town father is forced to confront long-buried secrets that threaten his relationships and sense of self. It is Imran Hamdulayโs debut feature as both writer and director, following his award-winning short The Wait.
Somebody (2024)
A psychological thriller exploring the complexities of motherhood, Somebody is co-directed by longtime collaborators Kim Yeo-jung and Lee Jung-chan, who adapted an original screenplay. It follows three women over a 20-year time span, examining the psychological fractures that emerge after a single motherโs daughter begins exhibiting disturbing behavior. K-pop idol-turned-actress Kwon Yu-ri (Girls’ Generation) stars in this tense narrative blending of horror, drama and psychological suspense.
Spirit World (2024)
Legendary French actress Catherine Deneuve stars as a French singer who meets a Japanese man, played by Masaaki Sakari, in the afterlife. They embark on a journey to find humanity in the after-world. Directed by Eric Khoo, it was nominated for Best Film at the 19th Rome Film Festival.
Listen to the Voices (2024)
Maxime Jean-Baptiste makes his feature debut with this film co-written with his sister, Audrey Jean-Baptiste. It follows a 13-year-old boy who, while spending summer with his grandmother in French Guiana, navigates grief, forgiveness and the impact of colonialism while the family mourns a relative’s murder. It blends fiction and documentary.
Stranger Eyes (2024)
Director Yeo Siew Hua presents the story of a couple in Singapore who receive unmarked DVDs containing surveillance footage of themselves, leading them into a tense psychological investigation. As the lines between observer and observed are blurred in modern society, questions of identity, privacy and human connection in an increasingly digitised world are raised.
It Ends (2025)
Alex Ullom’s feature debut premiered at SXSW Film Festival in March, in the Narrative Competition. It follows four college graduates trapped on a mysterious, endless road, encountering themes of existential anxiety, transition into adulthood and the pressure to find meaning in the future defined by uncertainty.
Late Shift (2025)
Set during one night, a nurse manages understaffing, student supervision and a range of critical patient cases while on an overnight shift in a Zurich hospital. It’s directed by Petra Volpe who’s known for The Divine Order, the Swiss entry for the 90th Academy Awards.
Olmo (2025)
Set in 1979 New Mexico, Olmo follows a 14-year-old boy balancing family responsibilities, a sick father and his desire for teenage freedom. Directed by Fernando Eimbcke (Lake Tahoe, SFF 2008), it’s the first micro-budget project from Plan B Entertainment, produced by Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner (Moonlight, 12 Years a Slave), alongside Michel Franco (New Order).
The Mother and the Bear (2024)
Award-winning Korean actor Kim Ho-Jung stars opposit Lee Won-Jae in this dramedy that follows a Korean mother who travels to snowy Winnipeg after her daughter falls into a comaโonly to catfish her in an online dating scheme.
Kontinental ’25 (2025)
Following its premiere at Berlin International Film Festival earlier this year, Radu Jude’s Kontinental will make its Australian debut at the Festival. Inspired by Roberto Rossellini’s Europe ’51, it follows a bailiff who spirals after a homeless man dies by suicide following her eviction order.
All That’s Left of You (2025)
Written, directed and starring Cherien Dabis, this film draws on personal and political histories to explore intergenerational trauma in one Palestinian family, spanning 75 years. Production began in Jericho but relocated to Cyprus and Greece following the October 2023 attacks and invasion of Gaza.
Pooja, Sir (2024)
Inspired by Nepal’s 2015 Madhesi protests against ethnic maginalisation under the new constitution, Deepak Rauniyar’s creation follows a queer policewoman while she investigates a kidnapping amid ethnic tensions in Nepal’s Madhesi community.
Seeds (2024)
Kaniehtiio Horn makes her feature directorial debut in Seeds, which she wrote, directed and stars in. It follows Ziggy, a Mohawk social media influencer who returns to her reservation and confronts a corporate threat to her family’s heirloom seeds. Blending horror, dark comedy and cultural commentary to explore Indigenous resistance, generational trauma and exploitation earned it a selection for TIFF’s annual Canada’s Top Ten List last year.
The Home (2025)
The second feature from director Mattias J Skoglund explores ageing, memory loss and generational divides, adapted from the novel Hemmet, by co-writer Mats Strandberg. A man who suspects a malevolent force has followed his mother from a near-death experience into her aged care facility.
Ari (2025)
Written and directed by Lรฉonor Serraille, whose 2017 debut feature Jeune Femme won the Camรฉra d’Or at Cannes, Ari is a character-driven portrait of a 27-year-old trainee teacher navigating burnout and a major breakup.
Twelve Moons (2025)
Sofia, a 40-year-old architect in Mexico City, confronts loss and societal pressure in the wake of a personal tragedy. It marks the directorial debut of Victoria Franco, whose other works include creative production on several films by her brother Michel Franco, including New Order and Sundown.
It Was Just An Accident (2025)
Details of Jafar Panahi’s production remain under wraps, but it’s described as a mystery sparked by a minor accidentโwith escalating consequences. It will premiere at Cannes Film Festival next week.
Enzo (2025)
Directed by Robin Campillo, Enzo is based on a script co-written with the late Laurent Cantet, marking one of their final collaborations. It follows a 16-year-old boy in southern France who defies his bourgeois upbringing by starting a masonry apprenticeship and forming a bond with a charismatic Ukrainian colleague.
The Love That Remains (2025)
Director Hlynur Pรกlmason captures a year in the life of a family in rural Iceland, as the parents separate and memories of love, loss and change unfold with the seasons.
I Shall See (2025)
The debut fiction from Mercedes Stalenhoef premiered at International Film Festival Rotterdam at the start of the year, and premieres in Australia at the Sydney Film Festival. It follows the difficult rehabilitation journey of 17-year-old Lot, a scuba diver who loses her sight in a fireworks accident.
Romeria (2025)
The third feature from Carla Simรณn, winner of the 2022 Berlinale Golden Bear, presents the story of 18-year-old Marina. Orphaned at a young age, she travels to meet her paternal grandparents for the first time and confronts a family history marked by addiction, illness and estrangement. Inspired by Simรณn’s own life, it continues her thematic exploration of family and grief, rounding out a trilogy that began with Summer 1993 and Alcarrร s.
Redux Redux (2025)
A woman hunts her daughter’s killer across multiple universes in Kevin McManus and Mathew McManus’s thrilling feature. She hopes to find a reality where her daughter is still alive.
The President’s Cake (2025)
Set in Iraq in 1991, the story follows a boy assigned to bring a birthday cake to a mandatory school celebration of Sadda Hussein’s birthdayโor he’ll face prison or death. It is the debut feature by Iraqi writer and director Hasan Hadi. It was filmed in Iraq’s southern marshes.
Daughter’s Daughter (2024)
Sylvia Chang, Golden Horse Award-winning actress, director and screenwriter whose career spans five decades, stars in Huang Xi’s confronting film about a woman who becomes guardian of her late daughterโs frozen embryo.
January 2 (2024)
Zsรณfia Szilรกgyi’s debut One Day (no, not that one) won the FIPRESCI Prize in 2018, so we can only hope for similar success from her second feature. January 2 follows two women navigating separation and uncertainty during a day spent moving home in Budapest.
BLKNVVS: Terms & Conditions (2025)
Visual artist and filmmaker Khalil Joseph is known for projects including Kendrick Lamar’s good kid, m.A.A.d city but has adapted his 2018 installation, BLKNWS, into a docu-fiction feature that explores Black history, activism and cultural identity. It’s his feature debut.
Come Closer (2024)
Tom Nesher, director and writer of Come Closer, was named one of Variety’s 2025 Directors to Watch, so take note. Inspired by the death of Nesher’s brother in a hit-and-run accident, the film follows a young woman who forms a complicated relationship with her late brother’s girlfriend.
My Father’s Shadow (2025)
When it premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival 2025, My Father’s Shadow became one of the first Nigerian feature films to premiere in-person at the festival. It follows two brothers spending a day with their estranged father in Lagos during the aftermath of Nigeria’s 1993 presidential election. It was pre-bought by MUBI for theatrical release in North America, the UK, Ireland and Turkey. Just in case you weren’t already convinced.
To Kill a Mongolian Horse (2025)
Jiang Xiaoxuan makes her feature debut with the film that she directed and wrote, based on the real-life experiences of her friend, Mongolian horseman, Saina. In the film, a herdsman becomes a horseback performer in a big to save his ranch.
Yunan (2025)
Filmmaker Ameer Fakher Eldine has planned a trilogy titled Homeland, and its first installment, The Stranger, was Palestineโs Oscar submission in 2021. The second instalment follows an exiled Middle Eastern writer who is seeking solitude on Germany’s Hallig Islands, where unexpected encounters reshape his plans for suicide.
Tiger’s Pond (2025)
Natesh Hendge’s Kannada-language feature film revolves around a businessman’s campaign in rural Karnataka, as it faces challenges of caste dynamics, a sexual assault cover-up and local opposition. It’s entirely shot on 16mm, influenced by India’s 1980s cinema movement.
Tรชtes Brรปlรฉes (2025)
This debut feature from Belgian-Tunisian filmmaker Maja-Ajmia Yde Zellama made its world premiere at the 2025 Berlinale, where it received a Special Jury Mention. Catch a screening at Sydney Film Festival to witness the story of a 12-year-old girl who processes the accidental shooting of her older brother through dance and community.
State of Statelessness (2024)
Four stories by Tibetan filmmakers living in exile are presented in this anthology feature, which is the first of its kind presented in Tibetan-language.
The Unshakeable Destiny Trilogy (2021-2025)
Director Nikki Lam’s modular trilogy reflects on grief, memory and cinema through the lens of Hong Kong’s political and cultural shifts. The final chapter of the trilogy will be premiered at Sydney Film Festival, following the unshakeable destiny__2102 and Reprise/Release, its predecessors.
Ancestral Visions of the Future (2025)
The latest feature from Lemohang Mosese (This Is Not a Burrial, It’s a Resurrection) is an experimental meditation on exile and belonging, blending autobiography, fiction and visual art with Lesotho’s post-colonial history. It includes a symbolic portrayal of Manthabiseng Mofokeng, a woman who was killed by a mob in 1991 after her child was caught shoplifting.
Sydney Film Festival 2025
When: Wednesday, June 4 until Sunday, June 15.
Where: Citywide, with participating venues including: State Theatre, Sydney Opera House, Art Gallery of NSW, Dendy Newtown, Sydney Town Hall, The Hub at Lower Town Hall, Ritz Cinemas Randwick, Palace Norton Street, Hayden Orpheum Cremorne, Palace Central Cinemas, Event Cinemas (George St), State Library of NSW and City Recital Hall.
Price: adult $26, concession/senior $22, youth (17 and under) $20. Flexipasses are also available from $195 for 10 tickets.
For more information, visit sff.org.au.
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Watch real-life couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie in Michael Shanks' debut film, which pairs humour with body horror.
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The three-day Sydney Underground Film Festival returns to Dendy Newtown this September, gearing up for another eccentric program of boundary-pushing cinema. Kicking off on September 12th, SUFF '24 will continue…
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Sydney Film Festival 2025: the country's best names in cinema will come to the Harbour City for 11 days in June. The full lineup has been released today and its…
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Sydney Writers Festival returns from May 19-25 2025. This year's theme is 'In This Together', uniting readers and writers. Festival highlights include Samantha Harvey, Colm Tรณibรญn and Marian Keyes. READ…
