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All About YouFestivals Of JoyNewsletterOn the Screen

All About You: The Irresistible Sydney Film Festival Selections For Your Star Sign

There's over 200 films in the festival - so where to begin? and what is irresistible ? We've got you covered with our top picks that you can still book and that will resonate with your astrological frequency.

June 1, 2025
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Sundance, SXSW, Berlinale, Cannes.. all just precursors to one of the biggest film festivals in the Southern Hemisphere- Sydney Film.

The programme is enormous, with, as usual, well over 200 films being screened. Even so, many screenings have already, and will continue to, sell out. 

We’ve chosen 12 films that still have tickets available from this years’ line up. As if that wasn’t handy enough, we’ve astrologically aligned the films so that you can be sure you’re totally vibrationally in tune with your deepest darkest desires. 

Aries (Mar21- Apr19)

Key Traits: Fiery, passionate, determined, brave.

This seasons theme for you: Reckoning & renewal.

Your current vibration: Fierce honesty meets quiet reinvention.

You need : Action with heart.

Irresistible Sydney Film Festival Selection for Aries to Watch : SEEDS

In this Canadian comedy-thriller, a rising Indigenous social media influencer sees a dream gig take a dark turn, as she’s pulled into a fierce fight for survival on a trip home.
 
The fierce and funny directorial debut from actor Kaniehtiio Horn (Reservation Dogs, Possessor), also the film’s writer and star, follows Ziggy, a Kahnawake Mohawk woman in Toronto. An influencer on the rise, she’s excited to land her first big gig – even if it’s promoting a fertiliser company. When family calls her back to the rez, she discovers what the company’s really after: a special kind of seed passed down through her family for generations. What follows is a bold, spunky, and stylish high-stakes chase with a corporate goon, with a killer soundtrack. Blending satire, suspense and Indigenous storytelling, Seeds is a refreshingly original thriller that asks: how far would you go to protect what roots you?

Taurus (Apr20-May20)

Key Traits: Kind, generous, loyal, patient

This seasons theme for you: Grounding & growth.

Your current vibration: Earthy elegance meets intellectual curiosity.

You need : Untarnished romance 

Irresistible Sydney Film Festival Selection for Taurus to Watch : DJ AHMET

Charming, funny and uplifting, this Sundance Audience Award-winner tells the story of a 15-year-old North Macedonian boy who finds refuge in dance music and in first love.
 
Ahmet and his brother Naim are growing up in a family scarred by grief in a remote village, conservative as it is superstitious. The boys’ stern father has no qualms forcing Ahmet to work on the family sheep farm rather than let him go to school, whilst he takes his little brother Naim, silent since his mother’s death, to a suspect healer. Into this grim reality enters the beautiful Aya, who has returned from Germany in order to enter an arranged marriage. When Ahmet discovers a secret rave he is immediately transfixed by the music, and by Aya, and sees a path to a more joyous and free life. Says director Georgi M. Unkovski: “I wanted to explore the delicate balance between tradition and self-expression, particularly within a small, close-knit community The film delves into the challenges of growing up in a traditional setting while simultaneously discovering one’s own identity. I was fascinated by the tension that arises when individual desires clash with the expectations of the collective.” With a mostly non-professional cast, Unkovski has made an authentic, jubilant feature debut about art’s liberating power.

Gemini (May21-Jun20)

Key Traits: Independent, curious, charming, easygoing.

This seasons theme for you: Expansion & expression

Your current vibration: Curious intellect meets transformative growth

You need : Mystery and films about twins 

Irresistible Sydney Film Festival Selection for Gemini to Watch : TWINLESS

Dylan O’Brien and director and co-star James Sweeney shine in this queer bromance comedy about two grieving twins. An ingenious, unpredictable, and hilarious crowd favourite from Sundance.
 
Equal parts darkly funny and melancholic, the less you know going into Sweeney’s slippery narrative the better. Roman (O’Brien, The Maze Runner) returns to his hometown for the funeral of his identical twin, Rocky. Rocky was extroverted, intelligent, gay, and adored by many – Roman’s exact opposite. Untethered from his other half, Roman finds support in the form of a twin bereavement group. It’s here that he sparks an instant connection with Dennis (Sweeney), who reminds him of his late brother. A friendship for the ages, the chemistry between Dennis and Roman has an almost too familial quality to it. Unlike anything before it, this duplicitous gem will have you gagging in your seat. No spoilers!

Cancer (Jun21-Jul22)

Key Traits: Compassionate, sentimental, protective, full of feelings.

This seasons theme for you: Emotional depth & healing

Your current vibration: Soft power with a razor-sharp edge

You need : Heartfelt growth, and touching courage.

Irresistible Sydney Film Festival Selection for Cancer to Watch : THE PRESIDENT’S CAKE

Winner, Caméra d’Or, Cannes 2025. A rare film from Iraq, this Cannes Director’s Fortnight selected charmer is a humorous and touching debut about a young girl’s daring quest to bake a cake in the time of Saddam Hussein.
 
It’s 1990 and Iraq, under the iron fist of Saddam Hussein, is suffering under sanctions. Extreme poverty is on the rise; there are shortages of medicine and food. Despite the circumstances, it’s still required that all Iraqis celebrate the president’s birthday, or face the consequences. An unlucky classroom draw finds nine-year-old Lamia given the unenviable task of baking the birthday cake for her class. Accompanied by grandmother, Lamia departs her home in the marshes for the big city, to procure the ingredients for the dreaded cake – a task that takes on unexpectedly grave importance. Beautifully shot and acted, and with a keen sense of time and place The President’s Cake makes for an exhilarating adventure.

Leo (Jul23-Aug22)

Key Traits: Charismatic, dramatic, confident, ready for a laugh.

This seasons theme for you: Self-expression & creativity

Your current vibration: Spotlight ready — but with deeper resonance

You need : A musical with smarts

Irresistible Sydney Film Festival Selection for Leo to Watch : THE END

 

Tilda Swinton and Michael Shannon star in Joshua Oppenheimer’s (The Act of Killing, SFF 2013) daring narrative debut – a post-apocalyptic musical about the last family on earth.
 
Deep underground, in a compound inside a salt mine, a nameless wealthy family and their close friends and servants live a seemingly cheery life. Mum (Swinton) fusses over her fine art collection. Dad (Shannon), a former oil baron, reminisces fondly, but maybe a little defensively, about his life and work before the environmental collapse – while Son (George MacKay), too young to remember, writes up his father’s romanticised stories as a memoir. When a young woman (Moses Ingram) shows up unexpectedly, an infatuated Son starts to question the family narrative. This Toronto-selected genre concoction blends dystopian love story with unsettling musical numbers and a cutting satire of privilege and denial.

Virgo (Aug23-Sept22)

Key Traits: Down-to-earth, practical, organised, helpful.

This seasons theme for you: Refinement & reimagination

Your current vibration: Disciplined magic with an undercurrent of wildness

You need : Documentary heroes

Irresistible Sydney Film Festival Selection for Virgo to Watch : 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.
 
Pavel “Pasha” Talankin loves his job as a teacher in the small Russian town of Karabash – until his country invades Ukraine. He is outraged by the new government propaganda in the curriculum, not to mention the school’s being used as a military recruitment ground. In class, Pasha finds ways to playfully protest the regime; more crucially, he becomes a whistleblower, secretly filming the alarming shifts under the guise of his work as school videographer. He risks his life to send the footage overseas to filmmaker David Borenstein – while also planning his own escape. Winner of Sundance’s World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Prize, this hugely daring and noble collaboration is one of the strongest docs of the year.

Libra (Sept23-Oct22)

Key Traits: Romantic, full of ideas, outgoing, charming.

This seasons theme for you: Balancing acts & bold steps

Your current vibration: Airy optimism meets grounded strategy.

You need : Comedy with a twist.

Irresistible Sydney Film Festival Selection for Libra to Watch : SPLITSVILLE

In this rollicking romantic comedy, writers Michael Angelo Covino and Kyle Marvin (The Climb) act alongside Dakota Johnson and Adria Arjona. A sparky, surprising take on the pleasures and perils of open relationships from Cannes.
 
Not long into their marriage, Ashley (Arjona) informs Carey (Marvin) that she wants a divorce, and has in fact already been seeing other people. He is utterly devastated. Seeking solace, Carey repairs to the luxurious house of his best friend Paul (Covino) and his wife Julie (Johnson). The happily married Paul and Julie reveal the secret of their longevity: having an open relationship. Carey is surprised, then titillated – and soon he initiates an intense sexual relationship with Julie, to her husband’s utter rage. The hilarious, extended fight scene that ensues is sure to go down in cinematic lore. As the two couples deal with their new realities, Splitsville takes unpredictable, joyous and moving paths. With winning performances by the leads, and a fabulous and very funny turn by Nicholas Braun (Succession) as a melancholic mentalist, this is a witty, stylish and risqué rom-com about sex and love in modern times.

Scorpio (Oct23-Nov21)

Key Traits: Mysterious, powerful, fearless, magnetic

This seasons theme for you: Depth & disturbance

Your current vibration: Still waters run wild.

You need : A raunchy funny thriller.

Irresistible Sydney Film Festival Selection for Scorpio to Watch : THE SECRET AGENT

Sydney Film Prize winner for Aquarius (SFF 2016), Kleber Mendonça Filho returns with his Cannes Competition entry – a rousing and tense political thriller starring Wagner Moura (Narcos; Praia do Futuro, SFF 2014). Winner of Best Actor, Best Director and the International Critic’s Prize (Fipresci) at Cannes 2025.
 
Brazil, 1977. It is a “time of spite” for the country as the harsh military dictatorship imposes increasingly draconian measures on the population. Marcelo (Moura), a university professor, is on the run from the regime and takes refuge in Recife, where he hopes to reunite with his son. There, during the week of the Carnaval, he finds a safe haven with a group of outsiders, and takes on an assumed identity. But Marcelo can’t forget that he’s a wanted man – and soon enough he feels the tentacles of the state closing in on him. With all the tension of the best political thrillers, Mendonça Filho brings his trademark melange of styles (and his deep cinephilia) to the picture. The Secret Agent involves body horror, wicked humour, and eroticism, all playing out to a typically tremendous soundtrack. In this detailed, vibrant and expansive portrait of tumultuous time in Brazil’s history – filled with unforgettable, brave characters – Mendonça Filho has made an intoxicating film that is powerfully resonant with our times.

Sagittarius (Nov22-Dec21)

Key Traits: Dreaming, optimistic, ready- to- roam, free-spirited

This seasons theme for you: Expansion with edges

Your current vibration: Wild-hearted but strategic

You need : Adventure pushing past frontiers.

Irresistible Sydney Film Festival Selection for Sagittarius to Watch : REDUX REDUX

Direct from its hit SXSW premiere comes this mind-bending sci-fi horror about a mother who travels across the multiverse to repeatedly take revenge on her daughter’s killer.
 
Though Irene has killed her daughter’s murderer countless times in countless parallel universes, her grief and despair will not go away. Drowning in an addictive, soul-destroying cycle of violent retribution, Irene finds her perspective shifts when she accidentally rescues at-risk teen runaway Mia. The duo’s portal-hopping, time-travelling road trip is brilliantly conceptualised and ferociously executed by filmmaking twins Kevin and Matthew McManus (The Block Island Sound). Opening with a bang and never letting up, this dazzling multidimensional thriller has a powerful emotional core and features dynamite performances by Michaela McManus and amazing newcomer Stella Marcus. It’s a ride to remember remember.

Capricorn (Dec22-Jan19) 

Key Traits: Traditional, disciplined, ambitious, independent

This seasons theme for you: Purpose & redefinition

Your current vibration: Concrete dreams, built with bare hands

You need : A slice of history

Irresistible Sydney Film Festival Selection for Capricorn to Watch : SELENA Y LOS DINOS

Winner of a Special Jury Award at Sundance and a SXSW Audience Award, this showstopper reignites the Selena phenomenon through incredible, never-before-seen family archives.
 
Along with her family band, Los Dinos, Selena Quintanilla rose from humble beginnings to sold-out stadiums. In a career cut tragically short by her murder in 1995, age just 23, the Billboard-topping Tejano pop star blazed a trail for Latino artists including J.Lo – who played Selena to acclaim in the 1997 biopic – and Bad Bunny. In Isabel Castro’s moving documentary portrait, we witness Selena’s dazzling stage presence and also meet the warm young woman behind the icon. The personal archive footage, beautifully curated by Castro, sits alongside reflections from Selena’s family, who open up for the first time in a documentary, retracing their rise and honouring her enduring legacy. A must-see for fans and newcomers alike.

Aquarius (Jan20-Feb18)

Key Traits: Humanitarian, eccentric, individualistic, cool

This seasons theme for you: Disruption & reinvention

Your current vibration: Anarchic genius in soft tailoring

You need : A cause, and. to be surrounded by water

Irresistible Sydney Film Festival Selection for Aquarius to Watch : 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.
 
With Hurricane Ida approaching, Howard and Juliette Brunet, the last teenagers left on the Isle de Jean Charles in Louisiana, reckon with looming displacement from their beloved family home. Director Sandra Winther returns to the Deep South wetlands to expand upon her SXSW-selected 2019 short documentary: back in 2019, the forced re-location of the entire community was an impending threat on the horizon, but in just a short few years the island has deteriorated to the point where human habitation is impossible. Remaining focused on the Brunets, who are increasingly distressed by the island’s accelerated disappearance, Winther is keenly, poetically attuned to the fact that Howard and Juliette’s loss is the world’s.

Pisces (Feb19-Mar20)

Key Traits: Creative, easy-going, reliable, tuned in.

This seasons theme for you: Softness & strategy

Your current vibration: Dreamer with deadlines

You need : Fantasy fuelled trip

Irresistible Sydney Film Festival Selection for Pisces to Watch : THE BLUE TRAIL

This 2025 Berlinale Grand Jury Prize-winning delight from Gabriel Mascaro (Neon Bull, SFF 2016) sees a remarkable woman try to evade a dystopian fate via a grand Amazonian quest.
 
The near future. Having lived her 77 years in a small Brazilian town, Tereza (Denise Weinberg) receives a government order to relocate to a senior housing colony – a place from which no one has ever returned. But before agreeing, Tereza decides to fulfil a long-held dream to fly on a plane. Unable to buy a ticket for a flight but undeterred, she hitches a boat ride with skipper Cadu (Rodrigo Santoro, Love Actually), who introduces Tereza to the psychedelic use of a rare blue snail. Her transformative journey through the Amazon’s rivers and tributaries becomes a mind- and destiny-altering one. Says Mascaro: “I wanted to create an interplay between the lyrical and the playful – a post-tropical delirium that blurs the line between dystopia and fantasy.” With its stunning imagery, Mascaro’s unforgettable, anti-authoritarian fable is filled with surprises, delight and magic.

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