Jenny Neighbour has been part of the fabric of the Sydney Film Festival for a long time, and equally critical to the success of the films and the filmmakers she has championed. Irresistible had the chance to sit down with Neighbour just before she dived into her last festival as the Head of Programs and Documentary Programmer. Neighbour scored her first job at Sydney Film Festival in 1989, starting out as an assistant to the then Director and CEO Paul Byrnes. She was able to start focussing on curatorial roles in 2000 and never looked back. Neighbour also took the lead on and was particularly proud of the First Nations programme, as well as being closely involved with the Retrospective and Special Focus strands. Last year she was awarded the 2023 NSW/ ACT Cinema Pioneer of the Year award from The Society of Australian Cinema Pioneers, who recognised her extraordinary contributions to Australian cinema and Sydney audiences, and prior to that in 2019, she was honoured with the Independent Spirit Award by the Australian Independent Distributors Association. Jenny has been the secret weapon of five SFF Directors; Paul Byrnes, Gayle Lake, Lynden Barber, Clare Stewart and until now, Nashen Moodley. She told Irresistible she has loved it just as much as the first day she started.
“Film is an art form which reaches into one of the broadest demographics,” she told Irresistible. “It can be on every high street, in every home, in every language. Everybody has a way in.”
Neighbour hadn’t been in Australia long when she applied for the position at Sydney Film, having worked on some touring exhibitions first, including the 1988 Gold of the Pharaohs show, which brought antiquities over direct from Cairo to Australia. She had arrived from London and a Goldsmiths College Fine Arts degree, but she immediately found her home in the film world, juggling multiple responsibilities in a skeleton crew, from the terrace house in the Inner- West suburb of Glebe that was then the Festival Headquarters. In those days film really meant film, digital didn’t exist, and there were the logistical and physical and cost issues associated with actually getting a reel of film into a projector or a VHS tape into a machine, and without email, deals had to be done on the phone, a fax machines, or the long- lost Telex. There was a in-between phase when the digital world was just being born when products like BetaCam and DigiBeta films came along, often producing out of sync and low quality output that was more than a headache to put on in a festival.
Now everything is just a click away, and although the power of the streaming platforms means that theatrical runs can be a lot shorter than they used to be, Neighbour has been happy that the films are still being watched by more people than maybe they would have reached otherwise. “An audience is an audience,’ she said. But she loves the magic that happens when a lot of people are concentrating on the same thing at the same moment in a theatre. “It’s like you’ve found your tribe,’ she said, “and there’s an energy in the room- I can feel it.” It’s also an opportunity for her to catch an immediate review by picking up what people are saying in the auditorium, and as they drift out into the foyer. “Everyone takes something away with them,” she said, “which is what’s it’s all about.”
The importance of the Festival circuit, and the ability to bring movies to Sydney that might not otherwise be seen was paramount to Jenny throughout her career, and she has spent months and months over the years watching films via their highly protected pre- release screening links way before the rest of us. She hit the international festivals whenever she could, to source films and to promote Sydney overseas. Part of the trust and respect that the international community have for Sydney Film Festival is not least because they know Jenny is a safe pair of hands. She has been on the jury for AIDC, and the Cork Film Festival, and in 2018 the AACTA Best Indie Film Grand Jury.
This year the festival programme was as strong as ever, thanks to Jenny’s curatorial prowess. 69 countries were represented and a vast range of important topics were covered from a broad and diverse range of filmmakers. She’s especially proud of having a real conversation in the festival about sustainability, that there was such as buzz about the First Nations Prize, and that really strong voices from New Zealand featured, as well as all the big hitters straight from Cannes. The documentaries were always her passion project, and this year the field felt very strong to her, and she’ll have made sure a great selection are included in the Travelling Film Festival which will hit the road later in the year.
Her belief in the ability of film to change hearts and minds and bring people together, to break down societal barriers, to tell stories that need to be heard, and to provide a lifeboat to everyone in times of trouble, has carried Neighbour throughout her career and she’s certainly left Sydney Film Festival the better for it. Future festival organisers and audiences have a lot to thank her for. At the closing ceremony, Neighbour mentioned she’s looking forward to simply being in the audience next year, but it’s unlikely she’ll have stopped listening for instant reviews. So next year, when you’re leaving a Sydney Film Festival screening, make sure you’re giving an intelligent, well- sourced, and thoughtful review with plenty of cross- cultural references, not just complaining about the queue for the loo. You never know, Jenny Neighbour might just be listening.
Very interesting details, appreciate it
Thanks.