There are so many highlights to choose from, but as usual Sydney Film Festival excels in securing films that have recently played at other top tier festivals and that still have all the buzz. As Cannes Film Festival has only just finished, some films will be screening in Sydney for just their second outing, and so local audiences can find themselves well ahead of the curve as the next awards cycle begins.
A healthy prize pot is presided over by a stellar Official Competition jury which includes Brazilian director Kleber Mendonça Filho (The Secret Agent, SFF 2026), Hungarian filmmaker Ildikó Enyedi (On Body and Soul, SFF 2017), Singaporean filmmaker Boo Junfeng (Apprentice), Australian cinematographer Ari Wegner (The Power of the Dog), and Australian First Nations producer and director Sally Riley (Mystery Road).
THE AI DOC: OR HOW I BECAME AN APOCALOPTIMIST
ÁRRU
Director Elle Sofe Sara’s debut feature unfolds in the stark beauty of Sápmi in the northern part of the Scandinavian Peninsula, where reindeer herder Maia (Sara Marielle Gaup Beaska) is forced to confront a mining project encroaching on her ancestral lands. As protests against the operation intensify, the return of Maia’s long-absent uncle reopens old family wounds, forcing Maia into an impossible reckoning between kinship and survival. Weaving together grounded drama with bursts of traditional song and movement, the film draws on Sámi cultural expression to explore inherited trauma, resilience and connection to the land. A fierce and cathartic tale about breaking one’s silence to do the right thing.
SILENCED
This post #MeToo documentary reveals how defamation laws are weaponised to silence survivors. Featuring human rights lawyer Jennifer Robinson, Amber Heard and Brittany Higgins. Premiered: Berlinale
Courtroom footage and behind-the-headlines interviews reveal how the legal system is being used to victimise, discredit and ruin survivors, and journalists reporting on their stories. From Amber Heard in London to journalist Catalina Ruiz-Navarro in Colombia, and Brittany Higgins in our own backyard, women globally face a new kind of silencing at the hands of perpetrators of sexual violence. It’s a legal backlash Australian Jennifer Robinson is committed to fighting, inspired by her grandmother who was also a survivor. With unrivalled access, Selina Miles (Martha: A Picture Story, SFF 2019) challenges the flaws in the justice system that make this silencing possible, while revealing the cost to those who speak up.
BEN’IMANA
Rwanda, 2012. For some, the 1994 genocide against the Tutsis is something best left in the past. But the repercussions of the violence are felt everyday by survivors who were targeted in the carnage. After years of silence, people’s courts are being established, aimed at achieving both justice and reconciliation. Though there is a great deal of resistance, in the Kibeho district, survivor Veneranda (Clémentine U. Nyirinkindi, excellent) is committed to the process and even organises discussions between the families of victims and perpetrators – a vivid reminder that they still live side by side, just as they did prior to the genocide. These attempts at reconciliation are tense, as some characterise the genocidal violence as mere ‘misbehaviour’. As one of the survivors pointedly says: “I’m tired of being asked to forgive all the time. As if I carry around a bag full of forgiveness.” Into this febrile atmosphere, Veneranda receives the news that her teenaged daughter, Tina, a source of much pride and promise, is pregnant, and this forces her to confront her own past. Though tackling humanity at its worst, the extraordinary Ben’Imana ultimately shows a path forward to healing and peace.
BOSS CAT
TENOR: MY NAME IS PATI
NO GOOD MEN
In this sparkling political romantic comedy from Afghanistan, a camerawoman disillusioned with love is surprised to find herself drawn to the country’s leading journalist. Premiered: Berlinale
Directed by and starring Shahrbanoo Sadat (Wolf and Sheep, SFF 2017), No Good Men is set in Kabul in the time leading up to the Taliban’s return to power in 2021. In this period of great political uncertainty and peril, Naru (Sadat) the sole camerawoman at Kabul’s main TV station must deal with a personal crisis. Having left her cheating, abusive husband, she struggles against the odds to gain custody of her young son. Add to that the sexism Naru endures in the workplace and in the course of her duties, it is little wonder she feels strongly that there are “no good men” left in Afghanistan. When she is diverted to a serious news story, rather than the ‘female content’ usually foisted upon her, she works with Qodrat (Anwar Hashimi), Kabul TV’s top journalist. While their initial interactions are guarded, the two soon find in each other something alluring. But the backdrop is anything but romantic as the Taliban encroach, and it seems the window of freedom for journalists, women and civil society is about to be sharply shut. Adeptly playing with rom-com conventions, while conveying the sheer terror of a society on the brink of tumult, Sadat has made a film as daring as it is delightful.
PALESTINE 36
PROPER LOVED UP SHORTS
REPLICA
MINOTAUR
PAPER TIGER
