Take your seat! After two years in the making, Sydney Film Festival hits the cinemas in one month’s time – the first major festival to reopen in Sydney post lockdown. 

Between 3–14 November the Festival screens more than 200 highly anticipated films from around the world. Epic stories, intimate tales, dramas and documentaries hit nine cinemas across Sydney. Plus an On Demand program from 12–21 November. Book now and travel the world, with a choc top and popcorn in hand! 

The best value for money is to buy a Flexipass for 10, 20 or 30 tickets – save between $45 and $195 and share the tickets with your friends and family – or just keep them all for yourself.

Dive into the program on the SFF website or download the SFF 2021 app on the App Store and Google Play. 

There are many ways to explore the line-up: search on the website by Program Strand, Date, Venue, Genre, or Language, or let Natalie Tran walk you through her picks! 
 

"This year’s 68th Sydney Film Festival arrives at a historic and celebratory time for the city, as we come together again with people we have desperately missed, and in the places we yearn to return to – cinemas!”

“The Festival selection brings together some of the best films of the last two years; extraordinary works from major award-winners to some of the most anticipated films of the year."
– Nashen Moodley, Festival Director
 

 

THE OFFICIAL COMPETITION IS HEATING UP! 

Screening in competition this year for the Sydney Film Prize and a $60,000 bounty are the new films by Céline Sciamma (Petite Maman, selected for competition in Berlinale 2021); Christian Petzold (Undine, starring Paula Beer) and Paolo Sorrentino (The Hand of God). 

Plus Leah Purcell's riveting period Western drama (The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson), Jasmila Žbanić's gripping Oscar-nominated thriller Quo Vadis, Aida? and previous Sydney Film Prize winner Ildikó Enyedi's The Story of My Wife — and more. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

AUSTRALIAN CINEMA
 

From the Opening Night celebration of Western Sydney in Here Out West, to father-and-son road trip Bosch & Rockit, to rousing documentary Araatika: Rise Up!, these are the many stories of Australia on film.

 

 

EUROPE! VOICES OF WOMEN IN FILM

 
The program showcases the top and emerging women filmmakers from Europe, and will take you from the French Alps to Albania’s mountainous north and beyond. Having screened in our living rooms in 2020, it returns to cinemas this year with a selection of exhilarating new features and documentaries, as well as in our On Demand program.

 

ON DEMAND
 

This year SFF presents On Demand, an online program of 69 features, documentaries and short films. 
Catch unmissable Festival highlights including Todd Stephens’ Swan Song (starring screen legend Udo Kier), 2020 Berlinale Golden Bear winner There is No Evil, and Like the Wind – a celebration of Australian cinematographer Christopher Doyle. 

 

FREAK ME OUT

 
Take a walk on the thrilling side with the dark and delicious Censor, a Sundance hit from Prano Bailey-Bond; join the Aussie undead in outback zombie horror Wyrmwood Apocalypse; head to South African jungle hell with Gaia; and beyond.

 

SHORT FILMS

 
A stellar line-up of short films from Australia and around the globe. Don't miss the Dendy Awards for Australian Short Films, three exceptional Screenability titles, and shorts from Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami.