The announcements keep coming for the second edition of South by Southwest (SXSW) Sydney. Heartbreak High’s Ayesha Madon, Bogota-based psychedelic funk trio Balthvs and Sydney singer-songwriter Total Tommy were among the first batch of talent announced in May, followed by a whopping 500-plus speakers and performers added last week. Now the Screen Program has been announced.

The original conference in Austin is synonymous with cinema, so it’s no surprise the Sydney iteration is following suit with an exciting line-up for its 2024 Screen Festival.

Camera d’Or winner and celebrated Australian director Warwick Thornton (The New Boy, Samson and Delilah, Sweet Country) is doing a live director’s commentary session for one of his acclaimed features, while award-winning composer and musician Jed Kurzel (Monkey Man, The Babadook, Alien: Covenant) does similar with a live composer’s commentary on scoring opening sequences for films. Film producer Josey McNamara of Lucky Chap will be discussing the production company’s recent flicks, including Barbie, Saltburn and Promising Young Woman, and Brave director Mark Andrews will chat about his upcoming projects at indie animation house Floating Rock.

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The broader industry program includes sessions such as From Animatores to Entrepreneurs, which features two co-founders of New Zealand-based computer graphics company Floating Rock; a roundtable discussion from the team at Ausfilm on the portrayal of women in VFX and animation; the festival’s inaugural 90-Minute Film School, presenting crash courses in five areas of the industry; Distribution on the Fringes, which looks at three local distributors who cater to niche interests; and a roundtable with local filmmakers who’ve presented at SXSW Austin.

There are also one-on-one mentorship events and larger lecture-style sessions as part of the inaugural screen mentorship program, which gives emerging and mid-career filmmakers access to some of the world’s best in their fields. And continuing from last year, the popular filmmaker meet-ups and Screen Breakfasts make a comeback.

Still to be announced on the screen program are film premieres and industry sessions – keep your eyes peeled for more events to come.

SXSW Sydney takes place October 14–20, 2024. Tickets are now on sale.

sxswsydney.com