Sydney Film Festival Is Back With 201 Films, New Venues and a Starry Opening Night

The Sydney Film Festival is back. For its 72nd edition, the festival organisers have turned out a massive program of 201 films from 70 countries – including 17 world premieres, six international premieres (first public screenings outside the country of origin) and 137 Australian debuts.

The program officially launched last week, revealing a line-up packed with global talent and local stories. The festival’s footprint also expands in 2025, with events at the iconic Sydney Opera House, the State Theatre and other cinemas across the city.

The festival opens with the Australian premiere of Together, a harrowing body horror drama starring real-life couple Alison Brie and Dave Franco. It’s a dazzling debut from Australian writer-director Michael Shanks.

A string of major awards will return this year, including the $60,000 Sydney Film Prize for the most “audacious, cutting-edge and courageous” film. Ten new Australian documentaries compete for the $20,000 Documentary Australia Award, which carries Oscar-qualifying potential. The $40,000 Sustainable Future Award – the largest environmental film prize in the world – is back to highlight powerful stories of ecological change. And the First Nations Award returns with the world’s largest cash prize ($35,000) for global Indigenous filmmaking. Films competing for this award include Emily: I Am Kam, a portrait of Anmatyerr artist Emily Kam Kngwarray, and The Haka Party Incident, which revisits a pivotal anti-racism protest in New Zealand.

Europe is coming to the table with 15 films on the program direct from the Cannes Film Festival. Other highlights include the return of Europe! Voices of Women in Film, a program of six features by women filmmakers exploring identity and belonging. Screenability, a program showcasing work by filmmakers living with disability, returns for a ninth year. This year’s selection includes Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore, a documentary about the Academy Award-winner’s career and activism, and Racewalkers, a sports comedy with grit.

With more program announcements to come, this year’s Sydney Film Festival promises a bold and diverse celebration of cinema from around the world.

Here are the Broadsheet team’s picks for the Sydney Film Festival 2025:

Blue Moon

I’ve been a fan of films where characters basically just sit around and talk about life and art ever since I saw My Dinner With Andre. Okay, it was the Community episode that parodied My Dinner With Andre, but hey, the point still stands. Blue Moon, which I’ve jagged myself some tickets to, looks like another rich addition to the dialogue-heavy this-could-have-been-a-play movie genre. Or I could be completely wrong, and it could be completely different to what I’m expecting. That’s why we go to the movies, I guess!
– Callum McDermott, Hot List editor

An Evening With Warren Ellis

As a Dirty Three and Bad Seeds tragic, An Evening with Warren Ellis is my top pick. I could listen to the legendary Australian multi-instrumentalist talk about the grass growing and I’d still find it interesting. Instead, I'll get to hear him talk about his incredible life in music and Ellis Park, a new documentary about the wildlife sanctuary he co-founded in Sumatra, Indonesia. Plus, he’s playing an intimate solo set for the hell of it. Rock on.
– Dan Cunningham, acting food and drink features editor

Farming the Revolution

Any movie by Nishtha Jain is an instant favourite of mine. I was in year 2 watching Gulabi Gang and I absolutely fell in love with the cast of fabulous brown women. Over a decade later, in year 2 of uni, Jain came out with Farming the Revolution. I’m keen to check it out as part of the festival. I know it's going to be a riot!
– Bineeta Saha, editorial intern

My Father’s Shadow

I was initially drawn to My Father’s Shadow when I saw it was the first Nigerian film in the Cannes Official Selection. Looking further into it, I discovered director Akinola Davies Jr features his actual family within the film and set the story in the city he grew up in. I first heard of Davies Jr from his amazing work on the winter Gucci campaign, so I'm keen to see what he does on the big screen and how he captures his home city.
– Gabriella Dolfo, sales and partnership editor

The Mastermind

You know those insufferable people who won’t shut up about how they knew a band or an actor before they made it big? That’s me when it comes to Josh O’Connor. Before The Crown, before Challengers, I was a card-carrying O’Connor fan from The Durrells days. I’ve snagged tickets to see my boy Josh in The Mastermind, a ’70s art heist drama directed by Kelly Reichardt. If all of those Oceans movies have taught us anything – I think they’re up to Oceans 85? – it’s that there’s nothing more engaging and entertaining than a heist. I’m keen to see if he pulls off the job – and just to see my old mate Josh on the screen again.
– Lucy Bell Bird, national assistant editor

www.sff.org.au/
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