Must-see movies at this year's Sydney Film Festival
Exams are near, but taking the odd break from the books is actually good for you. So use that excuse and 听grab your popcorn and tickets to the Sydney Film Festival. From 6鈥�17 June, this year鈥檚 festival will showcase 250 films from 65 countries covering the gamut of genres with LGBTIQ, Australian, international documentaries, horror, restored classics, virtual reality, short films, and more.
As a festival partner Sydney Uni will be well represented, with our very own academics sharing their cinematic knowledge and presenting the weird and wonderful 鈥樷�� horror program (check out the Spotify playlist if you want to study to something a little different). Plus, a team of film studies students will be on the ground to create the Sydney Film Festival 2018 Dossier, compiling interviews with leading directors, critics and other industry big-hitters.
And you can get involved too, with special discount tickets (details below), and some must-see recommendations from our big screen guru, Dr Bruce Isaacs.
1.听
Straight from the Cannes competition, Spike Lee鈥檚 inventive, funny and angry听Black KkKlansman听tells the remarkable true story of an African-American cop who successfully infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan.
Bruce:听鈥淎fter the Cannes reception,听Black KkKlansman听is definitely number one for me. Lee鈥檚 output is a bit erratic, but he鈥檚 certainly a provocative filmmaker, and this is seriously provocative material.鈥�
2.听
Christian Petzold鈥檚 (Barbara, SFF 2012;听Phoenix, SFF 2015) wartime love story between World War II refugees is daringly set in contemporary Marseille.
Bruce:听鈥淚 loved Petzhold鈥檚 2012 film,听Barbara, and听Transit听looks a similarly enthralling meditation on the effects of political systems on individuals.鈥�
听
3.听
Nine of the world鈥檚 best genre filmmakers tell creepy tales drawn from folklore in the spine-tingling new anthology from听The ABCs of Death听producers Ant Timpson and Tim League 鈥� and it鈥檚 showing down the road at student-friendly Dendy Newtown.
Bruce:听鈥淚 love horror in all its guises, and this film investigates that genre from different perspectives, tones and points of view.鈥�
4.听
This astonishing masterpiece 鈥� about the inter-connected lives of four people desperate to leave their Chinese town 鈥� is tinged with tragedy: the director Hu Bo took his own life before it was released.
Bruce:听鈥淎 highly anticipated film from Hu Bo, this is a film in the tradition of slow cinema, with a philosophical approach to the world and cinema that should be a challenging, mesmerizing experience.鈥�
5.听
Direct from Cannes, Oscar-winning filmmaker Kevin Macdonald鈥檚 (Marley, SFF 2012) unflinching and honest portrait of a rare talent, Whitney Houston, told by those closest to her.
Bruce:听鈥淚鈥檓 obsessed with music documentaries at the moment, and I remember as a young child in the mid-80s, Whitney鈥檚 鈥楾he Greatest Love of All鈥� being something of an anthem for the times.鈥�
Dr Bruce Isaacs and recent PhD graduate Dr Olivia Oliver-Hopkins will chat with guest programmer Richard Kuipers for the panel discussion听听on 16 June at Dendy Newtown.听 They鈥檒l debate and defend their love of horror cinema before the screening of Ant Timpson鈥檚 new film听.
听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听听
A limited number of discount tickets are available for students 鈥� email听fass.communications@sydney.edu.au听for details.
The Sydney Film Festival is held from 6 鈥� 17 June across the CBD and greater Sydney. The University of Sydney is an Education Partner of the 2018 Sydney Film Festival.