The Sydney Film Festival has revealed its full line up for its 2025 festival. The 72nd Sydney Film Festival unveiled its exceptional line-up including 15 films direct from Cannes including Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just An Accident and Kelly Reichardt’s 1970’s heist film The Mastermind. The festival also features Tom Hiddleston’s The Life of Chuck, Dreams (Sex Love) which won the Berlinale Golden Bear and Daisy Edgar-Jones and Jacob Elordi On Swift Horses and Australian director Amy Wang’s SXSW satire Slanted.
“The 2025 Festival offers a bold and expansive view of cinema today, with films that confront the urgent realities of our world, while also revelling in the power of imagination and storytelling,” said Sydney Film Festival Director Nashen Moodley.“From astonishing Australian debuts to daring new works by global auteurs, this year’s program is a celebration of creative risk, personal vision and artistic resilience. We invite audiences to explore this thrilling line-up, connect with filmmakers from around the world, and share in the transformative joy of cinema.”
The festival will feature 201 films from 70 countries and will feature 17 world premieres, 6 international premieres and 137 Australian premieres. This year the iconic Sydney Opera House has been added as a screening venue, alongside the State Theatre and many cinemas across the city.
Opening night with feature the Australian premiere of Together, written and directed by Australian filmmaker Michael Shanks and stars Alison Brie and Dave Franko. Shanks will attend the opening night to present the film, we recommend grabbing your tickets early!
Star-led features include Richard Linklater’s Blue Moon, starring Ethan Hawke, Margaret Qualley and Andrew Scott in a hilarious chamber piece set against the backdrop of musical theatre; Michel Franco’s Dreams, featuring Jessica Chastain as a wealthy philanthropist whose passionate affair with a Mexican dancer challenges her carefully curated life; The Ballad of Wallis Island, a charming comedy with Carey Mulligan about the musical reunion of two estranged former lovers; and Jodie Foster heads a stellar cast in Vie Privée, a Cannes-selected, gently comic murder mystery set in Paris.
Familiar faces also feature in Kevin Macdonald’s documentary One to One: John & Yoko which brings John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s historic 1972 Madison Square Garden concert vividly to life.
Australian award-winners shine with two bold new features: Slanted, debut Australian director Amy Wang’s provocative, SXSW-winning satire on racial identity and belonging; and Lesbian Space Princess, a riotous, Berlin Teddy Award-winning animated adventure following an introverted lesbian princess on an inter-gay-lactic rescue mission.
From New Zealand, two deeply personal stories will screen: Prime Minister, an intimate portrait of Jacinda Ardern’s transformative leadership, and the World Premiere of Pike River, the powerful true story of two women’s fight for justice after New Zealand’s deadliest modern mining disaster, starring Melanie Lynskey.
Direct from Cannes, Raoul Peck’s Orwell: 2+2=5 offers a gripping meditation on the enduring relevance of George Orwell’s vision; and Robin Campillo’s Enzo, the Opening Film of Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, captures a tender coming-of-age story set against the backdrop of war and migration.
Rounding out the section is Twinless, a hilarious and unpredictable queer bromance starring Dylan O’Brien and James Sweeney, fresh from delighting audiences at Sundance.
The Australian features include Death of an Undertaker, the debut from director Christian Byers. The film is set in a Leichhardt funeral parlour and stars Byers as a fragile part-time working unravelling on the brink of homelessness.
Birthright, Zoe Pepper’s biting satire about a disillusioned generation and the housing crisis; Went Up the Hill, a gothic tale of grief and possession starring Vicky Krieps and Dacre Montgomery; and FWENDS, Sophie Somerville’s Berlinale award-winning ode to messy, modern friendship.
“The Sydney Film Festival is the highlight of the year for NSW film fans and is part of an amazing lineup of cultural events that kick off as the cooler weather kicks in. As this lineup confirms, you will always see the best films in the world at the Sydney Film Festival. You won’t find this carefully curated collection of films from your couch, so I implore you to get down the festival and join the experience,” said the Minister for the Arts John Graham.
For the full line-up and to to purchase tickets and Flexipasses to the Sydney Film Festival 2025, head on over to the official website here
Sydney Film Festival runs from 4-15 June 2025.
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