Sydney Film Festival 2012 Highlights

The Sydney Film Festival is just about to kick off and this year it’s packed with filmmakers and guests from Australia and all over the world. Here are some upcoming highlights to get you in the mood…

JUNE 6th: The Opening Night – World Premiere: Not Suitable for Children

Peter Templeman’s debut film, Stars Ryan Kwanten, Very Australian, Very Sydney comedy.

JUNE 7th: World Premiere: Mabo

The screening will coincide to the week with the 20th anniversary of the High Court decision recognising the rights of Indigenous people to their traditional lands.

JUNE 8th: GOODBYE

Director, Mohammad Rasoulof was arrested in 2010. Charged with “hostile actions and waging propaganda against the Islamic Republic of Iran”, he was sentenced, along with Jafar Panahi, to six years in prison, with the prohibition of making films or leaving Iran for 20 years. Released on parole while waiting for the verdict of his appeal, he shot the film Goodbye in semi-underground conditions. This film, which he wrote, produced and directed, won Best Director in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival 2011.

JUNE 9th: Australian Premiere: Maori Boy Genius

Ngaa Rauuira is the subject of this documentary as he embarks on a journey to study political science at Yale and the Maori community who have pegged him as a future leader since boyhood.

JUNE 9th: Australian Premiere: Despite the Gods

Funny doco following Jennifer Lynch (daughter of renowned filmmaker David Lynch) as she directs Hiss, a horror movie in India. This is the first film Lynch had made since the critical flop of her 1993 film Boxing Helena.

JUNE 9th: Australian Premiere: Pink Ribbons, INC

Exposes the lie at the centre of the pink-themed promotion and how the focus on corporate fundraising has impacted the kind of research that’s being undertaken. Looks at the hypocrisy of companies with carcinogens that market strongly for Pink Ribbon.

JUNE 11th: Australian Premiere: Brave

Disney Pixar’s most recent and anticipated animation set in the Highlands of Scotland.

JUNE 15th: Australian Premiere: Golden Slumbers

Explores the disintegration of Cambodian Cinema under the rule of the Khmer Rouge. Director, Davy Chou’s grandfather was a high profile film producer in the period prior to the Khmer Rouge regime.

JUNE 15th: World Premiere: Paramedico

Bondi paramedic and director, Ben Gilmour hits the streets with unique access to ambulance teams from Lahore, Honolulu, Mexico City and Venice. The film follows the work lives of different paramedics, from gondola ambulances to the mean streets of Mexico.

JUNE 17th: Australian Premiere: Gangs of Wasseypur

Longest film in the program – a five and a half hour long epic feature. A real action flick that follows a feud between crime families over three generations. Described as India’s answer to ‘The Godfather.’

FILMS THAT DEAL WITH BULLYING

JUNE 10th: Australian Premiere: Bully

It details the lives of children faced with bullying on a regular basis. It was awash with controversy in the US over ratings due to the heavy themes around suicide and bullying.

JUNE 12: Australian Premiere: The King of Pigs

A daring animation about bullying, social status and class difference.