Sydney Film Festival

5 | 16 giugno 2024

71^a Edizione

The first Sydney Film Festival opened on June 11, 1954, on a cold winter’s night. It screened in four halls over four days on borrowed projectors, offering 1200 tickets at one guinea each, and sold out. (There was a note in the program that said: “Trams to Abbotsford, Haberfield, Fivedock and Leichhardt pass the Parramatta Rd gates of the University.”) The films included Jacques Tati’s Jour de fête (1948), Rene Clair’s Sous les toits de Paris (1930), Roberto Rossellini’s Germany Year Zero (1947), Buster Keaton’s The General (1926),. and of course, John Heyer’s The Back of Beyond (1954). In its 60 years, the festival has grown and changed enormously, as has the whole film-festival circuit. There’s barely a day in the year when at least one film festival isn’t The first Sydney Film Festival opened on June 11, 1954, on a cold winter’s night. It screened in four halls over four days on borrowed projectors, offering 1200 tickets at one guinea each, and sold out. (There was a note in the program that said: “Trams to Abbotsford, Haberfield, Fivedock and Leichhardt pass the Parramatta Rd gates of the University.”) The films included Jacques Tati’s Jour de fête (1948), Rene Clair’s Sous les toits de Paris (1930), Roberto Rossellini’s Germany Year Zero (1947), Buster Keaton’s The General (1926), and of course, John Heyer’s The Back of Beyond (1954). In its 60 years, the festival has grown and changed enormously, as has the whole film-festival circuit. There’s barely a day in the year when at least one film festival isn’t happening somewhere in the world, and Australia alone has four major film festivals. But back in 1950s Australia, non-mainstream films were for the most part only seen thanks to film societies and screening groups which were growing in both number and size, particularly in NSW and Victoria; films were mainly borrowed from the libraries of the recently set-up State Film Councils. It was at a meeting in 1950 of the Australian Council of Film Societies, in the Sydney beachside suburb of Newport, that serious talk of an Australian film festival first occurred; and in 1952, in January, about 800 people (many more than had been expected) attended the very first Australian Film Festival, at Olinda in the Dandenongs outside Melbourne.

Our Organisation and Rules

The world’s best new films come to Sydney this June for 19 days and nights of inspiring and entertaining premieres, talks and parties. Join us and be among the first in Australia to see the greatest, strangest and most exciting work that cinema has to offer.

Sydney Film Festival takes place at our flagship venue the State Theatre, as well as cinemas in the CBD, Newtown, Cremorne, Western Sydney and more, screening more than 200 films you won’t usually find in the multiplex. 12 films are selected for the Official Competition, which celebrates “courageous, audacious and cutting-edge” cinema with a $60,000 cash prize. Sydney Film Festival also presents seven other cash awards over the course of the festival.

The Sydney Film Festival is supported by the  NSW Government  through  Screen NSW, the Federal Government through  Screen Australia, and the  City of Sydney. The festival’s Strategic Partner is the NSW Government through  Destination NSW. We also run the Travelling Film Festival year-round, taking the best of international and Australian cinema to 17 regional centres around the country.

REGULATIONS OF THE SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL

The mission of SFF is to develop and deliver a sustainable world class film festival, which engages all stakeholders and achieves critical acclaim by presenting a unique program that inspires, challenges, and entertains an increasingly broad and diverse audience.

The festival is composed of the following main categories:
The Official Section (non-competitive) reserved for fiction films and documentaries (non-fiction) of any length, which are innovative, informative, challenging and/or entertaining in style or content.
The Official Competition established to reward new directions in film and endorsed by FIAPF (see clause 4).
A Retrospective Section (non-competitive) paying tribute to a filmmaker, film movement or genre and designed to make a contribution to film history.
The Dendy Awards for Australian Short Films (competitive) for recent Australian productions under 40 minutes in length, incorporating the Dendy Award for Best Live Action Short, Rouben Mamoulian Award for Best Director, and Yoram Gross Animation Award.
The Documentary Australia Foundation Award for Australian Documentary (competitive) for recent Australian documentaries of any length.

VOTE

VOTE FOR THE FILMS YOU SEE IN CINEMA

The Audience awards are SFF’s People’s Choice Awards. Audience members are invited to rate the film they’ve seen. The Best Narrative Feature and Best Documentary winners are announced after the Festival.

You can only vote once for each feature-length film.
You can vote for a film at any time after it has screened,
You can only vote for a film you’ve seen in cinema.
If you have any questions about voting, contact the Box Office on 1300 733 733.

Cast your votes for the chance to win fantastic prizes from Merlin Entertainments or the Queen Victoria Building.

Web Voting Instructions

Click here to vote. Use the code at the bottom of your ticket to rate each film out of a possible five stars. You must be logged into your account to access the voting page.

App Voting Instructions

Log in to the official SFF App, go to ‘My Tickets’ and select a title among the films you’ve seen to vote for it.
On the ticket screen, tap ‘Vote’ (in the upper right-hand corner).
Enter your rating, on a scale of one to five stars, to submit your vote.

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