2021 film festival
| Opening film | Here Out West by Fadia Abboud, Lucy Gaffy, Julie Kalceff, Ana Kokkinos, and Leah Purcell |
|---|---|
| Closing film | The French Dispatch by Wes Anderson |
| Location | Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| Founded | 1954 |
| Awards | Sydney Film Prize: There Is No Evil |
| No. of films | 233 from 69 countries |
| Festival date | 3–21 November 2021 |
| Website | sff |
| Sydney Film Festival | |
| 69th 67th | |
The 68th annual Sydney Film Festival was held from 3 to 21 November 2021. The festival, which traditionally takes place in June, was postponed to August 2021 and eventually rescheduled to be held in November due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The film screenings were staged as a "hybrid" of in-person and digital. It marked as the first major festival following the lifting of the lockdown in New South Wales.
Anthology film Here Out West opened the festival, while Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch was the closing film. Drama film There Is No Evil won the most prestigious award, Sydney Film Prize.
Juries
Sydney Film Prize
The following were named as the festival juries:
- David Michôd, Australian writer and director – Jury President
- Simon Baker, Australian actor
- Kyas Hepworth, National Indigenous Television Head of Commissioning and Programming
- Maya Newell, Australian filmmaker
- Clara Law, Hong Kong-Australian filmmaker
Official Selection
In competition
The following films were selected for the main international competition:
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn | Babardeală cu bucluc sau porno balamuc | Radu Jude | Romania, Luxembourg, Czech Republic, Croatia |
| Drive My Car | ドライブ・マイ・カー | Ryusuke Hamaguchi | Japan |
| The Drover's Wife | Leah Purcell | Australia | |
| Flee | Flugt | Jonas Poher Rasmussen | Denmark, France, Sweden, Norway |
| The Hand of God | È stata la mano di Dio | Paolo Sorrentino | Italy |
| Limbo | Ben Sharrock | United Kingdom | |
| Memoria | Apichatpong Weerasethakul | Colombia, Thailand, United Kingdom, Mexico, France, Germany, Qatar | |
| Petite Maman | Céline Sciamma | France | |
| Quo Vadis, Aida? | Jasmila Žbanić | Bosnia and Herzegovina, Austria, Romania, Netherlands, Germany, Poland, France, Norway, Turkey | |
| The Story of My Wife | A feleségem története | Ildikó Enyedi | Hungary, Germany, Italy, France |
| There Is No Evil | شیطان وجود ندارد | Mohammad Rasoulof | Iran, Germany, Czechia |
| Undine | Christian Petzold | Germany, France | |
- Highlighted title indicates Sydney Film Prize winner.
Documentary Australia Foundation Award
| English title | Original title | Director(s) |
|---|---|---|
| The Bowraville Murders | Allan Clarke | |
| The Department | Sascha Ettinger Epstein | |
| A Fire Inside | Justin Krook, Luke Mazzaferro | |
| I'm Wanita | Matthew Walker | |
| Incarceration Nation | Dean Gibson | |
| Ithaka | Ben Lawrence | |
| The Kids | Eddie Martin | |
| Strong Female Lead | Tosca Looby | |
| Television Event | Jeff Daniels | |
| Under the Volcano | Gracie Otto | |
| Unseen Skies | Yaara Bou Melhem | |
| When the Camera Stopped Rolling | Jane Castle | |
Special Presentations
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bergman Island | Mia Hansen-Løve | France, Belgium, Germany, Sweden | |
| Blue Bayou | Justin Chon | United States | |
| Bosch & Rockit | Tyler Atkins | Australia | |
| Burning | Eva Orner | Australia | |
| Great Freedom | Große Freiheit | Sebastian Meise | Austria, Germany |
| Lingui, The Sacred Bonds | Lingui | Mahamat-Saleh Haroun | Chad, France, Belgium, Germany |
| Love Songs for Tough Guys | Cette musique ne joue pour personne | Samuel Benchetrit | France, Belgium |
| Parallel Mothers | Madres paralelas | Pedro Almodóvar | Spain |
| Paris, 13th District | Les Olympiades | Jacques Audiard | France |
| The Power of the Dog | Jane Campion | New Zealand, Australia | |
| River | Jennifer Peedom | Australia | |
| Titane | Julia Ducournau | France, Belgium | |
| Wash My Soul in the River's Flow | Philippa Bateman | Australia | |
| The Worst Person in the World | Verdens verste menneske | Joachim Trier | Norway, France, Sweden, Denmark |
| Zola | Janicza Bravo | United States | |
Features
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
|---|---|---|---|
| After Love | Aleem Khan | United Kingdom | |
| Amparo | Simón Mesa Soto | Colombia, Sweden, Qatar | |
| Anaïs in Love | Les Amours d'Anaïs | Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet | France |
| Apples | Μήλα | Christos Nikou | Greece, Poland, Slovenia |
| Beginning | დასაწყისი | Dea Kulumbegashvili | Georgia, France |
| Brighton 4th | Levan Koguashvili | Georgia, Russia, Bulgaria, Monaco, United States | |
| The Card Counter | Paul Schrader | United States, United Kingdom, China | |
| Cinema Sabaya | Orit Fouks Rotem | Belgium | |
| Come Here | ใจจำลอง | Anocha Suwichakornpong | Thailand |
| Compartment No. 6 | Hytti nro 6 | Juho Kuosmanen | Finland, Germany, Estonia |
| A Cop Movie | Una película de policías | Alonso Ruizpalacios | Mexico |
| Crossing Paths | JJ Winlove | Australia | |
| Cryptozoo | Dash Shaw | United States | |
| Dear Evan Hansen | Stephen Chbosky | United States | |
| The Dog Who Wouldn't Be Quiet | El perro que no calla | Ana Katz | Argentina |
| El Planeta | Amalia Ulman | Spain, United States | |
| Erna at War | Erna i krig | Henrik Ruben Genz | Denmark, Estonia, Belgium |
| The Eyes of Tammy Faye | Michael Showalter | United States | |
| Fist of Fury Noongar Daa | Kylie Bracknell | Hong Kong, Australia | |
| Friends and Strangers | James Vaughan | Australia | |
| The Gravedigger's Wife | La femme du fossoyeur | Khadar Ayderus Ahmed | Finland, Germany, France |
| A Hero | قهرمان | Asghar Farhadi | Iran, France |
| Hit the Road | جاده خاکی | Panah Panahi | Iran |
| Honey Cigar | Cigare au miel | Kamir Aïnouz | France, Algeria, Belgium |
| Just Like That | Aise Hee | Kislay Kislay | India |
| The Justice of Bunny King | Gaysorn Thavat | New Zealand | |
| King Richard | Reinaldo Marcus Green | United States | |
| Last Film Show | Chhello Show | Pan Nalin | India |
| Long Weekend | Steve Basilone | United States | |
| Memory Box | Joana Hadjithomas, Khalil Joreige | France, Lebanon, Canada, Qatar | |
| Moffie | Oliver Hermanus | South Africa, United Kingdom | |
| My Best Part | Garçon chiffon | Nicolas Maury | France |
| Never Gonna Snow Again | Śniegu już nigdy nie będzie | Małgorzata Szumowska, Michał Englert | Poland, Germany |
| Nowhere Special | Uberto Pasolini | Italy, France | |
| One Second | 一秒钟 | Zhang Yimou | China |
| Pompo: The Cinéphile | 映画大好きポンポさん | Takayuki Hirao | Japan |
| Prayers for the Stolen | Noche de fuego | Tatiana Huezo | Mexico, Germany, Brazil, Qatar |
| Real | Aki Omoshaybi | United Kingdom | |
| Rehana Maryam Noor | Abdullah Mohammad Saad | Bangladesh, Singapore, Qatar | |
| Simple Passion | Passion simple | Danielle Arbid | France, Belgium |
| Striding Into the Wind | 野马分鬃 | Wei Shujun | China |
| Swan Song | Todd Stephens | United States | |
| The Swordsman | 검객 | Choi Jae-hoon | South Korea |
| A Tale of Love and Desire | Une histoire d'amour et de désir | Leyla Bouzid | France, Tunisia |
| True Mothers | 朝が来る | Naomi Kawase | Japan |
| The Tsugua Diaries | Diários de Otsoga | Maureen Fazendeiro, Miguel Gomes | Portugal |
| Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy | 偶然と想像 | Ryusuke Hamaguchi | Japan |
| When Pomegranates Howl | Granaz Moussavi | Australia, Afghanistan | |
| The Year of the Everlasting Storm | Jafar Panahi, Anthony Chen, Malik Vitthal, Laura Poitras, Dominga Sotomayor Castillo, David Lowery, Apichatpong Weerasethakul | United States, Iran, Chile, Thailand, United Kingdom, Singapore | |
Special Screening
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dune | Denis Villeneuve | United States, Hungary, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Norway, Canada | |
International Documentaries
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anonymous Club | Danny Cohen | Australia | |
| Ascension | Jessica Kingdon | United States | |
| A Black Jesus | Luca Lucchesi | Germany | |
| Blind Ambition | Robert Coe, Warwick Ross | Australia | |
| City Hall | Frederick Wiseman | United States | |
| Cow | Andrea Arnold | United Kingdom | |
| The Filmmaker's House | Marc Isaacs | United Kingdom | |
| The First 54 Years — An Abbreviated Manual for Military Occupation | Avi Mograbi | France, Finland, Germany | |
| Four Seasons in a Day | Annabel Verbeke | Belgium, Norway, Croatia, Lithuania | |
| Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song | Dan Geller, Dayna Goldfine | United States | |
| John Farrow: Hollywood's Man in the Shadows | Claude Gonzalez, Frans Vandenburg | Australia | |
| The Last Hillbilly | Diane Sara Bouzgarrou, Thomas Jenkoe | France, Qatar | |
| The Last Shelter | Le dernier refuge | Ousmane Samassekou | France, Mali, South Africa |
| Le temps perdu | El tiempo perdido | María Álvarez | Argentina |
| Like the Wind | Ted McDonnell | Australia, Hong Kong | |
| The Lost Leonardo | Andreas Koefoed | Denmark, France, Sweden | |
| The Magnitude of All Things | Jennifer Abbott | Canada | |
| Mariner of the Mountains | Marinheiro das montanhas | Karim Aïnouz | Brazil, France, Germany |
| President | Camilla Nielsson | Denmark, United States, Norway | |
| Radiograph of a Family | Firouzeh Khosrovani | Norway, Iran, Switzerland | |
| The Rescue | Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin | United States, United Kingdom | |
| The Seeds of Vandana Shiva | James Becket, Camilla Becket | Australia, United States | |
| The Story of Film: A New Generation | Mark Cousins | United Kingdom | |
| Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street | Marilyn Agrelo | United States | |
| Taming the Garden | მოთვინიერება | Salomé Jashi | Switzerland, Germany, Georgia |
| When a City Rises | Iris Kwong, Ip Kar Man, Cathy Chu, Han Yan Yuen, Huang Yuk-kwok, Jenn Lee, Evie Cheung | Hong Kong | |
| White Cube | Renzo Martens | Netherlands, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Belgium | |
| Writing with Fire | Sushmit Ghosh, Rintu Thomas | India | |
Europe! Voices of Women in Film
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
|---|---|---|---|
| From the Wild Sea | Fra det vilde hav | Robin Petré | Denmark |
| Green Sea | Πράσινη Θάλασσα | Angeliki Antoniou | Greece, Germany |
| Hive | Zgjoi | Blerta Basholli | Kosovo, Switzerland, North Macedonia, Albania |
| How to Kill a Cloud | Näin pilvet kuolevat | Tuija Halttunen | Finland, Denmark |
| Last Days of Spring | La última primavera | Isabel Lamberti | Netherlands, Spain |
| Nico | Eline Gehring | Germany | |
| Pleasure | Ninja Thyberg | Sweden, Netherlands, France | |
| Reconciliation | Odpuščanje | Marija Zidar | Slovenia, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo |
| Slalom | Charlène Favier | France | |
| Why Not You | Hochwald | Evi Romen | Austria, Belgium |
First Nations
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
|---|---|---|---|
| Araatika: Rise Up! | Larissa Behrendt | Australia | |
| The Bowraville Murders | Allan Clarke | Australia | |
| Night Raiders | Danis Goulet | Canada, New Zealand | |
| Wild Indian | Lyle Mitchell Corbine Jr. | United States | |
Freak Me Out
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Beta Test | Jim Cummings, PJ McCabe | United States, United Kingdom | |
| Censor | Prano Bailey-Bond | United Kingdom | |
| Gaia | Jaco Bouwer | South Africa | |
| The Spine of Night | Philip Gelatt, Morgan Galen King | United States | |
| Wyrmwood: Apocalypse | Kiah Roache-Turner | Australia | |
Awards
The following awards were presented at the festival:
- Sydney Film Prize: There Is No Evil by Mohammad Rasoulof
- Sydney UNESCO City of Film Award: Karina Holden
- Documentary Australia Award for Australian Documentary: I'm Wanita by Matthew Walker
- Sustainable Future Award: Burning by Eva Orner
- Dendy Awards for Australian Short Films
- Dendy Live Action Short Award: Peeps by Sophie Somerville
- Rouben Mamoulian Award for Best Director: Taylor Ferguson for tough
- Yoram Gross Animation Award: Freedom Swimmer by Olivia Martin-McGuire
Audience Awards
The following films won the Audience Awards, voted by the festival audience.
Best Narrative Feature Top Five
- Beautiful Minds by Bernard Campan and Alexandre Jollien
- Wyrmwood: Apocalypse by Kiah Roache-Turner
- Here Out West by Fadia Abboud, Lucy Gaffy, Julie Kalceff, Ana Kokkinos, and Leah Purcell
- Friends and Strangers by James Vaughan
- Quo Vadis, Aida? by Jasmila Žbanić
Best Documentary Top Five
- Blind Ambition by Robert Coe and Warwick Ross
- I'm Wanita by Matthew Walker
- When the Camera Stopped Rolling by Jane Castle
- The Seeds of Vandana Shiva by James Becket and Camilla Becket
- Araatika: Rise Up! by Larissa Behrendt and Ithaka by Ben Lawrence
Notes
- Fist of Fury screened at the festival is dubbed in Noongar language.
- The director of the dubbed version.
References
- Di Rosso, Jason (8 October 2021). "Sydney Film Festival 2021 program: Highlights chosen by our film critics". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 19 January 2024. Retrieved 20 January 2024.
- Frater, Patrick (2 August 2021). "Sydney Film Festival Postponed for Second Time This Year". Variety. Archived from the original on 4 October 2024. Retrieved 20 January 2024.
- Ward, Sarah (15 November 2021). "Ten Must-See Movies to Stream During Sydney Film Festival's Online SFF On Demand Program". Concrete Playground. Archived from the original on 25 February 2024. Retrieved 20 January 2024.
- Keast, Jackie (7 October 2021). "As lockdown lifts, Sydney Film Festival launches full program". IF Magazine. Archived from the original on 21 February 2024. Retrieved 20 January 2024.
- Ma, Wenlei (7 October 2021). "Sydney Film Festival 2021 program: Dune, The French Dispatch, Here Out West, Titane and more". News.com.au. Archived from the original on 1 February 2022. Retrieved 20 January 2024.
- Jefferson, Dee (14 November 2021). "Sydney Film Festival's top prize goes to Mohammad Rasoulof's There Is No Evil, about capital punishment in Iran". Australian Broadcasting Company. Archived from the original on 1 January 2024. Retrieved 20 January 2024.
- "Sydney Film Festival award winners announced at closing night gala" (PDF). Sydney Film Festival. 14 November 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 April 2024. Retrieved 20 January 2024.
- Latimore, Jack (13 August 2021). "Kung fu classic Fist of Fury dubbed in Indigenous Noongar Daa language". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 23 October 2023. Retrieved 20 January 2024.
- Slatter, Sean (15 November 2021). "Sydney Film Festival prizes for 'There Is No Evil', 'I'm Wanita', Karina Holden". IF Magazine. Archived from the original on 16 June 2024. Retrieved 20 January 2024.
- Varidel, Rebecca (17 November 2021). "Sydney Film Festival 2021 Audience Awards". Sydney Scoop. Archived from the original on 17 November 2021. Retrieved 20 January 2024.
External links
| Sydney Film Festival | |
|---|---|
| Sydney Film Prize |