The Sydney Film Festival has always taken pride in its support of local film talent, and this year’s programme celebrates the revitalisation of the local filmmaking industry, with insightful and fascinating documentaries, emotional dramas and the best in Australian short films.

The festival opens on 9 June with a gala screening of TEN CANOES, a film by Rolf de Heer and the people of Ramingining. TEN CANOES features a cast of people indigenous to the Ramingining area with storytelling by David Gulpilil. The film’s international status has already begun to flourish with its inclusion in Un Certain Regard at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

The 53rd Sydney Film Festival will host the World Premiere of SOLO, the first film under Project Greenlight Australia with funding from Movie Network Channels. Director Morgan O’Neill beat 1,200 other competitors to win the screenwriting contest created by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck and SOLO features a cast of highly respected Australian actors, including Colin Friels, Angie Milliken and Vince Colosimo.

Also receiving its World Premiere is KANYINI, directed by Sydneysider Melanie Hogan, in which respected Aboriginal elder “Uncle” Bob Randall tells his personal story, and that of the Indigenous community’s struggle to adapt to the modern world, with passion, political insight and dignity. Academy Award Winning director JANE CAMPION’s acclaimed short film THE WATER DIARY, which has recently been selected for the 2006 Cannes Film Festival will screen before KANYINI.

Celebrated TV journalist, Andrew Denton’s GOD ON MY SIDE, will have its World Premiere at Sydney. Denton travelled to Texas for the National Religious Broadcaster’s Convention, and documents the events and characters of the annual meeting for America’s televangelists.

George Gittoes’ tragic yet uplifting and vibrant documentary, RAMPAGE, follows Iraq serviceman Elliott Lovett on his return to his hometown of Miami who with his brothers turns to his talented rapping skills to address the crime and violence that surrounds him. Environmental passion runs deep in THE LAST VALLEY a smartly constructed documentary receiving its World Premiere at the festival. Director Peter Vaughan spent three years living in Orbost in East Gippsland, in order to portray the conflict between environmentalists and rainforest loggers with the depth and complexity the issue deserves.

FOOTY CHICKS, by director Rebecca Barry, is a candid and compelling documentary that delves deep into the highly sexualised culture that surrounds AFL, NRL and NFL football codes in Australia, containing frank interviews with players and the women who are drawn into their world. CALL ME MUM directed by Margot Nash will also receive its World Premiere at the Sydney Film Festival. This emotional drama tells the story of a white Australian mother who accompanies her Torres Strait Islander foster son to meet his ailing birth mother in a Brisbane hospital.

The Sydney Film Festival will revisit RATS IN THE RANKS, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the seminal documentary by Bob Connolly and Robin Anderson about Leichhardt Council, which caused a media sensation when it first premiered at the festival. After a screening of the film Bob and some of the real people from the documentary will discuss what has changed in their lives over the last ten years.

Later in the festival, BOB CONNOLLY PRESENTS: A CAREER IN FILM will be hosted by Bob in which he will discuss the films that have influenced his career.

900 NEIGHBOURS delves into the lives and characters of one of Sydney’s most notorious buildings, Northcott, and reveals a different side to Surry Hills, of which most Sydneysiders are unaware. A moving and powerful documentary MOHAMMAD HOSSAIN’S INTENSIVE CARE filmed at Liverpool Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit focuses on one coma patient, a new immigrant from Bangladesh. The film charts the struggles endured by staff and his pregnant wife, who with little English and no family is bewildered by her new surroundings and the predicament her husband is in.

Sticking close to home, THE BET comes from Sydney based first-time director Mark Lee and features a young Australian cast including Matthew Newton, Aden Young and Sybilla Budd. THE BET is a tale of personal greed in the Sydney financial world.

UNFOLDING FLORENCE, an inventive tribute to late Sydney designer and identity Florence Broadhurst and directed by Sydney Film Festival patron Gillian Armstrong will have its Australian premiere at the 53rd Sydney Film Festival.
 

For more Info head to the SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL website.