sydney film festival opening night

Recognised as one of longest running events of its kind in the world, the 58^th Sydney Film Festival is currently running from June 8^th – 19^th. This year the festival showcases 161 carefully selected features, documentaries and short films from over 40 countries. A number of awards have been established to recognise excellence in filmmaking, including the Dendy Awards for Australian Short Films, (which are Academy Award eligible), the FOXTEL Australian Documentary Awards and the Official Competition, which celebrates ‘courageous and audacious filmmaking’.

The Festival kicked off on Wednesday night at the State Theatre with the screening of the opening night film, Hanna directed by Joe Wright. Cate Blanchett who stars in the film as a career-orientated CIA agent, attended the event, along with some Australian celebrities, filmmakers (veteran directors such as Jane Campion and Gillian Armstrong were also in attendance) and industry professionals.

Festival Director Clare Stewart who will be stepping down from her role after five years, believes that the Festival has grown substantially over the years. “It’s been a privilege in the role” she says. “We’ve seen some terrific changes, such as the introduction of the Official Competition in 2008, the FOXTEL Australian Documentary Prize in 2009, and a really substantial shift in terms of the audience as well. In the last couple of years 30% of the audience have been coming to the Festival for the first time, so those are the kinds of results I was really going for”.

One of the highlights for Stewart this year, was having the opportunity to curate the Official Competition. “This year we have two prize winning films direct from Cannes [in the competition] – the Palme d’Or winner The Tree of Life and Jeff Nichols’ second feature film Take Shelter, which won the main prize at the Cannes Critics Week. He was here in 2007 with his wonderful film Shotgun Stories which also features Michael Shannon in a wonderful performance” she says.  In terms of Australian content, Ivan Sen’s Toomelah and Julia Leigh’s Sleeping Beauty (image below) are also in this category. “To be positioning those Australian films in the context of an international selection is very important. It shows that our Australian filmmakers are making films that carry in that international context”.

Coming from a background as a novelist, Julia Leigh didn’t find the transition into filmmaking too difficult. “I think the novelist and the filmmaker both work with the flow of time, they both build complex worlds, hopefully complex characters, and in that regard it wasn’t too hard. I mean the process of making a film is very different, it’s very collaborative. I really enjoyed directing – I got to meet a lot of wonderful people, and I really enjoyed that process” Leigh explains.

Former Arts Minister Virginia Judge, provided her thoughts on the current state of the Australian film industry. “I think that it has really come of age” she says. “We now have the Film Friendly protocol in NSW which provides a great opportunity for people who produce films to get in with their teams quickly, without too much red tape, and without too many costs which did happen in the past, so that’s the first step. The second thing is that Sydney now has all of the premium events – we’ve got the SPAA conference, the IF Awards, and of course the Sydney Film Festival. I fought very hard to get an extra $20 million into the budget, and to make sure that we can attract a footloose offshore production so that we can get sustainable work in this creative industry. I also fought to get $5 million for our local stories, for our own narratives which are very important” she explains. “Hooray for the Sydney Festival – it’s growing and getting better every year, we’re maturing and I’m very excited to be here”.

A few rising Australian stars were very keen to see Hanna, including Septimus Caton, son of Michael Caton. “I’ve been hankering to see Hanna ever since I heard about it, so I’ve been counting the days until I can get in there” he says. In terms of his career, he notes that his father has been very helpful over the years, and that he’s excited about his band, Kids at Risk who feature in the pop-art documentary LBF, which is also screening at the festival. “I’ve just finished working on Happy Feet 2, which I will say no more about – you’ll just have to see it”.

Sophie Lowe, who received critical acclaim for her performance in the controversial film Beautiful Kate, says that she’s “really looking forward to Hanna, I’m so excited”. Lowe will also appear in the upcoming psychological thriller Blame, from writer/director Michael Henry which is due to be released in cinemas on the 16^th of June. “The experience [on Blame] was amazing but it was really difficult because it was really, really hot – 40 degrees each day in W.A. But the cast was absolutely amazing and I learnt so much from every single one of them, and I’m really proud of the film. My character was really fun to play. She was a bit naughty” she laughs.

Best known for his role in Underbelly, Damien Walshe-Howling notes that he’s particularly interested in seeing The Tree of Life this year. “I think Terrence Malick is one of the most amazing directors of all time. Particularly because he takes his time. The films are long, and there’s a long time in between them. But this one gets into the metaphysical and magical realism, which is the sort of stuff that I like”.

Check out http://www.sff.org.au/ for the full program.