The 71st Sydney Film Festival is over.
I managed to see 11 films and have a list of 23 films that were shown and I didn’t get to see. This is usually the way, I pick up recommendations from people who sit next to me at screenings and try and glean what their favourites have been so far.

The first film I was definitely interested in was Yorgos Lanthimos’ Kinds of Kindness starring Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons and Willem Dafoe and I managed to get a press ticket for a 9.30am showing. The day before I also got a press ticket for Lee starring Kate Winslet about the photographer Lee Smith who was famed for her pictures on the front line of World War 2.

After those two, I was on my own. I grabbed the programme and went to work.
The Contestant, a documentary about a Japanese comedian who was left naked in a room unaware his months-long challenge was being broadcast on a Japanese tv show looked great but I missed that so that’s now on ‘my list’. Kneecap looked fun as I’d just seen the Irish rappers play live at The Great Escape festival in Brighton, England in May this year. I missed that one as well. The Convert by Lee Tamahori and starring Guy Pearce as a preacher caught up in the Māori wars in the 1930s, The Moogai, a horror film about a malicious spirit haunting the house of an indigenous couple with a new born and Ka Whawhai Tonu starring Temuera Morrison and Cliff Curtis reuniting for a historical epic about Aotteroa’s first land war all looked interesting from the First Nations program.
Didn’t see any of them, all on my list.

The Bikeriders will get a major release so I wasn’t too bothered about that, I’ll check that later.
The double bill of South Korean sci-fi actioner Alienoid and Alienoid:Return to the Future looked fun and I did manage to check that out. That was highly enjoyable and great to see on the big screen.
I Saw the TV Glow was another that I wanted to see but all the performances were sold out so bang, on the list. Agent of Happiness, a documentary about an agent for Bhutan’s Ministry of Gross National Happiness travelling across the country measuring people’s happiness was also sold out.
Kill looked like it could be fun, possibly a Hindi The Raid Redemption on a train, which I did manage to see.

The rest of the films that I saw were:
Copa 71, an engaging documentary about the first ever Women’s Football World Cup that drew crowds of over 100,00 in 1971.
Dahomey, a documentary about 26 Artifacts stolen from the Kingdom of Benin in North Africa by a French coloniser being returned to their home country had the potential to be really interesting but proved to be a bit of a drag.
September Says, a psychological drama about two sisters living with their single mother and directed and written by actor, Ariane Labed. This was interesting but didn’t wow me.
Sujo, a coming of age film about a young boy and the lure of the cartel in the isolated countryside in Mexico. This was followed by a Q&A by one of the directors, Astrid Rondero. Fair play to her and her co director, Fernanda Valadez for creating a cartel film like no other, coming across more like a Boyhood style portait of the young man, Sujo. It was decent but again no blowing away.

I met Leandre Sanders, the star of the documentary Skategoat, who was genuinely a really nice dude so that film is now on my list.
Also on my list to look out for are:
The Remarkable Life of Ebelin, Thelma, Cottontail, There’s Still Tomorrow (which won the Best Film), Puan, First Horse (Winner of the First Nations Award), Aquarius, Welcome to Babel (Winner of Best Doc), Kid Snow, The Monk and the Gun, Porcelain War, Touch, Daddio, One Second Ahead One Second Behind and Black Snow.

Last night Sunday 16th June 2024 was the last day of the festival and I got a ticket to see Mahamoud Rasoulof’s The Seed of the Sacred Fig, an incredibly powerful film about a family caught up in the theocratic regime in Iran.
After seeing so many ok films, I was relieved and inspired to see something so important and urgent.
The Closing Night film was The Substance, a horror film starring Demi Moore about an ageing star in Los Angeles being discarded and then given the chance to create a new improved version of herself which was out and out absolutley nuts, going full Cronenburg and making commentary about female ageing in Hollywood. It recently won Best Screenplay at Cannes and should garner an Oscar nod for Best Actress for Demi Moore, who was superb.
These last two films made up for my, potentially, average choices this year and the festival ended on a high for me.

Click the links on the films I saw to read more about each of them.

Thanks to all at the SFF. I love me a film festival and look forward to next year.