FIB Top Picks: Sydney Film Festival

Sydney Film Festival is happening soon and they’ve revealed a sneaky twenty-eight films that will feature through the ten day event. Here are FIB’s top six picks that you won’t want to miss!                    

Photo credit: Sydney Film Festival
Photo credit: Sydney Film Festival

 

Sydney Film Festival will release their full programme on May 10. This years festival runs from June 7-18.

A Ghost Story

This American drama film was directed and written by David Lowery. Starring Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck, A Ghost Story tells a harrowing tale of loss, grief and love. This film captures the tale of a recently deceased, white-sheeted ghost as he returns home to reconnect with the wife he left behind.

 

That’s Not Me

This independent Aussie comedy follows Polly and the pain that comes with being in arms-reach of your dreams, but not quite being able to get there. Polly takes advantage of her twin sister’s success to gain all of the perks being on a hit HBO show will get you. Starring Alice Foulcher and Isabel Lucas, That’s Not Me is being compared to Girls and Bridesmaids.

 

God’s Own Country

God’s Own Country is a film about an English sheep farmer whose life is turned upside after the arrival of a migrant worker. After being emotionally shut off for so long, the farmer is thrown for a loop when he has to confront new, unfamiliar feelings of loving and being loved. Director Francis Lee employs a near documentary approach to the created of this film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dQmFg7p6yg

 

The Woman Who Left

After being wrongfully imprisoned for over thirty-years, Lav Dias captures one woman’s quest for revenge. Diaz is known for his long narrative films that reflect the history of the Phillipines. The Woman Who Left follows Horacia Somorostro as she reunites with her daughter and discovers the tragedy that happened to her family while she was locked up.

 

I Am Not Your Negro

Narrated by Samuel L. Jackson, this film explores the history of racism in the United States. Based on the unfinished manuscript written by James Baldwin, it reminisces on civil rights leaders like Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. I Am Not Your Negro received an Oscar nomination at the 89th Academy Awards.

 

My Life as a Zucchini 

This Swiss-French stop motion animated comedy deals with real issues that aren’t always seen in family films. Zucchini is taken to an orphanage after his alcoholic mother dies. The film draws on it’s younger audiences feelings of empathy for situations much more difficult than their own.

The festival will screen both the English and French versions of My Life as a Zucchini.