The first four films that have been selected for this year's SFF Official Competition have been revealed along with a glimpse of the 2009 program, inviting audiences to start creating their own personal festival experience.
Last year, the festival introduced an
Official Competition featuring twelve films selected for their ‘audacious, courageous and cutting-edge' qualities. In 2009 the
Sydney Film Prize of $60,000 AUD - the highest cash award for film in Australia - will again be presented for ‘new directions in film'. As previously announced, Director Rolf de Heer (
Ten Canoes,
The Tracker, Bad Boy Bubby) will serve as Jury President and will be joined by four other high-profile jurors in June.
The four Official Competition films revealed, all screening in Australia for the very first time, are strong indicators of the calibre and diversity of this year's line-up:
Coraline (Henry Selick, USA) - The director of
The Nightmare Before Christmas creates an extraordinary gothic fairytale world in the first stop-motion feature shot in stereoscopic 3D, based on Neil Gamain's beloved novel and featuring the voices of Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French;
Disgrace (Steve Jacobs, Australia) - This haunting adaptation of the bestselling novel by Nobel Prize-winning author JM Coetzee features a masterful performance from John Malkovich and is set in South Africa's Eastern Cape;
Louise-Michel (Gustave de Kervern and Benoît Delépine, France) - From the creators of cult hit
Aaltra (2004) comes a pitch black comedy about job-loss, vengeance and inept assassins set against the economic downtown in Europe;
The Maid (Sebastian Silva, Chile) fresh from its award-winning success at the Sundance Film Festival comes this intricate comedy/drama about a long serving (and suffering) household maid who becomes vengeful towards the wealthy family for whom she works.
"Whether you like to see premiere screenings ahead of the crowd or to have your imagination captured by truly distinctive films, there will be no good excuse to stay at home this June given the dazzling selection of films and filmmakers the festival will be bringing to Sydney," said
Festival Director Clare Stewart.
"Last year the introduction of the Official Competition provided a glamorous and stimulating focus for the festival, and this year we will be building on its success with a 12-day event that condenses and intensifies the festival experience."
The full line-up will be announced on
Wednesday 13 May 2009.
Sydney Film Festival runs from Wednesday 3 to Sunday 14 June 2009.
Click
here to see a sneak peek of the other films announced.
Click
here to purchase a FlexiPass so you're ready when the full program is announced on 13 May.