SXSW Sydney (October 14th – 20th, 2024) is back for its second year, and its bringing a bold and inspiring mix of local and international features, showcasing the best across drama, horror, comedy and documentaries for its Screen Program.
The lineup includes the Australian premiere of Lucy Lawless‘s directorial debut, Never Look Away, a documentary about the astonishing life of war zone photojournalist Margaret Moth. Lawless will also be in attendance to support the film, which premiered earlier this year at Sundance to rave reviews. Also featured is the highly anticipated Pavements, directed by Alex Ross Perry, an experimental hybrid of narrative, scripted, documentary, musical, and metatextual elements about the indie rock outfit, Pavement; Azrael, starring Samara Weaving, which tells the story of a woman’s breathless (and speechless) escape from a cult of mute zealots in a horrific, post-apocalyptic world; and the feature directorial debut for comedian Conner O’Malley and co-director Danny Scharar, Rap World, a hilarious mockumentary set in 2009 as four friends in Pennsylvania attempt to record a rap album over one eventful night.
Other highlights include A24’s Sing Sing, starring Colman Domingo as a wrongly imprisoned man who finds purpose through a theater group with fellow inmates; Pamela Adlon’s Babes, a raucous ‘mom-com’ offering a humorous and sometimes gross take on pregnancy, motherhood, and female friendship; the double-Sundance-award-winning DiDi, the semi-autobiographical feature debut from Sean Wang, providing an honest look at growing up in the internet age; and recipient of the Jury Award for Best Documentary Feature at this year’s SXSW Austin, Grand Theft Hamlet, in which two in locked-down actors take the world of Shakespeare to an unlikely stage.
Local feature film highlights include, Carnage for Christmas, an Australian ode to the Christmas slasher movie, the dark comedy A Grand Mockery and music documentary, Hard-Ons: The Most Australian Band Ever!
These join previously announced titles such as Damon Gameau’s Future Council, a film that combines the energy of School of Rock with the urgency of An Inconvenient Truth as we follow Damon and eight school kids on a road trip across Europe as they search for solutions to the climate crisis; and the world premiere of Slice of Life: The American Dream, where Australian documentary filmmakers, Matthew Salleh and Rose Tucker collect stories of the American Dream in former Pizza Huts.
This sits alongside the list of trailblazing speakers confirmed across the program, including Warwick Thornton (The New Boy, Samson and Delilah, Sweet Country), Jed Kurzel (Monkey Man, The Babadook, Alien: Covenant) LuckyChap Entertainment’s Josey McNamara (Barbie, Saltburn) and Simon McQuoid (Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2).
For more information on SXSW Sydney, the Screen Program’s full schedule, and how to purchase festival badges and wristbands, head to the official site here.
