The 72nd Sydney Film Festival (4–15 June) has today revealed a sneak peek of 16 bold new films set to screen this June, offering a taste of the 2025 program ahead of the full Festival announcement on Wednesday, 7th May.
“This first look offers a cross-section of the bold storytelling and distinctive voices that can be found at this year’s Festival,” said Sydney Film Festival Director Nashen Moodley. “From inventive new Australian work to major prize-winners from the international circuit, these films reflect the ingenuity and diversity of cinema today, and offer a glimpse of the rich and rewarding program to come.”
Two new Australian features will have their premieres at this year’s Festival. Fwends, the debut feature from Sophie Somerville, a two-time Dendy Award-winner (Peeps, SFF 2021; linda 4 eva, SFF 2023), is a fast-talking buddy comedy about modern female friendship. In Lesbian Space Princess, a Berlin Teddy Award-winning animated feature, an introverted heir to the throne goes on a mission to rescue her ex-girlfriend from evil incel aliens.
From SFF alum Kate Blackmore (The Butter Scene, SFF 2021) comes Make It Look Real, a layered documentary following internationally in-demand intimacy coordinator Claire Warden as she works with actors and filmmakers on the set of an Australian feature.
Award-winning titles in this year’s sneak peek include The Blue Trail, winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 2025 Berlinale, about a 77-year-old woman who embarks on a mind-altering journey through the Amazon rather than submit to a dystopian fate, and Sundance Audience Award-winner DJ Ahmet, which tells the story of a 15-year-old boy in a remote North Macedonian village who discovers electronic dance music, first love and the liberating power of art.
Among the prize-winning documentaries screening this year are Mr. Nobody Against Putin, winner of Sundance’s World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Prize, which follows a charismatic Russian teacher who secretly films the propaganda infiltrating his school during the invasion of Ukraine; and Farming the Revolution, which took out the top prize at Hot Docs, which details the 13-month protest by 12 million Indian farmers who camped on the outskirts of Delhi to challenge unjust laws.
Star-driven international features this year will include Bring Them Down, starring Barry Keoghan (The Banshees of Inisherin) and Christopher Abbott in a drama of rivalry and retribution in rural Ireland, and In The End, director Joshua Oppenheimer‘s (The Act of Killing, SFF 2013) narrative debut, a post-apocalyptic musical set in an underground compound, starring Tilda Swinton and Michael Shannon.
Two music-focused documentaries also feature. One to One: John & Yoko is Oscar-winner Kevin Macdonald’s (Whitney, SFF 2018) new film built around John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s historic 1972 Madison Square Garden benefit concert, and Marlon Williams: Ngā Ao e Rua – Two Worlds, a portrait of the beloved Aotearoa musician as he reconnects with his roots and records his first album in te reo Māori.
A number of titles that made waves on the international festival circuit are included in this year’s first look. Stranger Eyes, the first Singaporean film to screen in competition at Venice, is a twist-filled thriller about a grieving couple who receive anonymous surveillance footage after their baby goes missing. And On Becoming a Guinea Fowl, a Cannes-selected drama from I Am Not a Witch (SFF 2017) director Rungano Nyoni, sees a Zambian family confront hard truths following the death of a relative.
From Sundance, documentary Speak. follows five U.S. high school orators as they prepare for the country’s most prestigious public speaking competition, and for the fans of truly original cinema, Obex, a lo-fi, ’80s-set genre blend about a reclusive man who enters a mysterious video game to rescue his missing dog; you can read our review out of Sundance this year here.
Finally, Exergue – On Documenta 14 is an unprecedented 14-hour documentary, filmed over several years, charting one of the most major and politically charged art exhibitions in recent history, staged across both Germany and Greece.
Flexipasses and Subscriptions to Sydney Film Festival 2025 are on sale now. Call 1300 733 733 or visit sff.org.au for more information. The full Sydney Film Festival program is announced on Wednesday 7 May 2025, when tickets to specific film sessions will be on-sale.
