Adelaide Film Festival 2026 kicks off this Wednesday night with a glamorous opening night at the Capri Theatre and the Australian Premiere of Martin McDonagh’s hugely anticipated new film Wild Horse Nine.
Already receiving Oscar buzz for McDonagah, the acclaimed director films such In Bruge, The Banshees of Inisherin and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and the film’s star John Malkovich, guests walking Adelaide Film Festival’s iconic pink carpet include AFF’s Competition Jury members, visiting celebrities and local identities. They include:
· Leah Purcell – actor/writer/director – recipient of the Don Dunstan Award
· Tilda Cobham-Hervey – Jury, actor
· Xavier Samuel – Jury, actor
· Mercury Prize-winning artist Benjamin Clementine
· Cameron Bailey (head of Toronto Film Festival) - Jury
· Scott Hicks – director of Shine
· Mia Wasikowska - star of Agata The Writer
· Bojana Novakovic - international/Australian actor and director of The Forbidden Aunt
· Dominic Allen – director of Tiber
· Marcus J. Cotterell – star of Tiber
· Jared Nicholson – director of Aftermath
· Matty Mills – broadcaster and opening night MC
· Sophie Hyde – director/AFF Patron
· Mat Kesting - AFF CEO & Creative Director
Don’t miss Q&As and Screen Conversations with filmmakers across the entire AFF program.
Documentary directors Dragana Jurišić (The Balkan Cowboy), Jared Nicholson (Aftermath) and Bojana Novakovic (The Forbidden Aunt) will each be part of a Q&A following their films’ premieres and they also come together on Thursday October 15 at 4pm at The Howling Owl to discuss working with material where the subject crosses over into the persona. This event is free of charge but please register at adelaidefilmfestival.org
Winner of the U.S Dramatic Special Jury Award for Debut Feature at Sundance 2026 for her film Bedford Park, Stephanie Ahn will be in an extended Q&A with filmmaker and AFF Patron Sophie Hyde following the screening of the film at 6pm on Thursday October 15 at Palace Nova Eastend.
We Interrupt This Broadcast: Big Ideas Forum sees the must-listen to weekly podcast for the Australian screen industry live at AFF with festival guests and industry leaders asked their one big idea to change the screen industry.
Over the last decade, from her shorts onwards, producer Alex White’s films have wowed audiences and industry alike. Her features include the acclaimed Baby Teeth (2019), Talk To Me (2022) and the AFFIF title and Venice premiering Agata The Writer (2026). Known as one of Australia’s best developers, Alex’s storytelling acumen has also been part of the success of the South Australian acclaimed Film Lab films most notably with Lesbian Space Princess. Closer Productions’ Rebecca Summerton hosts an In Conversation with Alex on Friday October 16 at 2.30pm at The Howling Owl. This event is free of charge but please register at adelaidefilmfestival.org
On Saturday October 17, following the 2pm screening at Picadilly Cinemas, there will be an extended Q&A with the filmmaking team and participants from Kumarangk: Sacred Womens’ Business, one of South Australia’s most significant films in the AFF program, about the controversial building of the Hindmarsh Island Bridge. Hosted by Jacinta Koolmatrie.
Not to be missed is another extended Q&A, with triple Academy Award-winning cinematographer Robert “Bob” Richardson. From the beginning, Richardson was a daring but also meticulous cinematographer shooting multiple films for acclaimed directors including Oliver Stone, Martin Scorcese and Quentin Tarantino. This extended Q&A will be moderated by SA’s own acclaimed director Scott Hicks (Bob shot Hick’s Snow Falling on Cedars, also nominated for an Academy Award), Sunday October 18 at 4:45pm.
One of AFF’s most appealing events will be the World Premiere of Bukul Bukal and campfire yarns at Yitpi Yartapuultiku, with food trucks, male/ female fires and special guests from Kumarangk and Bukal Bukal at Yitpi Yartapuultiku on the banks of the Port River for this free event; a very special gathering and an unforgettable evening around the fire. Bring your picnic blanket or camp chair and enjoy the world premiere of Bukal Bukal, the extraordinary story of Auntie Henrietta Fourmile Marrie AM. Auntie Henrietta Fourmile Marrie and director Pauline Clague will be In Conversation beside the fire discussing portrayals of Aboriginal stories and histories in contemporary cinema and an opportunity for all to listen and learn.
This year’s Don Dunstan Award recipient is internationally acclaimed actor, writer and director Leah Purcell AM. A proud Goa-Gunggari-Wakka Wakka Murri woman from Queensland, Leah’s debut feature film as a writer, director, producer and lead actor The Drover’s Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson premiered at SXSW 2021. Her adaptation of The Drovers Wife – The Opera premiered at QPAC Brisbane in 2025 followed by a season at the Sydney Opera House in August 2026. Leah Purcell will be In Conversation with Wesley Enoch AM, a proud Quandamooka man, celebrated playwright and artistic director, on Sunday October 18 at 2pm at Adelaide University (The Braggs Lecture Theatre). This event is free of charge but please register at adelaidefilmfestival.org
Bettison and James Awardee 2026 Karina Lester is a Yankunytjatjara Anangu woman from the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands (APY Lands) in the far northwest of South Australia. She was taught to speak her language with her father’s people and today she is passionate to maintain her language for future generations. Karina is Aboriginal Co-Manager and Senior Aboriginal Language Expert for the Mobile Language Team (MLT) at Adelaide University, supporting the Aboriginal languages of South Australia in revival and living languages programs. Karina is also an active anti-nuclear activist, sharing not only her late father, Yami Lester’s story but her grandmother’s story of the first mainland nuclear bomb tests at Emu Field in 1953, where Yami and his people felt the “ground shake and the black mist roll”. Karina Lester in conversation with Gem Romuld preceded by a screening of Britain’s Nuclear Bomb Scandal: Our Story (2024). Sunday October 25 at 12 noon, The Mercury Cinema. This event is free of charge but please register at adelaidefilmfestival.org
WIFT SA and Screen Vixens will host the first annual Women in Screen Drinks at The Howling Owl immediately after the screening of The Forbidden Aunt (dir. Bojana Novakovic) on Sunday October 18.
At the AFF Youth: Becoming Filmmakers Panel, filmmakers Jared Nicholson (Aftermath), Matthew Bate (Hell Has No Fire Escape) and Lila Berry and Johanis Lyons-Reid (Lucrum) will share how they established their filmmaking careers. This session at 1.15pm on Wednesday October 21 will be hosted by Robbie Miles, Head of Industry & Alumni Engagement at the Australian Film Television and Radio School.
Filmmakers also participating in Q&As following screenings of their films include actor Mia Wasikowska, star of Agata The Writer, the film’s director Kuba Dorabialski and producer Alex White; Phenomena director Josef Gatti; star of Tiber Marcus J. Cotterell and Tiber director Dominic Allen; British director Christian Cargill (Wolf), Martin McKenna (Wilderness), Genevieve Clay-Smith (Boss Cat), Zane Borg and Mia Barrett (River), and Natalia Laska and Martin Tucker (The Piano Tuner).