Nadine Whitney and Andrew F Peirce put their heads together and come up with some unmissable films at the upcoming 2025 Sydney Film Festival.
The Sydney Film Festival runs from 4 to 15 June 2025, taking place across the city and bringing the best of contemporary and classic cinema to audiences. The festival is now in its 72nd edition, with some of the films at this years festival having played years ago when they first premiered.
For all tickets and screening details, visit https://www.sff.org.au/
Each of these titles has been viewed before recommendation.
Bring Them Down
Incredibly strong performances by Christopher Abbott as Michael and Barry Keoghan as Jack make debut feature director Christopher Anderson’s Irish feud film Bring Them Down a muscular and tense fight for respect and livelihood in a dying rural village. Colm Meaney and Paul Ready play patriarchs whose sons inherit their combined misery.
Incredible cinematography, a clever mid-section change of perspective, and the reality of entrenched distrust where resources are scarce create a fascinating portrait of men whose taciturn and angry masculinity must be brought down before violence seizes them all. Bring Them Down is challenging and gripping.
NW
DJ Ahmet
Georgi M. Unkovski’s DJ Ahmet is a glorious and wholesome coming of age comedy/drama with pink sheep, first love, Yuruk culture in North Macedonia, the windows start up sound, secret forest raves, and Naim (Agush Agushev) – the fierce little brother who goes in for attack with a branch when Ahmet (Arif Jakup) is in trouble.
Ahmet is fifteen and finds refuge in music; hiding from the limited expectations placed upon him by his widowed father and the hard-work days of making a living as a shepherd in his remote village and caring for his Shakira-loving but silent brother. A beautiful young woman arrives in the village for an arranged marriage, bringing with her a hint of rebellion and a reason for Ahmet to fight for his individuality against tradition. Funny, sweet, and lovingly individual, DJ Ahmet is irresistible.
NW
Fwends
Sophie Somerville’s (linda 4 eva, Peeps) feature film debut is a melange of cultures, vibes, and societal expectations. Part improvised dramedy, part scripted delight, Fwends sees Melbourne and Sydney culture merge as two old friends, Em and Jessie, catch up over a weekend of bonding, trauma dumping, sojourns in gardens, and a touch of soul searching too.
Fwends is effortlessly charming and delightful, feeling like a comfortable southern counterpart to the Sydney-sider focused Friends & Strangers. It’s no wonder then that the film had a warm reception with European audiences when it screened at the Berlinale Film Festival, receiving the Caligari Film Prize for Innovation.
AP
Jafar Panahi: Cinema in Rebellion
Fresh off his history making Palme d’Or win for his latest film, It Was Just an Accident, the Sydney Film Festival are hosting a retrospective of the acclaimed filmmakers work. The retrospective is aptly titled ‘Jafar Panahi: Cinema in Rebellion’, presenting the films that he made prior to his imprisonment, during house arrest, and beyond.
From his early work – The White Balloon (1995), The Mirror (1997), The Circle (2000), to his transformative work made during imprisonment – This is Not a Film (2011), Tehran Taxi (2015), 3 Faces (2018) – and beyond – No Bears (2022), It Was Just an Accident (2025), Panahi affirms his status as one of the modern greats of world cinema, showcasing the need for films and stories in a time of persecution and disruption. Appointment viewing doesn’t get any better than this.
AP
Lesbian Space Princess
With the echoes of the ten-minute standing ovation at the 2024 Adelaide Film Festival still ringing in my mind, I can still safely attest that Lesbian Space Princess is the best Australian film of 2025. Bubble-gum animation meets death metal delight meets space-faring spectacular, mixed with the most acidic comedy that has ever splashed at the feet of Australian audiences, Lesbian Space Princess does what it says on the tin… and more. The most fun you’ll have in a cinema this year.
Listen to the interview with co-directors Leela Varghese & Emma Hough Hobbs and lead actor Shabana Azeez here.
AP
The Life of Chuck
Mike Flanagan knows the works of Stephen King. Even when not adapting a Stephen King novel, such as in the case of the television series Midnight Mass, Flanagan’s mind seemed to be guided by the modern master of the macabre. Coming to King’s novella The Life of Chuck, Flanagan embraces King’s sense of wonder about the worlds created by each human. Centred on Charles ‘Chuck’ Krantz a man who begins as a mystery and ends as a bridge to the mysteries of living: The Life of Chuck is a profoundly lovely and uncynical glimpse into the everyday miracles, heartbreaks, and the universe of ourselves.
Featuring Tom Hiddleston as Adult Chuck and Mark Hamill as his grandfather Albie, the film is also dedicated to spending time with the incredible ensemble cast. Karen Gillan, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Mia Sara, Jacob Tremblay, Pocket Queen (Taylor Gordon), and a wonderful Benjamin Pajak are just a few of the names that help to light up the screen and break and heal hearts. The Life of Chuck is Mike Flanagan’s masterpiece containing multitudes.
NW
Make it Look Real
Kate Blackmore’s timely documentary about the role of intimacy co-ordinators on film sets is as keenly informed about the history of cinema as it is about ensuring a safer future for all. Make it Look Real takes us onto the set of Tightrope, a film conjured for the purposes of this documentary, and one that includes various acts of intimacy that require the guidance and choreography work of Claire Warden. The three actors – Albert Mwangi, Sarah Roberts, Tom Davis – each navigate their own understanding of film production, learning a new understanding of safe filmmaking. Blackmore also takes us into the practices of unsafe filmmaking, highlighting the fallout of Last Tango in Paris, and exploring the long-term impact on actresses impacted by unsafe filmmaking. Essential work.
Listen to the interview with director Kate Blackmore here and the interview with actor Albert Mwangi here.
AP
OBEX
Alfred Birney (Strawberry Mansions) brings his particular brand of humanistic absurdity to OBEX. Birney stars Conor Marsh, a withdrawn ASCII artist in 1987 who lives his life via a series of screens finds a computer RPG advertised in a magazine and orders it. The difference between OBEX and other games is the makers will create an avatar of yourself if you give them some reference images and answer some questions. Conor’s dog Sandy and his neighbour Mary (Callie Hernandez), to whom he never opens the door, are his only contact to the world beyond screens. When Sandy goes missing and Mary announces she’s moving away, Conor must go out into the world which resembles OBEX itself.
OBEX is a movie which is radically and gloriously uncommercial made by a bunch of clever oddballs in their (literal) houses. Inventive, disturbing, and sincere: you’ve never seen anything quite like it and you won’t soon forget it.
NW
On Becoming a Guinea Fowl
On Becoming a Guinea Fowl delivers electric shocks as Shula (Susan Chardy) roots herself into the earth emerging immovable and undeniable. Nyoni’s sly comedic barbs aimed at the absurdity of the overwrought and performative Bemba funeral traditions aren’t for cathartic levity. Rather she seeks to elucidate the multiple farces preventing Zambian women and generational victims from withholding forgiveness for the unforgivable.
Rungano Nyoni’s anger builds until it overwhelms the frame and spills out. Shula’s guinea fowl siren becomes the battle cry of a virago. On Becoming a Guinea Fowl cements Nyoni after her blazing debut feature, I Am Not a Witch as crucial artist deconstructing, decolonising, and restructuring the past and futures of Zambian women.
NW
Went Up the Hill
Samuel Van Grinsven’s sophomore feature starring Dacre Montgomery and Vicky Krieps is reminiscent of the art of Ingmar Bergman: a cold dance with death and the merging and dissolving barriers between individuality. Went Up the Hill is a note-perfect Gothic: stunning, uneasy, and harrowing. An elegant and challenging ghost story rising from the frozen New Zealand firmament with a unique timbre in Australasian filmmaking. Went Up the Hill is an outstandingly mature and striking psychological drama and an intelligent and resonant ghost story.
Read Nadine Whitney’s full review here. Listen to Andrew F. Peirce’s interview with star Dacre Montgomery here.
NW
The Wolves Always Come at Night
Gabrielle Brady returns with yet another profound slice of docudrama filmmaking, taking us to the plains of Mongolia to introduce us to Davaa and Zaya (credited as co-writers), two farmers who live off the land with their four children to tend to their animals. As the occurrence of dust storms increases, and the devastation becomes harder to bear, Davaa and Zaya must make the difficult decision to move off the land they call home and abandon their continued connection to their ancestors and their nomadic culture. The Wolves Always Come at Night is a haunting poem that lingers long after you leave the cinema.
Read Andrew's review here.
AP