Four films not to miss at this year’s Sydney Film Festival

Film student Chunyu Zheng gives you a guide to the festival.

Calling all the cinephiles! The 2021 Sydney Film Festival is launching this week. Haven’t secured your tickets? Not sure what to watch? Here’s a starter guide to the festival’s biggest films! You can also check out the full program guide and more film information on the official website for more detail on what not to miss.

1. Dune

If you still remember the breath-taking visual designs in Blade Runner 2049 (2017) including the cyberpunk neon aesthetics to the epic crash-lands with hallucinatory gigantic figures,

if you were amazed by the music composed by Hans Zimmer, whether that be the space-wandering epic soundtracks in Interstellar (2014) or the intensity of Dunkirk (2017) then this is not one to miss.

Directed and produced by the French-Canadian film master Denis Villeneuv, here comes the most-awaited movie of 2021: Dune. With a stellar cast featuring Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Oscar Isaac, Rebecca Ferguson and Jason Momoa, Dune is adapted from a great classic novel, exploring a story about a gifted young man who is entrusted with the protection of the most valuable asset in the galaxy that will unlock humanity’s greatest potential.

With Dune 2 officially confirmed, it’s definitely the right time to head into this epic world.

2. Titane

Premiering at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and winning the 2021 Cannes Palme d’Or, Titane (2021) has undeniably become a hit. Directed by Julia Ducournau, Titane further intensifies the horror and extreme violence featured in the director’s last remarkable horror film, Raw (2016).

Always provoking, Titane is particularly notable for playing around with gender fluidity and sexuality. It is, as Sydney Film Festival noted, a ‘wildly inventive cinematic jolt’.

Ducournau also continues the tradition of great filmmakers working continuously with the same actors and actresses across numerous films. The Japanese director Hirokazu Koreeda worked with Kirin Kiki in 6 features, Bong Joon-ho has been collaborating with Song Kang-ho in 5 films, Wong Kar-Wai produced more than 8 films featuring Tony Leung Chiu-Wai. Now, Ducournau has collaborated with actress Garance Marillier in all of her four films as either director or screenwriter and the intimacy between actor and director will certainly add new heights to the film.

3. The French Dispatch

As one of the most well-known filmmakers in the contemporary film industry, Wes Anderson’s films are characterised by high-saturated and stylish visual aesthetics, meticulousness settings with symmetry along with distinguished humour. The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), Isle of Dogs (2018) and Moonrise Kingdom (2012) are just some of his greats.

After over a year waiting and debuting as the closing night film of the festival, here comes Anderson’s latest, The French Dispatch. Unfolding with three storylines as a love letter to journalists, this film comes with a dream cast (as always), starring Frances McDormand (Nomadland), Timothée Chalamet, Saoirse Ronan (what will be the third collaboration between Chalamet and Ronan following Lady Bird and Little Women), Tilda Swinton, Edward Norton and Léa Seydoux (La Vie d’Adèle) amongst many others.

4. Zola

A24, the company behind indie favourites like Minari (2020), Midsommar (2019), Lady Bird (2017), The Florida Project (2017) and Moonlight (2016) never fail to offer critical insights into humanity with a focus on multiculturalism and a true breadth of genre bending art.

Premiering at Sundance Film Festival, the black comedy Zola (2021) is the latest in a line of A24 greats. Based on an infamous 2015 tweetstorm, this is a story about a wild odyssey of a Florida waitress who is convinced to try stripping for the weekend. Gaining 88% on Rotten Tomatoes, the consensus is that “Zola captures the stranger-than-fiction appeal of the viral Twitter thread that inspired it…” and its big energy intertwined with its grappling of the strange phenomenon of virality in a digital age certainly make it one to watch.

Pulp EditorsNovember 1, 2021