“What a joy it is to return to the festival’s traditional June dates, bringing with it the return of international filmmakers to present their films, in person parties, talks, the Festival Hub and a range of activities in and outside of the cinema” Sydney Film Festival Director Nashen Moodley says. “As ever, our 2022 programme brings together films from all over the world, engaging with the most pertinent issues in challenging and entertaining ways.”
The 2022 festival will present more than 200 films from more than 64 countries. There will be 27 world premieres.
Of course, there is an offering of films with LGBTQIA+ themes/characters throughout the festival too.
‘Lonesome’ from Director Craig Boreham is the story of Casey, a closeted country boy escaping his small town to find himself in the big city, entangled in the transactional world of casual hook-ups and modern gay dating culture. Starring Ally Morgan, Anni Finsterer, Ian Roberts and Josh Lavery.
'Please Baby Please'
Three disconnected siblings find themselves living under the same roof, when the father who abandoned them returns to their lives, in ‘The Longest Weekend’ starring Tammy Macintosh, Mia Artemis and John Batchelor. Directed by Molly Haddon.
An ensemble cast featuring Academy Award-nominated actors including Steven Yeun, Richard Jenkins, June Squibb and Amy Schumer star in ‘The Humans’. Stephen Karam’s directorial debut is a raw and haunting look into the Blake family’s Thanksgiving lunch, in a crumbling apartment that implies the decline of American society and the world as we know it.
‘Please Baby Please’ opened the 2022 Rotterdam International Film Festival. From Director Amanda Kramer, it’s set in 1950s Manhattan as newlyweds Suse and Arthur witness a grisly murder and become the dangerous obsession of savage gangsters while beginning to question their own sexual identities.
Filmmaker Rita Baghdadi presents ‘Sirens’, set in Beirut. Lilas and Shery (co-founders/guitarists of the Middle East’s first al-female metal band) wrestle with friendship, sexuality and destruction in their pursuit of becoming thrash metal rock stars.
'The Longest Weekend'
‘Girl Picture’ from Finnish filmmaker Alli Haapasalo is an angsty, raunchy queer production following three girls nearing womanhood, discovering their honest feelings towards love and sex.
Director Ashley Mckenzie’s ‘Queens Of The Qing Dynasty’ sees a suicidal teen developing a rapport with the student from Shanghai, assigned to watch her in the hospital. Nightly exchanges of secrets, text messages and possessions expand the boundaries of the relationship, and alter inner chemistry.
’Tramps!’ is a documentary steering away from famous figures, instead choosing to focus on those usually neglected from the New Romantic scene narrative, such as Princess Julia, Scarlett Cannon, John Maybury and others.
The life of famous American crime writer Patricia Highsmith is uncovered in ‘Loving Highsmith’, a documentary from Eva Vitja. It’s an alluring look into both the public and private life of Highsmith and delves into her books on corruption and same-sex marriage.
Sydney Film Festival is on from 8-19 June.
