Calling all cinephiles and die-hard Inner Westies, the first ever Inner West Film Festival is bringing three days of cinematic delights to Sydney’s creative heartland from Friday, March 31 to Sunday, April 2.
The inaugural festival will showcase a range of Australian and world premieres, recent international film festival favourites, local productions shot in the Inner West, plus a range of satellite events including an Australian movie poster art exhibition, filmmakers’ talks, pitching and short film competitions, and for the brave there’s 'Top Secret Cinema’, a mystery special new screening.
It all kicks off with a huge event at Marrickville Golf Club, featuring a free community screening (and the Sydney premiere) of Jub Clerc's award-winning Indigenous coming-of-age story, Sweet As, which has featured at festivals worldwide and is destined to be a classic.
Film highlights include The Longest Weekend, a queer family drama filmed in the Inner West, which debuted at SFF last year; the Sydney premiere of Australian-made psychological drama Shit, based on the play written by feminist powerhouse Patricia Cornelius and directed by Suzie Dee; the Australian premiere of Still Working 9 to 5, a documentary by LA-based one-time Inner Westie Camille Hardman, which explores all the challenges and barriers still facing women in the workforce (and beyond) today; and FP 4EVZ, an Aussie-made, highly inventive, low budget action sci-fi franchise set in a post-apocalyptic future, where two rival gangs fight for turf by playing “Beat Beat Revelation”, a deadly version of Dance, Dance, Revolution.
There’s more than 15 events taking over beloved Inner West venues such as Palace Cinemas Leichhardt and Dendy Cinemas Newtown. Check out the full program and snap up some tickets over here.
