The Screenwave International Film Festival, kicks off on April 20 and finishes on May 5, and will find new audiences this year around Australia, thanks to a new partnership with SBS On Demand. The new partnership will see a dedicated and branded SWIFF program of 10 feature films from previous festivals, which will be able to stream for free, starting March 30, in the lead-up to SWIFF’23. SWIFF Directors Dave Horsley and Kate Howat explained that previous festival favourite films such as Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Drive My Car, Another Round, The Furnace, and Toni Erdman are some of the films that will feature on SWIFF’s dedicated SBS On Demand program, providing a sample for the rest of Australia into our local film and screen culture SWIFF festival experience, here on the Coffs Coast.




Howat said that SWIFF’s SBS On Demand streaming program is only a small teaser of the films coming up at SWIFF’23. A record-breaking 80 different feature films across 140+ sessions will be coming to the Coffs Coast soon with the festival. SWIFF’23 will host over 140 feature film screenings and special events across 16 days, with the festival supported by their Festival Patron, Australian screen icon Jack Thompson.
Horsley explained that popular films with audiences so far include Paul Mescal Cannes Jury Prize-winning father-daughter drama Aftersun, Ruben Ostlund’s Cannes Palme d’Or winning comedy satire of the ultra-rich in Triangle of Sadness, Steven Spielberg’s Oscar-nominated filmmaking family drama The Fabelmans, Rolf de Heer’s Berlinale FIPRESCI Award-winning film The Survival of Kindness (Opening Night is sold out – but regular sessions are available), and Matty Hannon’s West Coast America’s motorbike and horseback travelogue The Road to Patagonia.