The 63rd Sydney Film Festival program was officially launched by the NSW Deputy Premier and Minister for the Arts Troy Grant. “The NSW Government is proud to continue its support for this amazing festival; a key event that has cemented itself in Sydney’s winter entertainment calendar,” Mr. Grant commented “I’m extremely pleased that these films will be seen by more and more people in regional NSW, as the Festival goes on its regional tour later this year.”
“Sydney Film Festival has gone from strength to strength in recent years, with attendances increasing by over 59% to 176,000, since 2011,” Sydney Film Festival Director Nashen Moodley commented “In 2016 the Festival will present 244 films from 60 countries including 25 World Premieres, representing hundreds of fresh perspectives and new stories from across Australia and around the world. The Festival allows audiences to explore new worlds, new perspectives and new ways of being. An exposure to unfamiliar places and ways of life is enlightening, and not only does it spark a change in our view but our whole world. This year we celebrate film’s ability to inspire new ideas and encourage new experiences,” Mr. Moodley added.
Mr. Moodley explained that the 2016 Festival opens with the world premiere of Goldstone, a stylish and intelligent outback noir from acclaimed Indigenous writer-director Ivan Sen, presented by Distinguished Partner, Lexus Australia. Goldstone’s stellar Australian cast includes Aaron Pedersen, Jacki Weaver, David Wenham, and David Gulpilil. The film sees Pedersen reprise his role as Indigenous detective Jay Swan who audiences first met in Sen’s Mystery Road, which opened the Festival in 2013. Whit Stillman’s Love & Friendship, an adaptation of Jane Austen’s comical early novella ‘Lady Susan’ – starring Kate Beckinsale, Chloë Sevigny, Australian actor Xavier Samuel and Stephen Fry – is presented by Distinguished Partner, Princess Cruises, and will close the Festival.