The Cannes Film Festival Palme D’Or winner and an acclaimed thriller starring R-Patz are among seven last-minute additions to Sydney Film Festival (June 7-18) that have just been announced.
In what has become an exciting annual event, SFF director Nashen Moodley announced the confirmed latecomers featuring “some of the most talked about directors and stars of our time”.
The biggest coup for Moodley is The Square, by Swedish director Ruben Östlund (Force Majeure). The Square is a satire of the art world starring Dominic West, Elisabeth Moss and Claes Bang that took out the top prize, the Palme D’Or, at Cannes last month.
Another Cannes prize winner, A Man of Integrity, is by Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof and concerns a goldfish farmer who finds himself pitted against a mysterious, corrupt network. Also from Iran comes Tehran Taboo, an animated film about the sex lives of young Iranians in a society of strict religious laws and prohibitions.
Robert Pattinson (he's still a thing, right?) is getting rave reviews for his performance in heist-gone-wrong thriller Good Time, playing a man who attempts a bank robbery with his intellectually disabled brother. The film is being favourably compared to seminal ’70s thrillers Dog Day Afternoon and Taxi Driver.
From Zambia comes contemporary satire I Am Not a Witch, in which a young orphan is accused of witchcraft and is sent away to a ‘witch camp’.
Many films in SFF this year tackle the Syrian refugee crisis but none quite like Jupiter’s Moon. A refugee crosses the border into Hungary, is wounded by a gunshot and realises that he has the power of levitation.
Finally, the prolific Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike delivers his 100th movie, Blade of the Immortal. After a legendary battle a warrior is cursed with immortality – he cannot die until he has killed a very large number of evil men.
Tickets to all these films are on sale now – be very, very, quick.
Read Time Out’s guide to the top 25 films in Sydney Film Festival.