Alps
MA15+
Greece, 2011
Genre: Drama
Language: Greek
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Starring: Aggeliki Papoulia, Ariane Labed, Johnny Vekris, Stavros Psyllakis
Nashen says:
Alps was the film that won the competition in my first year as director of Sydney Film Festival. So I thought, that’s one to highlight, because I think the film is incredible. But also, I was thinking about the trajectory of the filmmaker. Yorgos Lanthimos made films like Dogtooth and Alps, and then all of a sudden was catapulted into English language films and working with Nicole Kidman and and then made The Favourite. So it’s wonderful that his early films were with the Sydney Film Festival and now he’s making international cinema in the English language with major stars.
Beginning
MA15+
Georgia, France, 2020
Genre: Drama
Language: Georgian
Director: Dea Kulumbegashvili
Starring: Ia Sukhitashvili, Rati Oneli, Kakha Kintsurashvili
Nashen says:
It’s a first film, and we showed it a few years ago now. When we’re making the selection, every now and then, you see something that’s just so absolutely stunning and you know nothing about the filmmaker. For many in the audience, I think they would not have seen many films from Georgia before. And here’s something really incredible, something totally fully formed and so brilliantly thought out. It really is a film that takes you in with its beauty, but then also really shocks you in the directions it goes. I think it’s a tremendous first film and it’s one that you can discover at film festivals.
Drive My Car
MA15+
Japan, 2021
Genre: Drama
Language: Japanese, Chinese, English, German, Indonesian, Korean, Malay, Tagalog
Director: Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Starring: Hidetoshi Nishijima, Toko Miura, Masaki Okada, Reika Kirishima, Park Yu-rim, Jin Dae-yeon, Sonia Yuan, Ahn Hwi-tae, Perry Dizon, Satoko Abe, Hiroko Matsuda, Toshiaki Inomata, Takako Yamamura, Ryo Iwase, Faisal Anwar, Kamal Zharif, Massimo Biondi, Shoichiro Tanigawa
Nashen says:
I really enjoyed the film, and we screened in the competition a few years ago, and I. You know, even though it’s a it’s a three hour film, it’s a film that I, I really encouraged everyone. I could see it just because I think it’s so magnificent. And and then, of course, it went on to do to do well at the Oscars. And it had a great theatrical release in Australia and and several other places. So again, it’s a it’s a festival film that went on to have a wonderful life and brought so many people to the work of Hamaguchi.
Fiona: And sure, it is three hours long but it’s a brisk three hours. There are some long films pass like 90 minutes and there’s some 90-minute films that feel like three hours…
Nashen: Exactly! Exactly. If you had told me there’s a three-hour film that involves of elements of theatrical production, I would have said, “No, not for me, not at all”. But I think it’s just astonishingly great.
Director Ryûsuke Hamaguchi on reconnecting in beautiful Murakami adaptation ‘Drive My Car’
Lantana
MA15+
Australia, 2001
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Language: English
Director: Ray Lawrence
Starring: Anthony LaPaglia, Kerry Armstrong, Vince Colosimo, Barbara Hershey, Glenn Robbins, Geoffrey Rush
Nashen says:
Let’s go back a little while. Lantana opened the Sydney Film Festival, way before I got here. But I showed the film at the Durban Film Festival in South Africa at the time, and people absolutely loved the film. And I think I still think it’s an Australian classic. It’s one of my favourite Australia films. Many people people who are watching this at SBS On Demand have seen it, but you know what? Let’s all see again.
Five Faves: ‘Lantana’ director Ray Lawrence picks what to watch in isolation
Lore
MA15+
United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, 2012
Genre: Drama, War
Language: English
Director: Cate Shortland
Starring: Saskia Rosendahl, Mika Seidel, Ursina Lardi, Hans-Jochen Wagner, Sven Pippig, Philip Wiegratz
Nashen says:
It’s one of the first Australian films I played in the competition at Sydney Film Festival. We did the world premiere of Lore in 2012 and Cate Shortland is one of this country’s great filmmakers, I think one of the world’s great filmmakers, and I think she did a magnificent job with this film. We had the young actress, Saskia Rosendahl, with us for the world premiere along with Cate and the team. It was a beautiful screening and I remember it very fondly. So I thought it should be on the list!
Mediterranean Fever
M
Drama, 2022
Germany, France, Cyprus, Palestine
Language: Arabic
Languages: Arabic, Hebrew
Director: Maha Haj
Starring: Amer Hlehel, Ashraf Farah, Anat Hadid, Samir Elias, Cynthia Saleem, Shaden Kanboura, Yussuf Abu-Warda, Sobhi Hosari, Kareem Ghneim, Samar Qupty
Nashen says:
I chose this one because it’s it’s very recent. It was a late edition from Cannes last year, and I think it’s such a fascinating look at masculinity within Palestine. It’s from a women filmmaker, Maha Haj, and that makes it even more fascinating. It has such, such a incisive look at masculinity. Again, it’s a film that you’re not quite sure what you’re watching. It seems like a comedy, but there are obviously very serious elements in the film. I think it’s very deftly done and and because it was a festival last year, I think some people might not have seen it, so this would be a great opportunity to catch up on it.
Mustang
France, Germany, Turkey, Qatar, 2015
Genre: Drama
Language: Turkish
Director: Deniz Gamze Erguven
Starring: Günes Sensoy, Tugba Sunguroglu, Elit Iscan, Ilayda Akdogan, Nihal G. Koldas, Ayberk Pekcan, Serife Kara, Suzanne Marrot, Aynur Komecoglu, Burak Yigit, Erol Afsin, Kadir Celebi, Müzeyyen Celebi
Nashen says:
Mustang was, of course, at the festival years ago as one of the Audience Award winners. I mean, of course it won, I mean, have you seen this film?! It makes perfect sense for it t have won! But the film wasn’t very well known back then, of course. Again, it just goes to show that something unknown, by a filmmaker who’s not well-known at all can really just break through and and have an incredible connection with the audience. It’s truly a wonderful, heartbreaking, beautifully made film. So I thought, yes, why not? Yes. Give it a highlight here.
‘Mustang’: Deniz Gamze Ergüven interview
The Quiet Girl
M
Ireland, 2022
Genre: Drama
Language: English, Irish
Director: Colm Bairéad
Starring: Catherine Clinch, Carrie Crowley, Andrew Bennett, Michael Patric, Kate Nic Chonaonaigh, Joan Sheehy, Tara Faughnan, Neans Nic Dhonncha, Eabha Ni Chonaola, Carolyn Bracken, Pádraig Ó Se, Breandán Ó Duinnshleibhe, Séan O Suilleabhain, Aine Hayden, Elaine O’Hara, Marion O’Dwyer, Jessica Joannides, Roise Crowley, Grainne Gillespie, Norette Leahy, Rian Bairéad
Nashen says:
A classic. I include this because it’s easily a film that could have been missed. It played several festivals, but it was not watched closely by professionals. But eventually someone sent me the link of the film and I saw it and I thought it was incredible. We put it in the competition, of course. And audiences went crazy for the film. You know, just everyone was crying and it was such an emotional screening. The director and the producer were here with us. From a film that came from a pretty obscure background, that hadn’t played major film festivals in the major positions. It just drew a lot of love wherever it went, and then in the end, was Oscar nominated. That’s just a lovely trajectory for a film that is so beautiful and moving. It’s perfectly done. It’s certainly one I’d love more and more people to see on based on the bond you form with it.
‘The Quiet Girl’ embraces the beauty of the Irish language