By Travis Johnson
Formerly the WOW Film Festival, For Film’s Sake returns for the second year under its new banner to offer Sydney punters the best in female focused and generated content sourced globally and abroad. This year’s event, which takes place from April 11 – 15 across numerous venues, offers 15 Australian premieres, plus retrospective screenings, activations, shorts, and more.
Some of this year’s highlights include:
The Light of the Moon (Australian premiere) by Australian ex-pat Jessica M. Thompson. Bonnie (Stephanie Beatriz – Brooklyn Nine Nine), a young and successful Latina architect, is sexually assaulted while walking home from an evening out with friends in Brooklyn. At first, she attempts to keep the assault a secret from her long-term boyfriend Matt, but the truth quickly emerges. She fights to regain normalcy and control of her life, but returning to her old life is more complicated than expected.
Hot Mess (World Premiere), by Lucy Coleman. Stuck in the angst of wondering who she is and what she is meant to be doing with her life, Loz (Sarah Gaul), a 25 year-old aspiring playwright, finally thinks she’s found the answer to all her issues.
So Long (NSW Premiere) by Caitlin Farrugia and Michael Jones. Follows the day to day lives of two women, Emily and Ray, as they grapple with their post-breakup lives.
Flames by real life couple Josephine Decker and Zefrey Throwell. Shot over the course of their five-year long relationship. High on their intense connection, the pair of artists document their relationship’s every beat, from their adventurous sex life, to their performance art collaborations, to a spur-of-the-moment getaway to the Maldives. But when the romantic vacation doesn’t exactly go as planned, the now-former couple are left to decide what to do with their film-in-progress, and for these two filmmakers, the end of the relationship isn’t the end of the story.
Fright Night, FFS’s acclaimed horror showcase, which this year includes the Australian premiere of SXSW breakout M.F.A, a rape-revenge tale starring Natasha Eastwood (daughter of Clint); Swiss stunner Blue My Mind; and Argentinian heart-racer Friendly Beast.
Big, by Penny Marshall. Tom Hanks’ breakthough was the first feature directed by a woman to make over 100 million dollars at the box office. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the cult classic, FFS is installing the original Big Piano into the George St Set Bar. Audiences are invited to comesdressed as their 13 year old self, with the best dressed winning a year’s free films courtesy of Event Cinemas. The evening will also feature a special Big Kids afterparty with fortune telling machine Zoltar and an accompanying ’80s soundtrack.
Marlina the Murderer, by Mouly Surya. Marlina (Marsha Timothy) lives quietly in Sumba until one day a man named Markus (Egy Fedly) and his gang tries to rob her house and she kills him. Eventually, she is haunted by Markus, and her life turns 180 degrees.
