The highly anticipated thriller The Royal Hotel, directed by Kitty Green (The Assistant, Casting JonBenet), co-written by Green and Oscar Redding (Van Diemen’s Land) and starring Julia Garner, Jessica Henwick, Hugo Weaving and Toby Wallace is SXSW Sydney 2023 Screen Festival’s Opening Night film. Green will grace the Opening Night red carpet at the International Conference Centre (ICC) in Sydney’s Darling Harbour Theatre on Sunday, 15 October 2023.
Searching for adventure and strapped for cash, US backpackers Hanna (Julia Garner) and Liv (Jessica Henwick) take jobs and accommodation at a remote outback pub, The Royal Hotel. Relentless heat, unglamorous booze in a box, and lack of wi-fi don’t paint the idyllic picture of an Aussie holiday the friends had envisioned, but the real threat grows increasingly intense and volatile as they become acquainted with the town’s primarily male residents.
The spectrum of menace is cast wide as they get to know the curt pub owner Billy (Hugo Weaving), playfully charming Matty (Toby Wallace) and frighteningly chilling Dolly (Daniel Henshall). Filmed in Australia, The Royal Hotel takes the familiar down under backpacker hair-raiser and flips it on its head, examining drinking culture, toxic masculinity and gender politics through a distinctively female lens.
“Kitty Green’s The Royal Hotel is a deft reworking of the ‘Aussie outback thriller,’ reoriented with a female gaze and we could not be more thrilled to open the inaugural SXSW Sydney Screen Festival with Kitty in attendance. The film takes deliberate stabs at the more toxic shadows of the genre, and our culture, in sophisticated but ever entertaining ways. Kitty is a local luminary gaining international acclaim as a writer-director with a fearless vision for nuanced storytelling and this film is the perfect opener to the Screen Festival, which seeks to amplify and celebrate bold voices in film,” says Ghita Loebenstein, SXSW Sydney’s Head of Screen.
The Royal Hotel is produced by Emile Sherman and Iain Canning of See-Saw Films, the Academy and BAFTA Award winning team behind The Power of the Dog, Lion and The King’s Speech, together with Animal Kingdom and The King producer and See-Saw Films’ Head of Film and Television (Aus) Liz Watts, and Scarlett Pictures’ Kath Shelper. The Royal Hotel is a Transmission Films release.
The film joins the growing line-up with the first SXSW Sydney Screen Festival bringing an extensive collection of screen content, igniting the city through visual story and showcasing the best of the APAC region, connecting the global creative community to share an experience at the forefront of discovery, creativity and innovation.
From red carpet premieres, including The Royal Hotel and previously announced Hot Potato: The Story of the Wiggles, expect features, shorts, series, music videos and an XR showcase at the SXSW Sydney Screen Festival, accessible with a SXSW Sydney Platinum or Screen, Games, Music and Tech badges, or a Screen Festival wristband. The SXSW Sydney 2023 Screen Festival offers a chance to catch unlimited screenings over six days and seven nights.
Discover your new favourite show, witness the best films before anyone else and immerse yourself in groundbreaking XR experiences. Don’t miss out on the Early Bird pricing of $240 for SXSW Sydney Screen Festival wristbands, which go on sale from Friday 25 August at https://sxswsydney.com/.
The Royal Hotel is a See-Saw Films production, with major production investment from Screen Australia in association with the South Australian Film Corporation and additional support from Screen NSW.
In collaboration with the NSW Government Via Destination NSW, TEG & SXSW®
