By FilmInk Staff
“Last year people criticised us for not being on long enough, so this year we thought we would really go for it with a massive eleven days to make sure that no one misses out,” says Inner West Film Fest co-director and co-founder Dr. Greg Dolgopolov.
If you’d actually want your film festival to be criticised for anything, the one slight you’d be happy to take was that it didn’t go for long enough. Last year’s Inner West Film Fest – a cinematic celebration unrolling in Sydney’s most artistically inclined region – charged hard out of the gate with a gorgeous under-the-stars screening of the Aussie flick Sweet As on the first hole at Marrickville Golf Course, and then rolled on at pace for three more days, with a host of on-point screenings and imaginatively curated events.
The uptick in the festival for its second year is, as Dr. Greg Dolgopolov says, quite staggering, with over double the days and many, many more films in the programme. Mirroring last year’s highly successful open-air opening night film event, 2024’s Inner West Film Fest will kick off with a free one-off screening of the much-loved and oft-quoted surprise breakout 2004 indie hit Napoleon Dynamite, the cult comedy that helped define a generation, and which recently enjoyed an anniversary screening at Sundance. Once again, the venue will be the first hole at Marrickville Golf Course. “If you haven’t seen Napoleon Dynamite – or if you haven’t seen Napoleon Dynamite in a while – watching it under the stars with a big audience will put a whole new spin on this cult classic,” says Inner West Film Fest co-director and co-founder Dov Kornits.
After that, the films just keep coming. “Last year’s event started off as a one-dayer, which quickly expanded to four…this year, we’ve more than doubled that, which has required a lot more scouting around the world for great content,” says Dov Kornits. “There really is something for everyone in the diverse Inner West, and its many visitors, of course.” Like any good Australian film festival, The Inner West Film Fest is anchored by a fine selection of Aussie films, many of them screening locally for the first time, including photographer and documentarian Stephen Dupont’s searing, unforgettable documentary Kaugere: A Place Where Nobody Enters; Fight To Live, a riveting, profoundly inspiring documentary that follows Aussie Bare Knuckle Fighting champion “Rowdy” Bec Rawlings; the tough but tender boxing drama Heart Of The Man; festival favourite Goran Stolevski’s latest work, Housekeeping For Beginners; Sahela, which takes a rare look at Australia’s Indian community; and Paul Fenech: Outback Outlaw Comedian, the latest slab of comedy madness from the creator of Fat Pizza, Housos, and Bogan Hunters.
Alongside its impressive haul of Aussie films, The Inner West Film Fest will also head into territory avoided by most film festivals. “This year, we have consciously leaned into the comedy genre with our programming,” says Dov Kornits. “There are a number of reasons for that, and at the top is the fact that no other major film festivals champion comedy, which struck as elitist, especially with how hard it is to pull off great comedy. Plus, comedy can be so many things, from satire, charcoal black, slapstick, subversive, to light and fluffy. Times are tough in the world right now, and watching a comedy with an audience in a full cinema is such a unique and infectious experience.” The comedies set to be enjoyed at the festival run the gamut when it comes to laughs, with hip American indies (Coup!, The Sweet East, Fremont, Drugstore June), Ukrainian loopiness (Lessons Of Tolerance), a Belgian dog tale (Life’s A Bitch); and works from major directors Luc Besson (Dogman) and Faouzi Bensaïdi (Deserts).
Another intriguing aspect of this year’s fest is its focus on Canadian cinema, with titles like Testament (the latest from Jesus Of Montreal / Barbarian Invasions director Denys Arcand), I Used To Be Funny (which showcases the rich talents of rising star Rachel Sennott, from Bottoms and Shiva Baby), I Like Movies (a sweet, heartfelt paean to cinematic obsession and social awkwardness), and Hey Viktor! (a hilarious, mind-bending meta-comedy that launches off from the 1998 indie classic Smoke Signals) set to enchant and confront Inner West audiences. There are also docos (Amanda Kramer’s So Unreal; Aleksei Fedorchenko’s New Berlin), special retrospective screenings (the 2000 Aussie youth comedy Angst; the 1979 loopy JFK conspiracy theory cult classic Winter Kills, starring Jeff Bridges); and a collection of the best music videos of recent years. “I’m really proud of the line-up, which is a mix of mature films by established masters (Besson, Arcand, Friedkin), as well as debut features by the likes of Raghuvir Joshi (Sahela) and the US’s Ally Pankiw (I Used to Be Funny),” says Dr. Greg Dolgopolov.
In addition to these must-see screenings, The Inner West Film Fest is jam-packed with fun activities to bring the Inner West community together, including a Pitching Competition with emerging filmmakers selling their prospective next projects to an esteemed jury of industry pros in front of a live audience; a very special session of Film Trivia which will see the movie nerds of The Inner West flaunt their cinematic know-how; the Inner West Film Market, where film buffs will browse day bills, posters, Blu-rays, movie books and merch, along with surprise guests and displays; and a photo exhibition featuring the stunning work of award-winning photographer Stephen Dupont, which will tie in with the festival screening of his documentary Kaugere: A Place Where Nobody Enters. There’ll also be a very secret screening, which is still very much under wraps. “We also had a huge surge of locally produced short films by young filmmakers from the Inner West, which just highlights that this is the creative beating heart of Sydney, so we have put on two in-competition short film programmes,” says Dolgopolov.
Serving and inspired by one of the most diverse, creative, and artistically enriched regions of not just Sydney but Australia itself, The Inner West Film Fest is all set to go big in its very exciting second year. “It is a festival that seeks to really engage in the community of local audiences and local creatives,” says Greg Dolgopolov. “We have big and rather silly plans for the future, so we’re really looking forward to hearing from our audiences this year.”
The Inner West Film Fest runs from April 11-21 at a range of venues throughout Sydney’s Inner West. For all venue, programming and ticketing details, head to The Inner West Film Fest official website.
