The cream of the crop from the Sydney International Film Festival will visit Wollongong, including a movie by actor-turned-director Emilio Estevez, The Public.
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The Travelling Film Festival will showcase eight feature films and one documentary at Great Union Cinemas on Burelli Street, from August 2 to 4.
Opening the festival is Judy & Punch, a reinterpretation of the famous 16th century puppet show which brings to life a darkly comic and fierce female-driven revenge story. It stars Mia Wasikowska.
Estevez has come a long way since starring as Andrew in 1985's The Breakfast Club, and stars alongside Alec Baldwin and Christian Slater in his latest directional offering.
The Public is described as a funny, humane and moving drama about officials trying to evict homeless people who have taken over a public library to escape the freezing outdoors.
The Festival closes with Daffodils, a New Zealand musical romance starring George Mason (Home and Away), Rose McIver (iZombie) and pop star Kimbra.
Originally seen by Illawarra audiences as a stage musical in 2016, the movie is the first musical feature film to be released by New Zealand since 1966. It includes covers of Kiwi classics by artists like Dave Dobbyn, Bic Runga, The Mutton Birds and Crowded House.
"We are very excited to bring the Festival back to Wollongong," said festival manager Sanam Rodrigues.
"Local audiences have plenty to look forward to, with screenings of some of the most talked-about films direct from Sydney Film Festival: including wonderful Australian productions and excellent cinematic works from all around the world."
FULL PROGRAM
Friday 2 August
- Judy & Punch - Mirrah Foulkes's astonishing, indefinable feature debut reimagines the Judy & Punch puppet show as a darkly comic feminist revenge tale starring Mia Wasikowska and Damon Herriman.
Saturday 3 August
- The Deposit - sthildur Kjartansdttir's assured feature debut focuses on a journalist who invites three immigrant women to share her house in Reykjavik. Division and discord soon arise.Screens with short film Deluge.
- The Third Wife - Set in late 19th century Vietnam, Ash Mayfair's exquisite feature debut focuses on a teenager in an arranged marriage, who learns quickly about her world's suffocating patriarchy.
- Slam - A hijab-wearing Sydney slam poet goes missing in this powerful look at race and relations starring Adam Bakri (Omar) and Rachael Blake (Lantana), directed by Partho Sen-Gupta.
- Photograph - Ritesh Bhatra (The Lunchbox, SFF 2014) returns with a whimsical love story about a Mumbai street photographer who convinces a shy stranger to pose as his fiancé.Screens with short film Prone to the Drone.
Sunday 4 August
- The Final Quarter - Cheers turned to boos in the final years of AFL champion footballer Adam Goodes' career when he publicly called out racism. This impassioned film tracks Australia's heated response.
- Animals - Holliday Grainger and Alia Shawkat shine as best friends who live in a haze of drink, drugs and one-night stands, in the hilarious new film by Australian director Sophie Hyde (52 Tuesdays).
- Yuli - Cuban ballet luminary Carlos Acosta is both star and subject of this moving and unusual fusion of biography and dazzling dance, by Spanish director Icar Bollan (The Olive Tree, SFF 2016).
- The Public - Emilio Estevez directs and acts alongside Alec Baldwin, Jena Malone, Christian Slater and Michael K. Williams in this heart-warming film about homeless people who occupy a library to escape freezing conditions.Screens with short film Magnetic.
- Daffodils - A stirring musical romance brimming with decades of New Zealand hits from Crowded House to Bic Runga; and a box office hit at home.
Book tickets online in advance at sff.org.au/tff/program/wollongong