Sydney Film Festival 2024 Will Open with the World Premiere of Midnight Oil Documentary 'The Hardest Line'

Over half a century ago in Sydney, Rob Hirst and Jim Moginie formed a band. Soon, they'd add Peter Garrett and Martin Rotsey, and take Midnight Oil as their name. Back then, none of the group could've predicted the fame they'd have and the millions of records they'd sell worldwide — or the fact that a documentary about them will open the 2024 Sydney Film Festival.

Making its world premiere, Midnight Oil: The Hardest Line will kick off this year's SFF when it starts its projectors on Wednesday, June 5. Unsurprisingly, the State Theatre screening will be followed by a celebration in Sydney Town Hall — and we all know what'll be on the soundtrack.

"We are thrilled to present Midnight Oil: The Hardest Line as the opening film for this year's Sydney Film Festival," said Sydney Film Festival Director Nashen Moodley.

"This documentary not only chronicles the formidable journey of one of Australia's most influential bands but also captures the spirit of an era that reshaped our cultural and political landscapes. It's a fitting tribute to their legacy and a profound reflection on their impact that continues to inspire audiences around the world."

Written and directed by Paul Clarke (who also co-helmed fellow documentary Between a Frock and a Hard Place, about the making of The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert), Midnight Oil: The Hardest Line steps through the band's story from those 70s beginnings onwards. There'll be power. There'll be passion. There'll be a chronicle of a group who gave Australia — and the globe — songs such as 'US Forces', 'Beds Are Burning', 'Blue Sky Mine' and 'Redneck Wonderland'.

Audiences can expect live and studio footage that's never been seen before, and interviews that haven't been heard until now as well, covering chats with every band member. Clarke's doco also weaves in The Oils' "sorry" suits at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, their outback tour with Warumpi Band and the Exxon protest gig in New York. A major theme: the fact that Midnight Oil stands apart in the country's music history, with the film the product of Clarke following the group for seven years.

"With strong management, a tough crew and a sabre-tooth lawyer, bands can often dwell in a kind of mobile Faraday cage — the lightning striking all around, while the musicians remain high and dry in a studio, on a stage or wedged inside a Tarago. Thus it was for Midnight Oil: rarely were we able to focus on the horizon and see the 'big picture', if there was such a thing," said drummer Hirst.

"So a film such as The Hardest Line is as much a revelation as a chronicle. Perhaps at last we can frame the last 50 years, make some collective sense of it, wrap it in a box marked 'the luckiest band ever'."

SFF 2024 will run until Sunday, June 16, with The Hardest Line joining the lineup alongside the previously announced Bondi Icebergs documentary The Pool, a retrospective paying tribute to Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembène, horror classic Hellraiser with a new live score and 15 other already-unveiled flicks. If that's not enough motivation to get you clearing your schedule for 12 days in June, the fest's full program will drop on Wednesday, May 8.

Tim Levy

Tim Levy

Sydney Film Festival 2024 takes place from Wednesday, June 5–Sunday, June 16 at various cinemas and venues around Sydney. For more information, head to the festival's website — and check back here on Wednesday, May 8 for the full 2024 lineup.

Midnight Oil images: Tony Mott, Daniel Boud and Andrzej Liguz.