Overview
With the memory of 2017's shambolic Oscars ceremony beginning to fade, so too are the major contenders starting to slip out of Australian cinemas. But with the latest home-grown effort Jasper Jones copping it from all sides and the new Wolverine stalking the multiplexes yet again, the dedicated cinephile may well be thinking it's going to be a while between drinks. Not this year.
The Sydney Film Festival may not kick off for another couple of months, but this time round it's getting an epic run-up. To celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Sydney Film Prize, Golden Age Cinema and Bar in Surry Hills will be screening all of the previous winners in the lead-up to the June festival — one a week for nine weeks.
The Sydney Film Prize is the Festival's official competition, awarding $63,000 to a "provocative, controversial or cutting edge film that moves the art form forward". In its ten years, the Prize has recognised numerous works and artists that have gone on to bag acclaim at film festivals all over the world. If you still don't get how big this is, Steve McQueen's Hunger will get the ball rolling on April 4, with Nicholas Winding Refn's Bronson and Only God Forgives to follow. Others in the pack include Asghar Farhadi's Oscar-winning A Separation, last year's winner Aquarius, the Dardenne brothers' Two Days, One Night, starring Marion Cotillard, and Yorgos Lanthimos' Alps about a group of people paid by the bereaved to impersonate their deceased relatives.
Or, you know, down the road they're showing one about a giant gorilla fighting dinosaurs. Your call.
TEN YEARS OF THE SYDNEY FILM PRIZE PROGRAM
April 4 – Hunger (2008)
April 11 – Bronson (2009)
April 18 – Heartbeats (2010)
April 26 – A Separation (2011)
May 2 – Alps (2012)
May 9 – Only God Forgives (2013)
May 16 – Two Days, One Night (2014)
May 23 – Arabian Nights Volume I (2015)
May 23 – Arabian Nights Volume II (2015)
May 24 – Arabian Nights Volume III (2015)
May 30 – Aquarius (2015)
Ten Years of the Sydney Film Prize will screen at Golden Age Cinema from April 4 till May 30. For more info and to book tickets, visit ourgoldenage.com.au.