SFF 2017

Film Review: I Am Not Your Negro (USA/France, 2016) is a powerful and evocative look at the Civil Rights Movement

America has long been a country divided, afflicted by the separation between white and black men and it still continues to this day. I Am Not Your Negro is a unique documentary that is an analysis of the civil rights movements of the 50’s and 60’s right through to the current Black Lives Matter movement….

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Sydney Film Festival Review: Those Who Make Revolution Halfway Only Dig Their Own Graves (Canada, 2017) is unwieldy but compelling

Audacious is definitely the right word to start with when it comes to describing the Mathieu Denis and Simon Lavoie-directed Those Who Make Revolution Halfway Only Dig Their Own Graves. At 180 minutes, it’s a leviathan of a film that often comes across as equal parts provocative and indecipherable. The central narrative here centers on…

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Sydney Film Festival Review: Ingrid Goes West (USA, 2017) Savages Social Media

At first glance, the logline for Ingrid Goes West can sound a bit twee, tacky or hyperbolic. In the wrong hands, this feels like a film that could easily have come off the wrong way. However, it’s to the credit of director Matt Splicer that it feels less like a lecture from your parents more…

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Sydney Film Festival Review: Game of Death (Canada, 2017) Is Bloody, Forgettable, Fun

Right at home in the “Freak Me Out” strand of this year’s Sydney Film Festival, Game of Death is probably more-or-less exactly the film you expect it to be. It’s a simple but fun romp that manages to eke out the most from its wacky premise, despite being held back by structural shortcomings and uneven…

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Sydney Film Festival Review: Ellipsis (AUS, 2017) is an intimate and beautifully real film

There’s a lot that can happen in 24 hours, and unless you stop and take a moment to let it sink in, you might just miss something magical. From acclaimed actor David Wenham comes his feature film directorial debut with Ellipsis, a film that came together under unusual circumstances but the end result is something…

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