A look at the stars and industry heavyweights set to attend the 2017 Sydney Film Festival

The 64th annual Sydney Film Festival shows no signs of slouching on the line-up front this year, with the announcement that star Steven Yuen (TV’s The Walking Dead), 2017 Cannes Palme d’Or contender Bong Joon-ho, and Australian actor Daniel Henshall (Snowtown) will attend for the premiere of their feature Okja, fresh from its controversial showing in Cannes earlier this year.

Additionally, former New Zealand Prime Minister and UN Secretary-General Candidate Helen Clark will attend as a guest alongside director Gaylene Preston for the world premiere of her documentary My Year with Helen.

These latest guest announcements join an already impressive line-up of local and international talent making their way through the festival, including Oscar-winning actor and political activist Vanessa Redgrave (See Sorrow), Emmy-winning actor Ben Mendelsohn (Una), Australian writer/director/producer David Wenham (Ellipsis), Red Dog director Kriv Stenders and star Bryan Brown for their collaboration Australia Day, and French novelist and filmmaker Amanda Sther discussing her film Madame starring Toni Collette and Harvey Keitel, who will be just some of the prestigious guests joining audiences at their film premieres, and taking part in Q&A panels and discussions.

SFF this year has also partnered with Vivid Sydney, one of the world’s largest light and music festivals, to create Meet the Filmmaker talks: free sessions taking place at The Hub in Town Hall. Here there’ll be discussions ranging from Guardian Australia film critic Luke Buckmaster talking about the legacy and revelations of the Mad Max franchise, to female European directors noting the gender pay gap in their industry, from insiders lending their expertise on how to best utilise low budget filmmaking, to the realities of multiculturalism presented within the Australian film industry.

Sydney Film Festival will run from 7th – 18th June 2017.  For more information and full program details on SFF head to sff.org.au or call 1300 733 733.  Tickets for the festival are on sale now.

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Peter Gray

Film critic with a penchant for Dwayne Johnson, Jason Momoa, Michelle Pfeiffer and horror movies, harbouring the desire to be a face of entertainment news.