Sydney Film Festival 2022 (SFF 2022) opened Wednesday night with a stunning line-up of films. In our previous articles, we’ve told you about films in French and films in multiple languages including French. In this article, it’s the films from multiple countries including France that aren’t in French.
COUNTRIES: Thailand, France, Singapore, Netherlands
LANGUAGE: Thai
DIRECTOR: Jakrawal Nilthamrong
In this intimate drama about life, death and love, director Nilthamrong draws from the memories of his parents. We meet Maem as an elderly woman caring for her dying husband. In flashbacks to the 1960s, Maem is a beautiful young woman from a provincial town who’s torn between her affection for a local boy and the seductive attentions of a swaggering military officer fighting communist insurgents. With Buddhist concepts of karma and impermanence to the fore, Nilthamrong has fashioned a touching human story that also serves as a powerful metaphor for the political and social upheavals that have affected life in Thailand for many decades.
COUNTRIES: Germany, France
LANGUAGES: English and Tsonga
DIRECTOR: Lena Karbe
An astute study of South Africa’s first all-female anti-poaching unit and the sexism, danger and enduring colonial structures they confront. Winner, F:ACT Award, CPH:DOX.
The Black Mambas were formed in 2013, at the peak of the Kruger National Park’s rhino poaching crisis, to protect the park and conserve its wildlife. Women from neighbouring communities signed up, proud to wear the park uniform and take on a role traditionally held by men. Qolile, a hardworking mother badly needs the income. New recruit Naledi is enthusiastic about her new role. Nkateko is the most ambitious, but her plans are stymied by her white male supervisors. Germany-based documentarian Lena Karbe films the women at home and work, and as they walk the perimeter looking for signs of creatures and poachers. In doing so, she skilfully exposes the multifarious barriers the women face to achieve their dreams.
COUNTRIES: Turkey, France, Germany, Netherlands, Greece, Croatia
LANGUAGES: Turkish
DIRECTOR: Emin Alper
A riveting political thriller that revolves around a prosecutor who moves to a small Turkish town and is embroiled in a political scandal.
Emre is a young and dedicated prosecutor who, when he arrives in the town, witnesses the frenzied, brutal killing of a wild boar, which is then dragged through the streets. Though disturbed by this sight, Emre’s distaste subsides with the otherwise warm welcome he receives. He’s offered tea in the streets and receives visits from sycophantic local dignitaries. But Emre finds the town in a water crisis: the extensive use of groundwater has resulted in sinkholes appearing. A journalist, Murat, provides Emre with some background involving faked geological reports, corruption, and the impending “water trial” that could have severe repercussions on the powerful people running the town. When Emre attends a small dinner at the mayor’s home – which soon turns into a bacchanal, and then something even more sinister – he finds himself severely compromised. Alper expertly ratchets up the tension in this simmering and suspenseful tale – one easily extrapolated from this small village to many places beyond it.
COUNTRIES: Lebanon, France, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Qatar
LANGUAGE: Arabic
DIRECTOR: Mounia Akl
Nadine Labaki and Saleh Bakri star in this story of a family that quits Beirut only to discover that escaping its chaos is not so easy. Award-winner at Toronto and London.
The Badri family decided years ago to abandon Beirut with its terrible pollution, garbage-filled streets and corruption. Souraya (Labaki, Capernaum) is a world-renowned singer, husband Walid (Bakri, Wajib) is an activist, and with their daughters and Walid’s mother, they now live in a beautiful retreat in the mountains. But their idyllic existence is shattered when men arrive to build a garbage landfill next door. Confronted by a world they thought they could leave behind, the family spirals into crisis. Made in the aftermath of the catastrophic Beirut explosion in 2020, Mounia Akl’s debut feature, which premiered at Venice and won awards in Toronto and London, is filled with both anger and charm.
COUNTRIES: Bangladesh, France, Norway
LANGUAGE: Bengali
DIRECTOR: Kamar Ahmad Simon
A seductive journey on a century-old river steamer overflowing with passengers from all walks of life from Kamar Ahmad Simon, the first Bangladeshi filmmaker to be Featured Red Carpet Director in Piazza Grande, Locarno.
‘The Rocket’, an ironically named ancient double-decker paddle boat, regularly sails from the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka to the southern city of Khulna. As time and countryside drift by (the 250km journey takes two days), Simon’s camera roams the crowded decks, filming the manifold passengers, from vloggers to tourists, families to salesmen. We eavesdrop on lively conversations (some real, some staged) covering everything from politics to food, and flinch as ‘The Rocket’ navigates one nautical hazard after another. Every detail in this rich river tapestry – the second in director Simon’s planned ‘water trilogy’ – is a delight and well worth the journey.
Dreaming Walls: Inside the Chelsea Hotel
COUNTRIES: USA, Belgium, France, Netherlands, Sweden
LANGUAGE: English
DIRECTORS: Amélie van Elmbt, Maya Duverdier
Belgian filmmakers Maya Duverdier and Amélie Van Elmbt examine the legacy of New York’s iconic Chelsea Hotel and meet its last remaining residents. Berlinale Panorama 2022.
Immortalised in song by Leonard Cohen and in cinema by Andy Warhol, the Chelsea Hotel served as a magnet for artists, writers and musicians for over 100 years. Dylan Thomas, Janis Joplin, Madonna and Sid Vicious are among those who stayed in Manhattan’s famously bohemian hub. But those days are long over. The Chelsea is now in its ninth year of renovations, leaving only a handful of residents who refused to take the money and leave. Amid the clatter of construction, we meet the fascinating people who still call these walls home and are fighting to preserve at least some of its rich history. Ghosts from the Chelsea’s past are lovingly woven into this elegiac portrait of its precarious present and uncertain future.
COUNTRIES: Paraguay, Argentina, USA, France, Netherlands, Germany, Mexico
LANGUAGES: Ayoreo and Guarani
DIRECTOR: Paz Encina
Winner of the Tiger Award, Rotterdam 2022, EAMI is an exquisitely shot lament for an Indigenous forest community under threat.
Our narrator, Eami, shapeshifts through time – from young girl to bird-god to jaguar – as she recounts the invasion of her Ayoreo-Totobiegosode homelands by illegal loggers. Director Paz Encina, who trained as a musician, offers an immersive encounter with the sights and soundscapes of the Paraguayan Chaco as it is transforms from vital ecosystem to wasteland. Birds sing, tires crunch, dogs howl, fire roars. As well as the name of our protagonist, ‘Eami’ is the term for both ‘forest’ and ‘world’. In other words, deforestation threatens the annihilation of the Ayoreo cosmos. “Remember everything,” says the old man who accompanies Eami on her journey. “Once we leave, we can never come back.”
COUNTRY: France
LANGUAGE: English
DIRECTOR: Gianluca Matarrese
Three fashion insiders – Michelle Elie, Casey Spooner and Violet Chachki – share their accessory-strewn lives in this vibrant front-row-seat documentary.
Drag artist and Season 7 winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race, Violet is always on the go, so rushed she ends up squeezing into couture outfits in the back of a taxi. OTT fashionista Michelle, a former model who now calls the streets her catwalk, struggles to fit a week’s worth of attire into her car. Musician and artist Casey spends every dollar on clothes and now he’s behind on the rent. This fabulous threesome is Italian director Gianluca Matarrese’s guide to the fashion world’s inner sanctum. A highly competitive domain – not exactly cut-throat but certainly fickle – it’s all down to who-you-know and how-you-look and that makes Fashion Babylon a colourful and highly entertaining watch.
COUNTRIES: Denmark, Iceland, France, Sweden
LANGUAGES: Danish and Icelandic
DIRECTOR: Hlynur Pálmason
Direct from Cannes Un Certain Regard, award-winning Icelandic filmmaker Hlynur Pálmason’s new film is a stunning historical drama inspired by true events.
In the much-anticipated follow-up to his acclaimed hit A White, White Day, Godland tells the story of Lucas, a young Danish priest (Elliott Crosset Hove, Winter Brothers) who travels to a remote and largely unexplored part of Iceland in the late 19th century to build a church and photograph its landscape and people. On his journey across the breathtaking but dangerous landscape, the idealistic but naive young clergyman is aided by a translator as well as an Icelandic guide (Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson, A White, White Day; Trapped) with whom he cannot communicate. The deeper Lucas goes into the unforgiving terrain, the more he strays from his purpose, the mission, and his morality; with unexpected and shocking repercussions. Evocative cinematography by Pálmason’s regular collaborator Maria von Hausswolff captures Lucas’ perilous journey in haunting detail and artistry, mirroring his characters’ obsession to document a strange new world. Godland draws us into a fascinating character study, which explores the colliding of worlds, ideas and language with enthralling impact.
COUNTRIES: Austria, France, Germany
LANGUAGES: German, English and Italian
DIRECTOR: Ulrich Seidl
Michael Thomas is dynamite as washed-up pop star Richie Bravo in a darkly comic drama from Ulrich Seidl (In the Basement, SFF 2015). In competition, Berlinale 2022.
Richie Bravo can just squeeze into the garish outfits he’s been wearing since the ’80s. During the Italian city of Rimini’s rainy off-season, Richie sings schmaltzy German schlager to tourists taking cut-price holidays in tatty hotels. To make ends meet he also has paid sex with ageing female fans. He’s not exactly the picture of a high-class escort, but there’s something weirdly endearing about this guy who never stops performing. Everything changes when Richie’s confronted by Tessa, the adult daughter he hasn’t seen in 12 years. Tessa doesn’t want reconciliation. She wants lots of money to make up for everything she’s missed out on. Federico Fellini’s birthplace is the perfect setting for Seidl’s bittersweet tale of faded glory and family ties.
COUNTRIES: Italy, France, Slovenia
LANGUAGE: Italian
DIRECTOR: Laura Samani
A woman tries to free the soul of her stillborn child in Laura Samani’s hypnotic debut. This aching fable explores motherhood, mysticism and grief. Cannes 2021.
After birthing a stillborn child, the grieving Agata is tortured by her Catholic faith – specifically the belief that her baby’s soul lies in eternal Limbo. Hope comes in the form of a mystical sanctuary in the middle of the mountains which can allow her baby to live for just one breath – just long enough to be blessed. Against the wishes of her husband and community, Agata embarks on an Orphean journey across north-east Italy, along rivers and into forests brimming with ancient power. Echoing the folkloric aura of Alice Rohrwacher’s Happy as Lazzaro, Samani’s odyssey is stunning and strange in equal measure.
COUNTRIES: Bolivia, France, Uruguay
LANGUAGES: Spanish and Quechua
DIRECTOR: Alejandro Loayza Grisi
Utama is an astonishing love story about an elderly Indigenous Quechea couple in the Bolivian highlands fighting to preserve their way of life.
Llama farmers Virginio (José Calcina) and Sisa (Luisa Quispe) have followed the same routine for years. But an extended period of drought poses an existential threat. The arrival of their grandson, Clever (Santos Choque), brings tension and throws their dilemma into sharp relief. Do Virginio and Sisa stay on and fight for survival and the preservation of their culture, or join the rest of their family in the city thereby giving up on their way of life forever?
The immense power of Utama lies not only in its visual beauty, but in the tremendous performances by non-professional actors, and couple in real life, Calcina and Quispe. Director Loayza Grisi, while scouting for the film, came upon the two and approached them to appear in the film and was instantly rejected. But he persevered, and to great effect: their intimacy and evidence of a life-long shared is palpable. A beautifully shot film, to be savoured on the big screen, Utama is an exquisite love story in a time of tumult.
COUNTRIES: France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Israel
LANGUAGE: English
DIRECTOR: Ari Folman
The new animated feature from Ari Folman (Waltz with Bashir) is a visionary retelling of the Anne Frank story that connects her legacy to oppression in the modern world.
One night in a near-future Amsterdam, in the Anne Frank House – once a secret hideout, now a museum – Anne’s world-famous diary opens of its own accord and her imaginary friend Kitty (Ruby Stokes) magically enters the world as a real person. Taking the diary with her – and dodging police as they hunt the thief – Kitty explores the 21st century while reminiscing on the life of her creator (voiced by Emily Carey) via deeply moving flashbacks. Befriending a group of asylum seekers in hiding, Kitty is saddened to find that war, injustice and prejudice are still very much with us. Combining young-adult adventure, fantasy and social commentary, this timely tale is enlivened by wonderfully vivid and dreamlike animation.
COUNTRIES: Indonesia, Singapore, France, Australia
LANGUAGE: Indonesian
DIRECTOR: Kamila Andini
A teenage girl’s ambitions in an austere Indonesian community poetically explored by Kamila Andini (The Seen and Unseen, SFF 2018). Winner of Toronto’s Platform Award.
Yuni (Arawinda Kirana) is the smartest in her school and aspires to go to university. But her high school is becoming increasingly puritanical, insisting on mandatory virginity tests for girls and a ban on music. Yuni’s hopes are further dampened by two marriage proposals from older men she barely knows. Her grandmother urges her to accept this “blessing”, for it is said that a woman who rejects three suitors is destined to never marry. In the face of this societal pressure, Yuni must also negotiate her crush on a teacher and the affections of shy schoolmate Yoga, a budding poet. A sensitive portrait of a vibrant, unforgettable character from rising-star Andini, a distinctive and essential voice in international cinema.
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Which films are you planning to see at SFF 2022?
KEY INFO FOR SFF 2022
WHAT: Sydney Film Festival 2022 (SFF 2022)
WHERE: various cinemas across Sydney
WHEN: 8 – 19 June
HOW: View the full SFF 2022 program at the official website: https://www.sff.org.au/
HOW MUCH: Individual tickets $17, special event prices differ. Flexipasses are also available to see 10, 20 or 30 films at a reduced price: https://www.sff.org.au/tickets/flexipasses/
MORE SFF 2022 CONTENT
REVIEW: Bootlegger puts socio-political issues in a Canadian first nations reserve at the forefront
SFF 2022: 12 multilingual films including French
Sydney Film Festival 2022: French language films
