Sydney Film Festival

Influenced by the experience of Australian film makers with the Edinburgh Film Festival since 1947 and the festival connected with the annual meeting of the Australian Council of Film Societies held at Olinda in the Dandenong Ranges, Victoria in 1952, later Melbourne International Film Festival, a committee sprang from the Film Users Association of New South Wales to establish a film festival in Sydney. The committee included Alan Stout, Professor of Philosophy at The University of Sydney, filmmakers John Heyer and John Kingsford Smith, and Federation of Film Societies secretary David Donaldson.{{cite journal | journal=Senses of Cinema | publisher=Senses of Cinema Inc | title=Looking Back, Looking Forward: the Sydney Film Festival at 50 | author=Kaufman, Tina | date=May 2003 | volume=26 | url=http://www.sensesofcinema.com/2003/festival-reports/sydneyff_50_preview/ | access-date=25 April 2005

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20050415114242/http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/festivals/03/26/sydneyff_50_preview.html | archive-date = 15 April 2005}} Under the direction of Donaldson, the inaugural festival opened on 11 June 1954 and was held over four days, with screenings at Sydney University. Attendance was at full capacity with 1,200 tickets sold at one guinea each.

By 1958, the festival attracted its first international sponsored guest, Paul Rotha, and advertising into the festival catalogue. The following year, the program expanded to seventeen days and by 1960 exceeded 2,000 subscribers with the introduction of the Opening Night feature film and party. Censorship difficulties arose in the mid-1960s and continued until such time as the festival was granted exemption from censorship in 1971.Webber (2005), p. 9

From inception until 1967, the University remained the annual home of the festival. The following year, the festival moved to the Wintergarden in Rose Bay where it remained for the ensuing five years. The historic State Theatre became the home of the festival in 1974, and remains one of the festival venues to date.{{cite web

| url = http://www.statetheatre.com.au/HistoryGallery.aspx | title = History/Gallery – 1970s | year = 2010

| work = State Theatre website | publisher = State The Theatre | access-date = 8 June 2011}} In 2007, the festival introduced a series of live gigs, shows and cabaret-style screening at the nearby Metro Theatre.

Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia, the 2020 festival staged a reduced, online-only version, and in 2021 was delayed to open on 3 November with the audience limited first to 75 per cent capacity, increasing to 100 per cent from 8–21 November. The films were also available online.{{Cite web|title=Festival info| website=Sydney Film Festival|url=https://www.sff.org.au/info/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211022043248/https://www.sff.org.au/info/|archive-date= 22 October 2021|url-status=unfit}}

The competitive film festival draws international and local attention, with films being showcased in several venues across the city centre, and includes features, documentaries, short films, retrospectives, films for families and animations. Films are shown at venues across the Sydney CBD, with films shown at the Dendy Opera Quays, Event Cinemas in George Street, the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Ritz Cinemas, Sydney Town Hall, the Museum of Contemporary Art as well as the State Theatre.{{cn|date=November 2021}}

{{as of|2023}} the festival's director is Nashen Moodley,{{cite web | last=Jefferson | first=Dee | title=Sydney Film Festival's top prize goes to Mohammad Rasoulof's There Is No Evil, about capital punishment in Iran | website=ABC News| publisher =Australian Broadcasting Corporation | date=14 November 2021 | url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-14/sydney-film-festival-winners-mohammad-rasoulof-there-is-no-evil-/100619590 | access-date=19 November 2021}} who commenced in early 2012, replacing Clare Stewart.{{cite news |author=Gibbs, Ed |title=Festival boss will divide and conquer |date=18 December 2011 |access-date=3 February 2012 |url=http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/festival-boss-will-divide-and-conquer-20111217-1ozs8.html |work=The Sydney Morning Herald }}

Patrons of the festival include Gillian Armstrong, Cate Blanchett, Jane Campion, Nicole Kidman, Baz Luhrmann, George Miller, and Sam Neill among others.{{Cite web|title=Our Organisation|url=https://www.sff.org.au/about/our-organisation/|access-date=2021-11-05|website=Sydney Film Festival|language=en}}

Although a small number of prizes existed from the mid–1980s, prior to 2007, the Sydney Film Festival was classified by the International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF) as a Non-Competitive Feature Film Festival. On 10 September 2007, the Festival announced it had received funding from the New South Wales Government to host an official international competition, which rewarded "new directions in film". The FIAFP has since classified the Sydney Film Festival as a Competitive Specialised Feature Film Festival.{{cite web |url=http://www.fiapf.org/intfilmfestivals_2011_sites02.asp |title=Competitive Specialised Feature Film Festival |work=International Film Festival |publisher=FIAPF |year=2011 |access-date=5 July 2011}}

{{as of|2024}} the total prize pool was worth {{AUD|200,000}}. Prizes were awarded in the following categories:{{cite web | title=Awards | website=Sydney Film Festival | date=24 June 2024 | url=https://www.sff.org.au/program/awards/ | access-date=20 February 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250211234924/https://www.sff.org.au/program/awards/| archive-date=11 Feb 2025| url-status=live}}

• Sydney Film Prize (awarded to the most "audacious, cutting-edge, and courageous" film in the Official Competition; endorsed by FIAPF): {{AUD|60,000}} cash prize
• Sydney UNESCO City of Film Award (for a filmmaker based in New South Wales "whose work stands for innovation, imagination and high impact"): {{AUD|10,000}} cash prize
• Documentary Australia Award for Australian documentary: {{AUD|20,000}} cash prize
• Sustainable Future Award: {{AUD|40,000}} cash prize
• First Nations Award, supported by Truant Pictures (new in 2024; the largest cash prize for Indigenous filmmaking in the world, open to First Nations filmmakers from around the globe): {{AUD|35,000}}
• Dendy Awards for Australian Short Films:
• Dendy Live Action Short Award: {{AUD|7,000}} cash prize
• Rouben Mamoulian Award for Best Director (named after Armenian-American film and theatre director Rouben Mamoulian,{{cite web |url=http://www.sff.org.au/public/news/sydney-film-festival-2011-announces-winners-of-the-dendy,-yoram-gross-animation-crc-awards/ |title=Sydney Film Festival 2011 announces winners of the Dendy, Yoram Gross Animation & CRC Awards |work=News |publisher=Sydney Film Festival |date=19 June 2011 |access-date=5 July 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120316174628/http://www.sff.org.au/public/news/sydney-film-festival-2011-announces-winners-of-the-dendy,-yoram-gross-animation-crc-awards/ |archive-date=16 March 2012 }} who first presented the award in 1974): {{AUD|7,000}} cash prize
• Yoram Gross Animation Award (sponsored by Sandra and Guy Gross in honour of Yoram Gross): {{AUD|7,000}} cash prize
• AFTRS Craft Award: {{AUD|7,000}} cash prize
• Event Cinemas Rising Talent Award
• GIO Audience awards (announced in the week after the festival):
• Audience Award for Best Australian Feature
• Audience Award for Best Documentary
• Audience Award for Best International Feature
• Audience Award for Best International Documentary

Past awards have included:

• The CRC Award for Best Australian Feature-length Film with a Multicultural Perspective (presently sponsored by the Community Relations Commission For a Multicultural NSW) – established in 1992
• Peter Rasmussen Innovation Award – established in 2009{{cite web |url=http://www.sff.org.au/public/news/2011-peter-rasmussen-innovation-award-winner/ |title=2011 Peter Rasmussen Innovation Award winner |work=News |publisher=Sydney Film Festival |date=19 June 2011 |access-date=5 July 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120316174637/http://www.sff.org.au/public/news/2011-peter-rasmussen-innovation-award-winner/ |archive-date=16 March 2012 }}

{{More citations needed section|date=July 2023}}

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• David Donaldson (1954–1957)
• Valwyn Edwards (1958)Webber (2005), p. 7
• Sylvia Lawson and Robert Connell (1959)
• Lois Hunter (1960)
• Patricia Moore (1961)Webber (2005), p. 8
• Ian Klava (1962–1965) – Inaugural full-time paid director
• David Stratton (1966–1983)Webber (2005), p. 11

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• Rod Webb (1984–1988)
• Paul Byrnes (1989–1998)
• Gayle Lake (1999–2004)
• Lynden Barber (2005–2006)
• Clare Stewart (2007–2011){{cite news |url=http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/reel-deal--film-festival-finds-its-footing-20110524-1f2cw.html |title=Reel deal – film festival finds its footing |date=25 May 2011 |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |author=Maddox, Garry |author-link=Garry Maddox |access-date=11 July 2011 }}
• Nashen Moodley (2012–present)

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• Message Sticks Indigenous Film Festival

• {{cite book | author = Gillan, Edward (designer) | title = An Oral history of the Sydney Film Festival: 40 years of film | publisher = Sydney: Sydney Film Festival | year = 1993| isbn = 0-9596235-1-5 |pages=32}}
• {{cite thesis | title=A History of the Sydney Film Festival, 1954–1983 | author=Webber, Pauline | url=https://opus.lib.uts.edu.au/bitstream/10453/20050/1/01front.pdf | year=2005 | type=MA | publisher=University of Technology Sydney }}

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.sff.org.au/ Official Site]

{{Sydney Film Festival}}

{{film festivals}}

{{Sydney events}}

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Category:Film festivals in Sydney

Category:1954 establishments in Australia

Category:Film festivals established in 1954