Concrete Playground

Saturday, 10th October - 1PM
@ The Gaelic Theatre

Jack Black may have already rocked a classroom, but Musication is all about getting schooled in music, Sydney style. The brainchild of some talented local lasses, Musication is gathering together the newest, hottest (literally, see for yourself!) musical talent for one educational evening at the Gaelic Theatre. The line up...

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Friday, 11th September - 3AM
@ Various cinemas

The intractable bond between mother and child is scrutinised in Ana Kokkino’s heart wrenching new film. A multi-narrative tale based on the play Who’s Afraid of the Working Class?, Blessed brings together an impressive cast of child and adult actors to weave together a confronting portrait of love, loss and...

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Saturday, 5th September - 10AM
@ Turanga and Matavai housing commission blocks

We often speak about “getting older and wiser� but are less likely to seek out the wealth of knowledge from our elders. So in celebration of the City of Sydney’s Older & Wiser Week, filmmaker Simon Dikkenberg is giving us the chance to do just that with his 30-minute documentary...

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Thursday, 3rd September - Friday, 23rd October
@ Various cinemas

Ang Lee’s tribute to the 40-year anniversary of Woodstock is not quite the film you’d expect. Based on the memoirs of Elliot Tiber, Lee’s movie is much more a family drama in the vein of his previous film The Ice Storm or even Sense and Sensibility, than a nostalgic case of ‘thank you...

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Friday, 4th September - Thursday, 29th October
@ Various cinemas

Once Upon a Time in Nazi-Occupied France. From the brilliant and bizarre mind of Quentin Tarantino comes the ultimate revenge fantasy. Like the title’s misspelling suggests, Inglourious Basterds takes no heed of reality, turning the history of World War II on its head and serving up some bloodthirsty justice instead....

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Friday, 18th September - 3AM
@ Palace Verona

“So many things I did.�This whispered utterance from Valentino – as his moves through the racks of 45 years of couture – said with such simplicity and almost incredulity, perfectly encapsulates his brilliant career. And yet the Emperor was not without his entourage, as Matt Tyrnauer’s fascinating documentary so telling...

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Friday, 25th September - Wednesday, 18th November
@ Hoyts Broadway

Touted as the first indigenous comedy film, Stone Bros. is an Aboriginal Australian road movie, replete with colourful characters and crazy situations. Writer/director Richard J. Frankland sticks cousins Eddie (Luke Carroll) and Charlie (Leon Burchill) in a busted up old Ford and sends them on a coming-of-age journey from Perth...

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Friday, 18th September - Friday, 6th November
@ Event Cinemas

This is not a love story. This is a story about love. From the opening (rather pointed) intertitles, this tagline is made abundantly clear. Debut feature film director Marc Webb and his two stars Joseph-Gordon Levitt and Zooey Deschanel charmingly translate screenwriters Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber’s wonderfully comic...

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Monday, 21st September - 12PM
@ Hayden Orpheum

One World. One Week. One Festival. Cremorne’s charming Hayden Orpheum is the Sydney venue for this unique festival of short films and lots of numbers: of 428 entries from 36 countries, the ten selected semi-finalists will have their films screened 532 times in 173 cities across five continents. Sydneysider Sandy Widyanata...

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Saturday, 17th October - 1PM
@ The Seymour Centre

For those unsatisfied with skiing double black diamond runs, or daring off-piste, then heli-skiing must surely be the final frontier. This October, the award-winning producers at Teton Gravity Research (TGR) are bringing their newest skiing/snowboarding film extravaganza Re: Session to tour around Australia. Having gathered together the best of the...

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Friday, 16th October - Saturday, 24th October
@ Lighthouse Theatre, Macquarie University

Ah, the folly of youth.In 2005 Rian Johnson reinvented film noir with the critically acclaimed, cryptic high school tale Brick. Then earlier this year a high school drama teacher, Chris White, translated Johnson’s teenage detective story for the stage. Moreover, White and his students at J.L Mann High School in...

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Thursday, 24th September - Monday, 12th October
@ Palace Academy Cinemas

The 2009 Italian Film Festival is already well under way at the Palace Cinemas in Sydney. Alongside the great line-up of new releases (including Michael Winterbottom’s much anticipated Genova) the festival is celebrating its 10th anniversary by screening a collection of past favourites. However the pièce de résistance of this...

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Friday, 23rd October - 12PM
@ Chauvel Cinema

How many Australian films have been on your radar this year? Did Samson & Delilah’s win at Cannes pique your interest? What about the first Aboriginal comedy, Stone Bros? Surely the political and powerful Balibo got a look in, and now you’re rushing to see Bruce Beresford’s adaptation of Mao’s...

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Saturday, 17th October - Wednesday, 21st October
@ Dendy Opera Quays

The Vikings didn't make it as far as Australia but the Nordic Film Festival is venturing to our shores for the first time this October. Films from the far northern lands of Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark will be stopping at the Dendy Opera Quays for your cinematic pleasure. The...

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Friday, 16th October - Sunday, 25th October
@ State Library of NSW

Australia has an illustrious cinematic history. Indeed with The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906) Australia arguably gave the world its first narrative feature. This and a dazzling collection of silent gems from around the world will be presented at the State Library this month as part of Australia’s Silent...

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Friday, 16th October - Thursday, 26th November
@ Event Cinemas

The nostalgia value of Astro Boy alone is sure to see crowds beating a path to the cinema. The antics of this pint sized action hero have been delighting comic and cartoon fans since the 1950s. And if you ever wondered where the anime obsession with gigantic eyes comes from,...

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Sunday, 18th October - 7AM
@ Chauvel Cinema

This weekend you’re in for quite a treat. Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends Well is coming to Sydney directly from Britain’s National Theatre. The screenings are part of a new initiative called NT Live, which sees theatrical treasures beamed around the world in high definition. Alas the ‘live’ component isn’t...

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Thursday, 29th October - 8PM
@ Event Cinemas

A film entitled The Box, starring Cameron Diaz and James "27 Dresses" Marsden, and you’d easily be forgiven for thinking this a romantic comedy. A featherweight caper about the mishaps of proposing perhaps. But with Donnie Darko director Richard Kelly at the helm, you’re in for quite another ride indeed....

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Thursday, 12th November - Tuesday, 24th November
@ Palace Academy Cinemas

Fathers and sons: a relationship not often portrayed without sporting paraphernalia nearby. Adapting Simon Carr’s acclaimed memoir about single fatherhood in the shadow of loss, celebrated Australian director Scott Hicks and his leading man Clive Owen offer up a delicate, moving film. In the wake of his wife’s death, sports...

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Thursday, 29th October - Sunday, 1st November
@ Palace Norton St.

2009 may have begun with confronting news coverage of the Israeli incursion into Gaza, but it shall draw to a close with more heartening images from Palestine. For the second year, the Palestinian Film Festival is shining a light on their widely unknown national cinema. From the first Palestinian animation,...

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Friday, 30th October - Tuesday, 6th October
@ Dendy Newtown

Australians may not entirely embrace Halloween, but there’s no question that we dig the genre films served up alongside. And so it is that the Fantastic Planet Film Festival descends upon the Dendy Newtown, spreading some sci-fi and horror thrills for local audiences. Boasting both world and Australian premieres, the...

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Thursday, 5th November - Wednesday, 16th December
@ Various cinemas

Michael Moore’s latest rant-cum-documentary has Washington squarely in its sights. Surely it was only a matter of time before the agent-provocateur filmmaker produced his missive on America’s sub-prime catastrophe and the compounding global financial crisis. Moore, however, is not content to merely rail against the divide between rich and poor...

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Saturday, 28th November - 6PM
@ Bondi Pavilion

Bringing cinema to the beach for the ninth year running, the Bondi Short Film Festival has well and truly established itself as a cult cinematic event. In fact the matinee session has already sold out, even before the fourteen finalists have been announced!The judges may well be a drawcard. Festival...

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Thursday, 29th October - Thursday, 26th November
@ Palace Academy Cinemas

Just imagine it: Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page, U2’s The Edge and The White Stripes’ Jack White are on a soundstage, their electric guitars within reach. It will get loud, there’s no doubt about it.Academy Award winning documentarian Davis Guggenheim brought producer Thomas Tull’s brainchild to life in this extraordinarily energising...

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Thursday, 12th November - Thursday, 10th December
@ Palace Academy Cinemas

David Caesar takes on the truckies in his modern fairytale Prime Mover. Infusing dusty Dubbo with magical realism, this is the story of Thomas, an aspiring truckie meets small town gypsy Melissa, and the love and life they make for each other. The film reunites Suburban Mayhem stars Michael Dorman...

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Thursday, 5th November - Thursday, 17th December
@ Event Cinemas

Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is quite the cinematic right of passage. Donald Duck has assumed the mantle, as have Laurence Olivier, Michael Caine and the Muppets. Heady names indeed when considering yet another remake. But the ambitious Robert Zemeckis has stepped up to the plate, with the ebullient Jim...

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Thursday, 26th November - Thursday, 31st December
@ Palace Verona

With art imitating life imitating, well, Paul Giamatti, Cold Souls is quite the curio. Writer/director Sophie Barthes takes soul searching to a whole new level in her philosophical treatise on the commodification of the soul. It’s probably best not to say too much about this film. However, anyone who might...

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Thursday, 19th November - 10AM
@ Palace Academy Cinemas

The American Dream stretches far beyond its country’s borders. And yet in looking to trade in the Israeli wall for an Illinois white-picket fence, Palestinian Muna (Nisreen Faour) and her teenage son, Fadi (Melkar Muallem) find the dream elusive in 2003 Iraq war America. Writer/director Cherien Dabis’ debut feature Amreeka...

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Thursday, 12th November - Thursday, 17th December
@ Event Cinemas

In an attempt to avoid all manner of flying puns*, the best way to describe Mira Nair’s Amelia is as a mixed bag. This biopic of famed and ill-fated aviatrix Amelia Earhart is bolstered by beautiful production design, gorgeous costumes and a committed performance by Hilary Swank. However the film...

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Wednesday, 18th November - Sunday, 29th November
@ Dendy Opera Quays

¡Hola! May be the extent of many Australians’ Spanish capabilities, but the Hola Mexico Film Festival would like us to learn another word: revalucion! Yes la revolucion is coming, with the festival looking to commemorate 99 years since the Mexican Revolution by screening one of the country’s most expensive films...

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Saturday, 26th December - Saturday, 30th January
@ Palace Academy Cinemas

Australian audiences are destined to begin and end 2009 in a French classroom. Pourquoi? Early 2009 was spent watching Laurent Cantet's Palme D'Or winning The Class, fascinating in François Bégaudeau's unvarnished and compassionate look at his own life teaching in a multicultural Parisian school. Comparatively, The French Kissers feels like...

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Wednesday, 9th December - Wednesday, 20th January
@ Event Cinemas

In a post-apocalyptic world, ruined by the scientific hubris of mankind, only a small contingent of machines remains: those that wrought the destruction, and a handful of handmade dolls cowering in the ruins. The appeal of Shane Acker’s gothic tale to producer Tim Burton is obvious; visually and thematically, the...

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Monday, 16th November - Thursday, 3rd December
@ Dendy Opera Quays

Fancy a free trip to the cinema? The Access All Areas Film Festival is taking Australian film on tour this month as part of the state’s Don’t DIS my ABILITY campaign, which culminates in the celebration of the International Day of People with a Disability. Think about it, a trip...

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Thursday, 3rd December - Sunday, 14th March
@ Belvedere Amphitheatre, Centennial Park

The new program for The Moonlight Cinema kicks off with Sam Taylor Wood’s John Lennon biopic Nowhere Boy. This beautifully constructed film steps behind the legend to reveal a young man torn between two mothers. Another masterful biopic sees the delightful Audrey Tatuou seamlessly embodying the modest beginnings of the...

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Thursday, 19th November - Wednesday, 23rd December
@ Palace Academy Cinemas

No Jews were harmed during the making of this film.Left to the end of the credits, this little disclaimer speaks volumes about both the subject matter and tone of A Serious Man. Indeed the Coen brothers’ latest film feels like an elaborate in-joke, born of their own Jewish upbringing and...

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Thursday, 26th November - Thursday, 31st December
@ Palace Verona

Why hasn't Australia heard of the Topp Twins? We're famous for nabbing New Zealand talent and claiming them for our own (think Russell Crowe, Crowded House's Neil Finn and Jane Campion), so how these charming sisters, their humour and their musical activism haven't crossed the pond boggles the mind. Fortunately...

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Thursday, 3rd December - Thursday, 14th January
@ Dendy Cinemas

Brian Clough: The greatest manager the England team never had. Being a football fan is by no means a prerequisite to enjoy Peter Morgan’s brilliant biopic The Damned United. Adapting David Pearce’s novel in what looks to be a fairly generous, even romanticised take on the life and career of...

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Thursday, 3rd December - Thursday, 31st December
@ Chauvel Cinema

The unique bond between twins is compassionately realised in Armagan Ballantyne’s debut feature The Strength of Water. Set in the Hokianga, a beautiful, remote region of far north New Zealand, the film is a Maori story of family, loss, love and acceptance. When Tai (Isaac Barber), a troubled stranger trudges...

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Thursday, 3rd December - Thursday, 14th January
@ Event Cinemas

From the opening intertitle of The Informant! (or even from the title’s exclamation mark) it’s abundantly clear Steven Soderbergh is gearing up to have a lot of fun. Though based on the bizarre true story of white-collar whistleblower Mark Whitacre, there’s no way Soderbergh is going to let the facts...

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Thursday, 10th December - Thursday, 14th January
@ Event Cinemas

What do you get when acclaimed novelist husband and wife team Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida try their collective hand at a semi-autobiographical screenplay about impending parenthood? A very writerly, willfully quirky road-trip, plied with many a double entendre and clear thematic goals. It’s also rather funny, with The Office...

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Tuesday, 12th January - Saturday, 20th February
@ Mrs. Macquaries Point

Rob Bryant, General Manager of the OpenAir Cinema can sum up the experience in three words, 'Sydney in summertime'.This isn't just an outdoor cinema, Mr. Bryant explains, "It's an experience of Sydney. We all live here and we all run around like mad everyday, just keeping our head above water...

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Thursday, 10th December - Thursday, 14th January
@ Dendy Newtown

Polemical, political satirist Bill Maher is a man on a mission… against God. Taking the stance that religion is a hiding to the end of the world; Maher is not so much peddling nihilism as his is doubt.  Doubt about the historical validity and exclusive strictures of organised religion. Evolution,...

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Thursday, 7th January - Thursday, 11th February
@ Various cinemas

People jump up and down a lot in Nancy Meyers movies. Her heightened, playful worlds of wealthy white characters may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but Meyers has established herself as a bit of a champion for the Baby boomers. Egad! They still have sex, get drunk and make bad...

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Wednesday, 13th January - Saturday, 20th March
@ North Sydney Oval

Taking up residence at the North Sydney Oval, the 2010 Starlight Cinema kicks off with a preview screening of the hilarious British political satire In the Loop. Then for the next two months the varied program promises something for every cinematic palate with titles including (500) Days of Summer, An Education, the challenging...

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Wednesday, 16th December - Wednesday, 20th January
@ Various cinemas

What on Earth has Jim Cameron been doing for the past 12 years? Well, not much - technically - for he has gone virtual, turning that closely guarded world of gaming geeks into pure cinematic spectacle. And that is exactly what Avatar is: absolute spectacle – a big, bright and...

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Saturday, 26th December - Saturday, 30th January
@ Various cinemas

There is no doubt Guy Ritchie has stamped his mark upon Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s iconic Sherlock Holmes. Ritchie’s now trademark temporal jumps, bare-knuckled fighting and fraternal banter is all well translated into late 19th Century London. Cobbled streets and carriages may have replaced Ritchie’s previous preoccupation with the modern...

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Thursday, 28th January - Saturday, 20th February
@ Various cinemas

Cormac McCarthy’s Pulitzer Prize winning novella is a personal, epic poem about a father and son clinging to their humanity in a post-apocalyptic world. Suitably, a lyrical director John Hillcoat (The Proposition) has brought the story to the screen, capturing the stultifying bleakness and depravity in which the last tendrils...

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Thursday, 21st January - Thursday, 25th February
@ Various cinemas

Clint Eastwood is getting sentimental in his old age. The laudable director and gritty actor, who only last year seethed, “Get off my lawn,” is now all about the group-hug, rugby style. Taking the true story of Nelson Mandela’s reunification aspirations for the 1995 Rugby World Cup, Eastwood somehow manages...

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Wednesday, 3rd February - Wednesday, 17th March
@ Various cinemas

At first glance, one of Australia’s most anticipated films of 2010 hardly looks like a local. With Ethan Hawke and Willem Dafoe taking the leads, Australian twin brothers Peter and Michael Spierig are doing their bit to cash in on the current vampire craze. It’s 2019 and ten years after...

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Thursday, 11th February - Monday, 15th March
@ Various cinemas

Jacques Audiard serves up another searing character study of crime with his taut portrait of A Prophet. Following up the beautifully realised The Beat My Heart Skipped, Audiard journeys into the bowels of the French prison system with an illiterate young Arab, Malik El Djebena (Tahar Rahim). Condemned to a...

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Sunday, 21st February - 12PM
@ The Domain

It’s that time of year again. You may or may not have decided this is the year to finally try your hand at a short film, but you definitely know someone who knows someone who has. They've mulled over the Tropfest Signature Item 'dice' and come up with a few...

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Friday, 5th February - Saturday, 20th February
@ Mart Gallery

Fans of Sydney street press will no doubt recognise the photography of Cybele Malinowski and Daniel Boud. For five years the couple have been shooting musical greats including INXS, Ben Lee, Ladyhawke, The Precepts, Philadelphia Grand Jury and The Vines, and now their magazine covers (in their original forms) will...

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Thursday, 4th February - Thursday, 18th March
@ Various cinemas

Mad Mel is back. After seven years off screen, he’s stepped in front of the camera and into very familiar shoes, once again playing a police detective driven to the brink. Based on the 1985, critically acclaimed BBC miniseries, director Martin Campbell has returned to helm the feature film after screenwriters...

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Thursday, 4th February - Tuesday, 16th March
@ Various cinemas

Precious was never going to be a light-hearted trip to the cinema. Harrowing to the point of being labeled “poverty porn,” it is the story of Claireece “Precious” Jones (Gabourey Sidibe), a morbidly obese, illiterate African American teenager, who is raped by her father, beaten by her mother and pregnant...

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Saturday, 13th February - 1PM - Sunday, 14th February - 6PM
@ Chauvel Cinema

Last year Concrete Playgrounders were introduced to NT Live, the ingenious, democratising brainchild of the UK’s National Theatre, whereby stage performances are beamed into cinemas around the world. While Australia doesn’t quite get the show ‘live’, we do benefit from having the recorded shows screened for us over a weekend.The...

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Thursday, 18th February - Thursday, 25th March
@ Various cinemas

War is a drug.Or so Kathryn Bigelow (Point Break) and journalist turned screenwriter Mark Boal (In the Valley of Elah) would have us believe. After being embedded with an Explosive Ordinance Disposal team, Boal has written an incisive character study of bomb technician SSG William James (Jeremy Renner), who chases...

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Wednesday, 24th February - Sunday, 7th March
@ Ritz Cinema

Now Tropfest has jazzed up audiences about our local filmmaking talent, it’s time to take part in the inaugural Australian Film Festival. Launching with the tag line 'It’s a ripper!', the festival promises to celebrate old film favourites as well as introducing Sydneysiders to Australian fare they might never have...

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Sunday, 2nd May - 5PM
@ Playhouse, Sydney Opera House

Long beloved by film fans, Fritz Lang’s 1927 masterpiece Metropolis is coming to the Opera House. Showing as part of the Screen Live series, this digitally restored silent classic has been re-scored by South Australian musicians the New Pollutants (aka Mister Speed and DJ Trip). Accompanied by vocalist Astrid Pill...

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Thursday, 4th March - 5PM
@ Chauvel Cinema

The Human Rights Arts and Film Festival will be coming to Sydney in May, and to get into the swing of things they will be holding a fundraiser in the guise of international short film night, Par Avion. The line up includes eight acclaimed shorts from Europe, the USA and...

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Tuesday, 2nd March - Sunday, 21st March
@ Palace Academy Cinemas

Each year the French Film Festival arrives in Sydney brimming with cinematic gems and a splash of Parisian chic. This year is no different, with the programme featuring a glittering array of films and quite a few big names.Opening night honours go to Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amelie), who is making the...

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Thursday, 25th February - Thursday, 8th April
@ Various cinemas

There was little doubt fashion designer Tom Ford’s debut film was going to have style, but what about substance? Effortlessly silencing doubters, Ford has taken Christopher Isherwood’s novel, infused a layer of autobiography and drawn an impeccable portrait of grief, love and, quite literally, the light of life.It’s 1962 and...

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Thursday, 4th March - Thursday, 15th April
@ Various cinemas

Tim Burton’s obsessively anticipated adaptation of Alice in Wonderland finally hits cinemas in all its three-dimensional glory. Burton has transformed Lewis Carroll’s Alice Kingsley into a 19-year-old dreamer (played by Australian Mia Wasikowska), who flees a claustrophobically staged engagement to follow one of her flights of fancy and ends up...

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Saturday, 20th March - 6PM
@ Chauvel Cinema

It’s the documentary that caused all the fuss at last year’s Melbourne International Film Festival. The one that resulted in a diplomatic scuffle, three Chinese directors withdrawing their films from the festival, and the hacking of the MIFF website to the tune of an estimated $50,000 in lost ticket sales....

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Thursday, 11th March - Sunday, 30th May
@ Various cinemas

France’s illegal immigrant population is given an earnest, charming face in Philippe Lioret's affecting portrait, Welcome. The irony of the title is only the beginning of Lioret’s stirring, incisive look at the physical and emotional realities of illegal immigrants, personified by a 17-year-old Kurdish boy, Bilal (Firat Ayverdi). Bilal is...

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Thursday, 18th March - Thursday, 29th April
@ Various cinemas

Director Oliver Hirschbiegel is no stranger to controversy. After drawing criticism for his ‘sympathetic’ portrayal of Hitler in Der Untergang (Downfall), Hirschbiegel has turned his sights on the Irish Troubles, putting a human face on another ‘monster’. But rather than taking on the long-maligned IRA, Hirschbiegel and screenwriter Guy Hibbert...

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Thursday, 25th March - Sunday, 28th March
@ Dendy Opera Quays

You don’t have to be part of the blue rinse brigade to take part in NSW Seniors Week. Really. You can just rock on over to Dendy Opera Quays and catch up on some classic cinema and a couple of contemporary gems.Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times (1936) kicks off the program,...

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Wednesday, 31st March - 8PM
@ Notes

If you’ve been wandering around the city lately, you may well have come across a rather disarming busker. That would be Mike Rosenberg, aka Passenger, a particularly talented Pom who has spent the summer tirelessly lugging his guitar, amp and albums up and down the East Coast like the journeymen...

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Thursday, 25th March - Thursday, 6th May
@ Various cinemas

Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s uniquely irreverent brand of quirk always makes for a fun trip to the cinema. Known for capturing his zany characters in a gorgeous, idealised, French film reality, Jeunet is probably most famous for introducing the world to Audrey Tautou in Amélie. Micmacs sees Jeunet and his long time...

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Thursday, 25th March - Friday, 7th May
@ Various cinemas

Sure, it’s ostensibly a kids’ film, but there is something wonderfully endearing about this latest DreamWorks animation. Yes, it’s in the new-fangled 3D. Yes, it is derivative of old favourites like E.T. and The Never Ending Story. And yes, the big, burly Norse Vikings inexplicably have Scottish accents, while the...

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Saturday, 10th April - 10PM - Saturday, 31st July - 10PM
@ Chauvel Cinema

Every so often, a film transcends the extent of its putridity and transforms into a beloved 'so bad it’s good’ cult classic. Such is the case with The Room, a film written, produced, directed and starring the truly terrible talents of Tommy Wiseau. Sure, there’s an ensemble cast and some...

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Thursday, 15th April - Friday, 23rd April
@ Dendy Newtown

The first thing you need to know about the A Night of Horror Film Festival is that it goes for nine days, so don’t go letting the name confuse you. In four years, the festival has grown from its original one-night spectacular, with punters now able to take up residence...

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Saturday, 17th April - Sunday, 25th April
@ Chauvel Cinema

It seems the New York Metropolitan Opera has caught wind of what those clever fellows over at the British National Theatre have been up to; they’ve launched their own live, high-definition screenings of productions for the delight of international audiences.As with London, New York has too pesky a time difference...

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Wednesday, 5th May - Monday, 17th May
@ Palace Academy Cinemas

The Spanish are once again bringing their special brand of fiesta to Sydney this May. The 13th Spanish Film Festival has a programme brimming with over 40 films, many of which come with a glittering array of festival accolades, including the Oscar-nominated short animation The Lady and the Reaper, which...

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Thursday, 6th May - Saturday, 8th May
@ Opera Theatre, Sydney Opera House

Blackfella Films directors Rachel Perkins and Darren Dale are once again taking over the Opera House for a long weekend of Indigenous film celebrations. Now in its 11th year, Message Sticks Indigenous Film Festival uses this spectacular setting to showcase the latest cinematic works from Indigenous filmmakers across documentary, short...

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Thursday, 29th April - Thursday, 10th June
@ Various cinemas

Bigger isn’t always better; unless, of course, you’re Tony Stark. And taking the lead from their titular hero, director Jon Favreau and screenwriter Justin Theroux (Tropic Thunder) have crammed more explosions and stars into Iron Man 2 than is superhumanly possible. This suped-up sequel has an awful lot of fun...

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Tuesday, 15th June - Sunday, 11th July
@ Drama Theatre, Opera House

En route to reclaim Gandalf's mantel in The Hobbit, Sir Ian McKellen is stopping off in Australia to play Estragon (insert requisite 'Gandalf to Godot' pun here).

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Thursday, 13th May - Thursday, 24th June
@ Various cinemas

Many a love letter has been written to Manhattan, but producer Emmanuel Benbihy has managed to pen one more. Or, more accurately, eleven — for the man who worked on Paul Haggis’ Oscar-winning Crash has taken a similar ensemble idea and fashioned it into eleven filmmakers' eight-minute shots that tie...

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Thursday, 27th May - Thursday, 8th July
@ Various cinemas

A coming-of-age story that puts a contemporary and gendered twist on the Angry Young Men oeuvre of 1960s British Cinema.

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Wednesday, 2nd June - Monday, 14th June
@ State Theatre

The Sydney Film Festival has been officially unleashed. That means it’ll soon be time to once again take up residence in the State Theatre, to brave the cold and the inevitable rain to catch a glimpse of red carpet glitterati, to marvel at the packed lunches brought by the blue-rinse...

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Thursday, 13th May - Thursday, 10th June
@ Chauvel Cinema

For 35 years, acclaimed Australian director Gillian Armstrong (My Brilliant Career, Charlotte Gray) has been following the lives of three Adelaide women. What started as a one-off short film documenting what it is to be a 14-year-old in 1975 has become a five-part series, with Armstrong checking in with the...

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Thursday, 27th May - Thursday, 8th July
@ Chauvel Cinema

Granted, the title lets you know what you’re in for, but The Stoning of Soraya M. still manages to leave you feeling utterly undone. Based on the French-Iranian journalist Freidoune Sahebjam’s best-selling book, the film uncovers the horrific true story of Soraya M. (Mozhan Marnò) as it was daringly recounted...

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Thursday, 27th May - Saturday, 3rd July
@ Various cinemas

This Argentinean gem comes to Australia with a modicum of celebrity, having won the Best Foreign Film Oscar over such favourites as The White Ribbon and A Prophet. And while this makes for an interesting post-cinema debate, so does the film itself, for writer/director Juan José Campanella presents Eduardo Sacheri's...

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Thursday, 17th June - Thursday, 29th July
@ Various cinemas

With tour-de-force performances from Annette Bening, Naomi Watts and Kerry Washington, writer/director Rodrigo Garcia teases out the trials and tribulations of adoption and the intractable bond between mother and child in this compelling triptych of regret and redemption.

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Thursday, 10th June - Thursday, 22nd July
@ Various cinemas

Real-life exes Vincent Lindon (Welcome) and Sandrine Kiberlain (Après vous...) generate some serious chemistry in Stéphane Brizé's heart-rending tale of star-crossed lovers. Jean (Lindon) is a small-town builder, affectionate father, loving husband and dutiful son, whose modest life is profoundly interrupted when he meets his son’s schoolteacher, the eponymous Véronique...

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Thursday, 24th June - Thursday, 5th August
@ Various cinemas

It’s nigh impossible to convey the stupendous delight that is Toy Story 3 without stoking the irrepressible hype that now surrounds the film. So while we’re in for a penny … Toy Story 3 is the shiny, superb, three-dimensional (in all senses of the term) cap on what has got...

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Thursday, 24th June - Thursday, 5th August
@ Dendy Newtown

Is this filmmaking debut from infamously anonymous street artist Banksy a hoax? Does it matter? These two questions will undoubtedly colour your viewing of this suitably opaque 'documentary'. Banksy is certainly no stranger to controversy, so it should come as no surprise that the faceless man behind such stunts as the West Bank Wall or the painted elephant (or just look at his website's homepage) should fancy messing with the minds of his captive cinema audience.Without digressing into just how 'meta' [i]Exit Through the Gift Shop[/i] is (considering the title alone could get you started), the story follows one affable French expat by the name of Thierry Guetta, the owner of a vintage clothing store in LA and budding filmmaker. Guetta's familial connection to Paris's famed street artist Invader leads the garrulous Frenchman down the dark alleys of street artists, where he befriends all manner of 'graffiti' luminaries including Shepard Fairey (the man behind Barack Obama's election poster) and, eventually, Banksy himself.

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Wednesday, 21st July - 7PM
@ Chauvel Cinema

An adventure through the creme de la creme of Flickerfest, the program boasts award-winning shorts from around the world and it's all for a very worthy cause.

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Thursday, 22nd July - Wednesday, 1st September
@ Various cinemas

Roger Greenberg is not the kind of guy you want to wind up next to at a dinner party. Prickly, passive aggressive and seemingly oblivious to his truculent demeanor, Greenberg would probably point out in minute detail everything that is wrong in the world, and quite possibly with you as well.

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Monday, 2nd August - Sunday, 8th August
@ Dendy Cinemas

Another world of possibilities is unfolding as the Canadian Film Festival once again takes up residence at Sydney's Dendy cinemas. Now in its fifth year, this plucky event is the only annual celebration of Canadian films outside Canada — and what a celebration! The genius of this festival is a...

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Thursday, 29th July - Thursday, 9th September
@ Various cinemas

The first thing that strikes you about South Solitary is its visual splendor. Gorgeous cinematography and unshowy period production and costume design effortlessly draw the audience into Meredith's (Miranda Otto) rather extraordinary predicament. It's 1927 and she's a woman of a certain age, romantically marooned by the impact of the...

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Sunday, 29th August - 3PM
@ Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House

The man who will go down in history as the genius behind [i] Buffy the Vampire Slayer[/i] will discuss life as a writer/director and his obsession with pop-culture in an anticipated talk at the Sydney Opera House.

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Thursday, 19th August - Wednesday, 1st September
@ Chauvel Cinema

This celebration of Russian films is the largest festival that occurs outside the country itself. So be sure to peruse the programme and pick out a film or two to enjoy on these last remaining - though thankfully not Russian - winter nights.

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Thursday, 19th August - Thursday, 30th September
@ Various cinemas

Beloved character actor Patricia Clarkson (High Art, Pieces of April, The Station Agent) finally steps onto centre stage in Ruba Nadda’s luscious Egyptian love story. Actually 'love story' doesn’t do Nadda's screenplay nearly enough justice, for what she creates is a mature and sophisticated portrait of an affair, and one...

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Thursday, 12th August - Monday, 23rd August
@ Various cinemas

In a convoluted case of art imitating life, Roman Polanski's latest thriller centres on a man under siege. Screenwriter Robert Harris' thinly veiled portrait of ex-British Prime Minister Tony Blair takes on an extra level of infamy with the film's production halted by convicted pedophile Polanski's arrest and attempted extradition.

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Sunday, 19th September - 5PM
@ Playhouse, Sydney Opera House

Judy Garland may be the quintessential Dorothy, but she wasn't the first. Fourteen years before Garland followed the yellow brick road in glorious Technicolor, Dorothy Dwan did so in Larry Semon's silent film. Largely lost from the cinematic history books (the film bankrupted its production company and distribution was therefore...

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Thursday, 12th August - Wednesday, 8th September
@ Various cinemas

In both writing and setting, this film has a distinctly theatrical feel, but as the first Australian production to use the RED camera, the film also attempts to use the cramped location to innovative, cinematic ends. Powerhouse performances further elevate this local fare to gripping heights.

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Thursday, 19th August - Thursday, 30th September
@ Various cinemas

A comedy about suicide bombers sounds like a tough sell by any stretch of the imagination. But when that imagination stems from British satirist Chris Morris, there is some sort of brilliantly bizarre alchemy at work. Morris made a name for himself with such high wire humour; his cult series...

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Thursday, 26th August - Tuesday, 5th October
@ Various cinemas

The French love of cinema is given vibrant new depth in Mia Hanson-Love's reverent ode. The writer-director's sophomore film follows charming film producer and joyous family man Gregoire Canvel (Louis-Do De Lencquesaing) as he quietly struggles to juggle his raft of projects, each with their unique creative and financial pressures....

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Monday, 2nd August - Thursday, 14th October
@ Various cinemas

The kids track down their spunky sperm 'donor Dad' and the family unit comically and poignantly destabilises as everyone makes room (some more willingly than others) for the new addition.

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Tuesday, 31st August - Sunday, 5th September
@ Palace Verona

The seventh Israeli Film Festival is taking place in Sydney this week. Showcasing an exciting, diverse range of films, the programme includes the controversial Eyes Wide Open, which navigates the subjugation of gay culture in an Ultra-Orthodox community in Jerusalem. Much is also being made of Phobidilia, the kinetic psychological...

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Thursday, 2nd September - Thursday, 14th October
@ Various cinemas

Going the Distance may not exactly rock the conventions of the rom-com, but it is a refreshingly vibrant addition to the genre. So while the meet-cute, montages and requisite emotional rollercoaster (or are dodgem cars a better metaphor?) follow a route as familiar as the one our couple criss-cross between...

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Thursday, 9th September - Wednesday, 6th October
@ Various cinemas

Nicole Holofcener's peculiar brand of comedic, upper-middle class miserablism finds a pitch-perfect setting on the streets of New York.

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Saturday, 11th September - Saturday, 25th September
@ Wesley Conference Centre

Once again it's time to embrace the shhhh and brush up on the beginnings of cinema. Australia’s Silent Film Festival has arranged another stellar programme of pre-talkie classics, including Australia’s attempt at a Hollywood epic, For the Term of his Natural Life (1927). This is in fact the third adaptation...

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Thursday, 9th September - Thursday, 14th October
@ Various cinemas

Following Godard’s advice that “all you need for a movie is a gun and a girl,” J Blakeson’s feature debut is as spectacularly suspenseful as it is deceptively simple. He uses a kidnapping scenario to show off his impressive hand at writing, mise-en-scene and direction. The film’s opening five minutes...

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Thursday, 30th September - 7PM
@ Chauvel Cinema

The world’s first global film festival is kicking into gear for 2010. The brainchild of Aussie expat filmmaker Nicholas Mason, the Manhattan Short puts 10 short film finalists to a 100,000-strong world vote across 200 cities, on six continents. Once again, an Australian filmmaker has made the final cut, with...

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Thursday, 16th September - Sunday, 14th November
@ Various cinemas

As Joaquin Phoenix makes the rash decision to retire from acting in order to pursue a career in hip hop, he endures a spectacular fall from grace that sees him go from the clean-shaven darling of the Golden Globes, to the pudgy, bearded, mumbling mess who made [i]that[/i] appearance on Letterman. [i]I'm Still Here[/i] is a beautiful nightmare. In fact, if Banksy's [i]Exit Through the Gift Shop[/i] heralded a new 'prankumentary' subgenre, then [i]I'm Still Here[/i] raises it to an art form. But Casey Affleck's directorial debut will definitely divide audiences, not merely along the lines of questioning the veracity of Phoenix's retirement but rather the lengths the 'documentary' goes to take its subject from the sublime to the ridiculous. Sex, shitting and spewing: nothing is sacred in this portrait of repugnant celebrity.

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Friday, 24th September - 5PM - Sunday, 26th September - 5PM
@ Sydney Opera House

Three classic dance films are screening free in the Opera House forecourt over the weekend. Tonight is the superlative [i]Red Shoes[/i] - and you can join in a dance class if you rock up early.

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Thursday, 23rd September - Sunday, 10th October
@ Palace Cinemas

From a compelling examination of the 2009 earthquake to a charming culinary fable, Italian films will be dominating the Sydney cinematic scene for the next three weeks.

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Friday, 24th September - Sunday, 26th September
@ UTS University Hall Cinema

Pixar may be the dominating force in animation, but a showcase of artistic hopefuls will be on display at UTS. For its second year, the Sydney International Animation Festival (SIAF) opens its doors to the intricate world of animation, with a lineup that includes Pixar animator Rodrigo Blaas' gorgeously creepy directorial debut [i]Alma[/i] as well as Oscar-winning short [i]Logorama[/i]. Other anticipated Global Goodies are Jean-Christophe Lie's acclaimed short [i]The Man in the Blue Gordini[/i] and Mathieu Bergeron and Yves Martel's (suitably, animated) documentary [i]A Thorn in the Mind[/i], which ventures behind the scenes of six renowned animators.

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Thursday, 23rd September - Thursday, 4th November
@ Various cinemas

Bestselling literary heroine Lisbeth Salander may play with fire, but unfortunately the film sequel will leave uninitiated audiences entirely in the dark. Truth be told, few will attempt this Swedish thriller who aren’t already familiar with Stieg Larsson's books or the hugely successful first film adaptation The Girl With the...

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Thursday, 7th October - Thursday, 11th November
@ Various cinemas

Diane Kurys' portrait of famed French novelist, playwright and screenwriter Francois Sagan is a committed, if curious addition to the ranks of recent celebrity biopics like La vie en rose and Coco avant Chanel. Obviously made for an audience familiar with Sagan's stardom, Kurys reveals very little about her work,...

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Tuesday, 5th October - Tuesday, 16th November
@ Australian Museum

This commemorative festival began way back in 1976, making it America's longest running celebration of international documentaries. Now coming to Australia for the first time, a select seven documentaries will carve out their very different windows on the world, from the comfort of the Australian Museum.

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Thursday, 7th October - Tuesday, 16th November
@ Chauvel Cinema

All hail! The (self-crowned) queen of comedy is coming to a cinema near you! But before you baulk in fear of damaging your corneas with exposure to the notorious nightmare that is Joan Rivers' plastic face, you'll do well to know that Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg's documentary is quite...

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Thursday, 14th October - Thursday, 2nd December
@ Various cinemas

It's a crying shame we can't talk about Let Me In without discussing its Swedish forebear, Let The Right One In [Lat den ratte komma in], along with a predictable whinge about why people won't just read the damn subtitles. For on its own, the American adaptation is rather remarkable....

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Monday, 11th October - 9PM
@ Event Cinema, Bondi Junction

The Jewish Film Festival is turning 21. Cue the tuxedos, heartfelt, wine-soaked speeches and atmosphere of soon-to-be-oppressive expectancy. You’re all grown up now, ya hear?Or you could just cue the cinema: 25 films representing the most exciting crop of contemporary Jewish filmmaking, kicking off with a crowd pleaser from Cannes...

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Thursday, 14th October - Thursday, 2nd December
@ Various cinemas

Boston boy Ben Affleck returns to his roots for a thrilling, if ever so flabby sophomore effort in The Town. In a keen observation of the loyalty and liabilities of friendships in the close nit Boston neighbourhood of Charlestown*, Affleck's adaptation of Chuck Hogan's Prince of Thieves centres on Doug...

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Wednesday, 20th October - Sunday, 24th October
@ Fraser Studios

The cinematically inclined are taking the floor for another year of filmmaking marathons, screenings and parties. From seasoned pros to keen-bean first timers, filmmakers from all walks of life have signed up for the mad dash to bring an idea to screen in a mere 32 hours.

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Friday, 29th October - Friday, 5th November
@ Dendy Newtown

This week-long film festival is entering its terrible twos in spectacular fashion. Tears and tantrums may well spill forth both onscreen and off as a scarily good line up of sci-fi and generally fantastical films take over Dendy Newtown.

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Thursday, 28th October - Thursday, 9th December
@ Various cinemas

In a superlative example of art-imitating-life, there was definite alchemy at work on the set of this film. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg may be none too pleased with his fictional portrayal, but perhaps even he can appreciate the sublime pairing of director and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin with their leading man. This truly thrilling triumvirate have created nothing short of a masterpiece, and one that, appropriately, plays out through a triple-threat, Rashomon-esque storyline. A film entirely deserving of all the hyperbole being thrust upon it. It's almost as if Sorkin, Fincher and Eisenberg have rewritten Jean Luc Godard's filmmaking dictum for the Internet Age: all you need to make a movie now is a girl and a grudge.

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Tuesday, 26th October - Monday, 6th December
@ Chauvel Cinema

For some, 2 hours and 39 minutes pinned as a fly-on-the-wall of a premiere ballet company might be akin to one of Dante's circles of hell. For others (and not just balletomanes), tempus will fly by like one of the flitting, majestic, and ludicrously talented creatures that grace Frederick Wiseman's...

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Thursday, 4th November - Thursday, 16th December
@ Various cinemas

This film is less a biography than an irreverent, audacious tribute from one artist to his icon. It is a decadent celebration and a downright sexy account of a supremely talented musician.

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Wednesday, 10th November - Friday, 12th November
@ Palace Verona

Josh Fox proves himself as much an artist as an important and powerful voice that joins the choir of filmmakers daring to declare such inconvenient environmental truths. The situation this film uncovers needs to be seen to be believed.

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Thursday, 11th November - Thursday, 23rd December
@ Various cinemas

Like the title suggests, Winter's Bone makes for a rather frosty trip to the cinema. Set in frigid winter and against the stark forests of Missouri's Ozak region, Debra Granik's (Down to the Bone) sophomore effort is steeped in unapologetic, deeply affecting verisimilitude. In adapting Daniel Woodrell's novel, Granik intriguingly...

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Thursday, 11th November - Thursday, 23rd December
@ Various cinemas

You do not want Will Montgomery (Ben Foster) or Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson) knocking on your door. The two are arguably entrusted with one of the US Army’s toughest assignments: casualty notification. It's a job that's driving teetotalling Stone to an alcoholic abyss, and one that promises to scratch at...

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Monday, 22nd November - Sunday, 28th November
@ Event Cinemas George Street

Precious few Japanese films actually make it to Australian cinemas, which is why the Japanese Film Festival is such an important addition to any cinephile's schedule. Selling out screenings around the country, the festival looks set to do the same in Sydney.

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Thursday, 18th November - Thursday, 30th December
@ Various cinemas

There's a veritable crucible of perceptions, emotions and hysterical anticipation to consider when evaluating the penultimate film in the Harry Potter saga. This Global Phenomenon (surely deserving of capitalisation) has claimed the fervent love of at least one generation; come the release of Part 2 in 2011, kids and adults...

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Thursday, 25th November - Thursday, 30th December
@ Various cinemas

Based on the scandalous true story of CIA agent Valerie Plame's brutal public unmasking, this film is as much an illuminating look back to the beginnings of the Iraq War as it is a chronicle of a marriage under fire.

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Thursday, 25th November - Thursday, 30th December
@ Various cinemas

How do the French do it? How do they manage to craft such gratifying, character driven dramatic comedies with such guileless grace, and yes, it must be said, joie de vivre? Last year Summer Hours stole our hearts, and now taking a trip to Copacabana promises to have the same...

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Friday, 3rd December - Friday, 14th January
@ Chauvel Cinema

[i]Life doesn't imitate art, it imitates bad television.[/i][i]Hey, don't knock masturbation. It's sex with someone I love.[/i][i]To you, I'm an atheist; to God, I'm the loyal opposition.[/i]Ok, so no guesses who wrote these brilliant lines, but can you pick the films? Either way, you're in for a treat. If you can't name the films, then the Chauvel's Woody Allen retrospective is just what you'll need to swot up on one of cinema's greats. And if you can (impressive!), then surely you're a big enough Allen fan to be champing at the bit to revisit his classics on the silver screen. So, no excuses. It's time to get your New York, "teleological, existential agnostic" angst on and celebrate the wonderfully prolific Allen in his groundbreaking, hilarious heyday.

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Friday, 26th November - Thursday, 30th December
@ Various cinemas

The Western is brought back to exhilarating life by debut feature filmmaker Patrick Hughes. Lifting a few pages from the Coen Bros’ No Country for Old Men, as well as a wink to Sergio Leone, Hughes has executed a stylish modern Western, which doles out a dose of fun alongside...

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Thursday, 2nd December - Thursday, 30th December
@ Chauvel Cinema

Some 33 years after his death, Charlie Chaplin is breathing new life into an Indian community. This incongruous tale is presented in the Kathryn Millard's charming documentary, which follows a pilgrimage of sorts, from Australia to The Charlie Chaplin Circle in western Gujarat town of Adipur. They're gearing up to...

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Thursday, 2nd December - Thursday, 30th December
@ Various cinemas

This starkly personal portrait of the 1982 First Lebanon War is a searing, nerve-snapping experience, throughout which the audience is locked inside a dank, green-hued tank, where the only view to the outside world is through the gunner's scope.

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Wednesday, 8th December - Wednesday, 10th February
@ Various cinemas

Wretched and beautiful, devastating and passionate. From the simple premise of juxtaposing the beginning and end of a relationship, this film takes you to the giddy heights of new love through to the yawning abyss of loss.

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Thursday, 16th December - Wednesday, 27th January
@ Various cinemas

If this film was a drug, you might ask for your money back, but you could just as easily find yourself riding high on the placebo effect. Doling out the thrills are Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal, who are so ridiculously likeable and spunky together on screen (it also doesn't...

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Thursday, 23rd December - Wednesday, 27th January
@ Various cinemas

This French film about atrocities committed by the State during World War II can be best summed up by a German word: Vergangenheitsbewaltigung. There is no French or English equivalent, but essentially it means 'struggling to come to terms with the past,' which goes right to the heart of Sarah's...

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Thursday, 16th December - Wednesday, 27th January
@ Various cinemas

Whether you're being driven by nostalgia, or the simple desire for some loud and shiny things to flit about while you munch popcorn, this is a high-spec, spectacular looking B-Movie that won't disappoint.

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Friday, 7th January - Sunday, 16th January
@ Bondi Pavilion

Short film meets the sea for another year with the 20th annual Flickerfest, and this time they're boasting a pithy tagline: May the Shorts Be With You!Yes, pack a Star Wars inspired pun or two for your trip to Bondi Pavilion and get in amongst the creative force of the...

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Thursday, 16th December - Saturday, 19th February
@ Mrs. Macquaries Point

Oprah and U2 might have been in town, but you'd better believe the hottest tickets up for grabs now are for the movies. The Open Air Cinema certainly pulls rock concert figures, selling 30,000 in the first hour last year and exhausting advanced tickets completely within 12 hours. So you'd...

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Sunday, 26th December - Saturday, 6th February
@ Various cinemas

For all its restraint, slice-of-life naturalism and superb soundtrack, this is a film and a mood that you can sink into like a deep, comfy sofa.

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Thursday, 6th January - Sunday, 13th February
@ Various cinemas

You just need to take a look at the pedigree of Morning Glory to know what you're in for. It's directed by Roger Mitchell (Notting Hill), written by The Devil Wears Prada and 27 Dresses scribe Aline Brosh McKenna and produced by Mr. Felicity himself, J.J. Abrams. And indeed, the...

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Sunday, 26th December - Sunday, 6th February
@ Various cinemas

The hapless new hubby is now a new dad and the freaky father-in-law has a new angle for his tormenting. These guys look to be having a truckload of fun, so get swept up in the frivolity.

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Wednesday, 19th January - Saturday, 5th March
@ North Sydney Oval

For those on the northside of Sydney, the Starlight Cinema is summer's cinematic staple. It might not have the location bragging rights of the Moonlight or the Open Air Cinemas, but North Sydney Oval does have the grandstand as a handy wet weather option should summer storms conspire to scupper...

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Thursday, 20th January - Thursday, 3rd March
@ Various cinemas

The tragic tale of the Swan princess has been refashioned into a sexy, haunting melodrama in this sublimely over the top cinematic romp.

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Wednesday, 26th January - Saturday, 12th March
@ Various cinemas

While outwardly it might seem like not a lot goes down in Another Year, Mike Leigh's unobtrusive filming reveals volumes about the nature of friends and family.

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Thursday, 20th January - Thursday, 3rd March
@ Various cinemas

Ok now, what is it with Christian Bale starving himself for roles? Playing a crack addict ex-boxer, he’s not quite as emaciated as he was in The Machinist, but not far off. Then again, he’s just taken home the Golden Globe, so he must be doing something right. Sharing this...

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Wednesday, 26th January - Wednesday, 9th March
@ Various cinemas

Adoring adjectives aside, let's just say that it's once again time to worship at the altar of the Coen Bros. Across the board, from casting to direction, to framing and editing, True Grit is master class filmmaking.

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Wednesday, 26th January - Wednesday, 9th March
@ Various cinemas

This documentary questions the nature of friendship in the digital age and the lengths we go to for tangible human connection, and will leave you pondering just how fragile and fragmented we are in this small, virtual world of ours.

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Tuesday, 15th March - 5PM - Tuesday, 19th April - 5PM
@ Australian Museum

Every Tuesday night the Australian Museum's doors will be opened after hours and a handpicked mix of live music and art will be on offer to enjoy alongside the fully stocked bar and dancing with the dinosaurs.

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Thursday, 3rd February - Thursday, 17th March
@ Various cinemas

If you can get past the cringingly clunky opening act, then the trills and spills of Sanctum make for well crafted popcorn entertainment.

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Thursday, 3rd February - Thursday, 17th March
@ Various cinemas

This is the sort of film the British do best. A spry, sassy ensemble comedy, set in an idyllic countryside where everything is not quite as mannered as it appears.

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Thursday, 3rd February - Thursday, 17th March
@ Various cinemas

This remake of a French film is a good story well told, a thoroughly enjoyable thriller, but one that barely lingers in your memory once you've left the cinema.

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Saturday, 5th March - 2PM
@ Dendy Opera Quays

Offside is a charming and intelligent introduction to one of Iran's best film makers, and one who's career and political freedom is the subject of international concern.

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Monday, 7th February - Thursday, 24th March
@ Various cinemas

An entire film about two people more attractive than you trying to keep their 'friends with benefits' thing together ends up being mildly amusing and instantly forgettable.

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Thursday, 10th February - Thursday, 24th March
@ Various cinemas

While just about everybody knows the ending of 127 Hours, it doesn't make it any less visceral, impressive or gripping, and hasn't stopped audiences fainting in the aisles.

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Thursday, 10th February - Thursday, 31st March
@ IMAX Sydney

Made back in 2003, Titanic 3D: Ghosts of the Abyss may be a timely re-release to cash in on James Cameron’s latest film, but such cynicism is best set aside. Instead just go and marvel at this spectacular piece of visual history.

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Thursday, 17th February - Thursday, 31st March
@ Various cinemas

Gnomeo & Juliet may not quite be as creative as some, but its full of beans, and if a Shakespeare/Elton John combo won’t see parents (and grandparents) happily sitting through some G-rated frivolity, then surely nothing will.

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Thursday, 17th February - Thursday, 31st March
@ Various cinemas

With Charles Ferguson's comprehensive mind behind the camera and Matt Damon’s familiar, calmly authoritative tone in narration, Inside Job is likely to be one of the most shocking and edifying cinematic experiences of 2011.

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Thursday, 24th February - Thursday, 31st March
@ Various cinemas

The Way Back succeeds as both an impossibly detailed chronicle and a stunning tribute to the audacity of hope and the tenacity of the human spirit. It’s Man Vs. Wild, for real.

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Thursday, 17th February - Thursday, 31st March
@ Various cinemas

What this film so powerfully portrays is that in amongst the desperate keening of people in pain, there is a wealth of humour to be found. And eventually, a glimmer of grace.

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Thursday, 3rd March - Thursday, 14th April
@ Various cinemas

Part romantic tragedy, part ruthless thriller, the high school drama with an Australian twist is an impressive but ultimately unsettling cinematic experience.

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Thursday, 3rd March - Thursday, 14th April
@ Various cinemas

A Phillip K. Dick adapted story, which conspires to allow the characters to ‘meet cute’, and provides a marvelous advertisement for moleskines, point to a bright future for The Adjustment Bureau.

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Thursday, 3rd March - Thursday, 14th April
@ Various cinemas

Ultimately an overstuffed plot and a striking heroine relegated to the sidelines sucks too much oxygen from this film, but shortcomings be damned; we’re all far too invested in this saga now.

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Wednesday, 2nd March - Sunday, 13th March
@ Ritz Cinema

The festival of home-grown cinema is in it's second year and set to shine with a slew of Australian talent all packed into twelve days of film and frivolity.

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Thursday, 17th March - Thursday, 28th April
@ Various cinemas

A simple and sweet romance disguised a crime-fighting superhero flick, this is a film to fall in love with.

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Thursday, 10th March - Thursday, 21st April
@ Various cinemas

If Health Care is the third-rail of US politics, then the education system must be a train, packed with school kids, hurtling out of control - a ruthlessly apt analogy when you consider this Academy Award winning documentarian's bone-chilling portrait of public schools.

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Tuesday, 8th March - Sunday, 27th March
@ Palace Cinemas

You've got to admire the French love of cinema. It’s like a national sport, and their support for local fare is something that sorely needs translating to these shores. So it’s really no surprise that the Alliance Française is serving up another enviable cinematic celebration for its 22nd year. For...

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Friday, 18th March - 8PM - Sunday, 20th March - 8PM
@ State Theatre

Packing his iconic raspy tones and an acoustic guitar, Vedder is en route Sydney’s State Theatre for three nights of pared back music.

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Thursday, 24th March - Sunday, 27th March
@ Dendy Opera Quays

The Young at Heart Film Festival might technically be for seniors, but with such brilliant films screening this is definitely a case where you should learn from your elders.

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