Sydney Film Festival Diary Days 9-12

During the final four days of the Sydney Film Festival the fatigue began to kick in, but, at the same time, the films got even better. With some of my most anticipated still to see – Winter Sleep, The Rover, The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Him, Snowpiercer and What We Do In the Shadows – there was no time to feel tired.

Fellow Graffiti With Punctuation writer Cam Williams came to stay with us for the final three days of the festival, which was fantastic. There were some out of town visitors I would have liked to see more of, but I was so glad we got to spend as much time socializing and chatting about films as we did. The films are great, but even better are the new friendships you build.

On Friday we shook up the venues, seeing Double Play at Dendy Opera Quays and then traveling to Newtown to see The Rover outside of the festival environment. The rest of the sessions were split between the State Theatre and Event Cinemas. Saturday commenced with the 3+ hours Winter Sleep, and by the third film that day, The Tale of Princess Kaguya, I was in dire need of a hot, comforting meal. On Sunday, we ended up swapping out of our 10am session of Timbuktu for a 3pm session of Of Horses and Men, which was a good decision. I was sad to miss the Cannes Competition entry but Of Horses and Men was fantastic, and it meant a bit of a sleep in before the awesome Snowpiercer and to ensure I had enough energy for the Closing Night film, What We Do In the Shadows. During the ceremony the Sydney Film Prize was awarded to the Dardenne Brothers’ Two Days, One Night, which along with Snowpiercer and Boyhood ended up standing out from the group, personally.

A couple of comical things – we tried several times to get Gelato Messina at the Sydney Film Festival Hub but we were always either too early or too late. There was a pop-up Title Store in the Hub too, which was essentially a ‘Best of Title’. We resisted the urge to enter every time we visited the Hub out of fear of temptation. Who knows what is going to be happening next year, but I hope to fit in more of the talks, panels and events. This year I prioritized the films, and considering I was also working full time, something had to give.

For an overview of everything I watched on the final four days continue reading at Graffiti With Punctuation.