SXSW Sydney is going big for its 2025 Screen Festival, announcing 100 films, episodics and shorts across seven days, from Hollywood premieres to underground gems.
The Screen Festival will kick off on October 13th with Bruce Springsteen biopic Deliver Me From Nowhere starring Jeremy Allen White.
It will roll into a stacked roster of headliner titles, fresh from international premieres including Bugonia, Nirvanna the Band the Show: The Movie, Die My Love, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, and Black Phone 2.
Special featured sessions will showcase buzzy titles like Japanese thriller Exit 8, while Australian premieres will include Paramount’s Primate, Omar Rodríguez-López’s Luna Rose, and the gleefully obscene F*ck My Son!.
On the showcase slate, a mix of international heavyweights and homegrown stories will also feature, including Marion Cotillard-headlined fantasy drama The Ice Tower, Steve Buscemi dark comedy Psycho Therapy, Juliette Lewis, Melanie Griffith and Udo Kier in Amanda Kramer’s body-swap dramedy By Design, and indie satire Magic Farm featuring Chloë Sevigny, Alex Wolff and Simon Rex.
Local highlights include Proclivitas, the debut feature from Perth writer-director Miley Tunnecliffe, and documentary The Great Entertainer, a tribute to late TV executive Brian Walsh.
This year’s program will be “bold, creative, and willing to take risks”, according to SXSW Sydney Screen Festival Director Jordan Bastian.
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“We are not here for safe choices or predictable cinema. We want stories that stay with you, that make you feel something long after the credits roll,” he said. “SXSW Sydney is about films that excite us, and voices setting the tone for a new era of film. Come discover, be surprised, and fall for cinema all over again.”
Beyond film, the Screen Festival will will dive into cult nostalgia with a live read of Aussie classic BMX Bandits from comedians Alexei Toliopoulos and Gen Fricker, while a retrospective marathon of keynote speaker Paul Feig‘s work will be capped by a screening of Bridesmaids, with Feig in conversation.
It will also showcase a curated selection of music videos, including King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard’s “Grow Wings and Fly” directed by Hayden Somerville, Emily Wurramara’s “Lordy Lordy” directed by Claudia Sangiorgi Dalimore, director Millar Wileman’s “Always Looking” for Winter McQuinn and Friends; Gut Health’s “Cool Moderator” directed by Renee Kypriotis, and “Coup de Gronk” for Party Dozen directed by Tanya Babić and Jason Sukadana.
Meanwhile, the episodic program will spotlight the Stan Original He Had It Coming, as well as premieres from filmmakers Mattie Do, Aaron Moorhead, Justin Benson, and Nuhash Humayun.
Charlie Kaufman’s How to Shoot a Ghost starring Jessie Buckley, BAFTA-nominated Stomach Bug, Chasing the Party produced by Sam Rockwell, and “Kwatye Urrere” from GARUWA’s Kieran Satour will also be featured. Select shorts will also screen outdoors at Tumbalong Park as part of the free SXSW Unlocked program.
This year’s jury features a mix of comedians, filmmakers, musicians and programmers including Remy Hii, Ben Lee, Michael Shanks and Jenna Suffern.
SXSW Sydney is running from October 13th-19th, 2025 across venues including Dendy Newtown, Ritz Cinemas, Palace Cinemas and, for the first time, the Seymour Centre. Full details are available here.
