Sydney Film Festival Teases 2026 Lineup With Gus Van Sant Thriller, Isabelle Huppert Vampire Tale and Marianne Faithfull Doc

The Sydney Film Festival 2026 has unveiled an early slate of 13 titles ahead of its full program announcement, offering a first look at the global and local voices set to define this year’s event.

Running June 3–14, the 73rd edition will feature more than 200 films, with Festival Director Nashen Moodley describing the preview as “a glimpse of the distinctive voices from across the globe coming to SFF.”

Among the headline titles is Dead Man’s Wire, a hostage drama from Gus Van Sant, starring Bill Skarsgård, Dacre Montgomery and Al Pacino. The film revisits a 1977 standoff that unfolded live on American television.

Also drawing attention is The Blood Countess, directed by Ulrike Ottinger and starring Isabelle Huppert in a stylised reimagining of vampire mythology, with a screenplay by Nobel Prize-winning author Elfriede Jelinek.

On the documentary front, Broken English explores the life and legacy of Marianne Faithfull, featuring performances and appearances from Tilda Swinton and George MacKay. Meanwhile, The Best Summer, directed by Tamra Davis, mines archival footage from Australia’s 1995 Summersault tour, capturing performances from Beastie Boys, Sonic Youth and Foo Fighters.

Australian stories feature prominently in the preview. Silenced, from filmmaker Selina Miles, examines defamation law in the wake of the #MeToo movement, following lawyer Jennifer Robinson and high-profile figures including Brittany Higgins and Amber Heard.

In The Valley, director Ian Darling turns his lens on life in Kangaroo Valley, crafting an intimate portrait of rural rhythms and resilience.

International auteurs also loom large. Hungarian filmmaker Ildikó Enyedi brings Silent Friend, a generational drama starring Tony Leung Chiu-Wai and Léa Seydoux, which won the FIPRESCI Prize at the Venice Film Festival.

Elsewhere, Yellow Letters from İlker Çatak arrives fresh from winning the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival, while Filipiñana, the debut feature from Rafael Manuel, continues its momentum after a prize-winning run at the Sundance Film Festival.

Music star Charli xcx makes a turn as a lead actor in Erupcja, directed by Pete Ohs, while Egyptian director Marwan Hamed delivers El Sett, a sweeping portrait of legendary singer Umm Kulthum.

Rounding out the preview are works pushing the boundaries of form and technology. Memory of Princess Mumbi, from Damien Hauser, imagines a future African kingdom shaped by artificial intelligence, while Past Future Continuous by Firouzeh Khosrovani follows an Iranian woman reconnecting with her family through surveillance cameras in Tehran.

The early lineup underscores the festival’s mix of prestige auteurs, socially engaged storytelling and music-driven nostalgia — a balance that has become a hallmark of the event as it approaches its eighth decade.

Flexipasses and subscriptions for the 2026 festival are now on sale, with the full program to be unveiled May 6. Tickets for individual sessions will go on sale following the announcement.