Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival

01/06/2026

OUR TEN FAVOURITE FILMS FROM THE FIRST SIX YEARS OF THE SYDNEY SCIENCE FICTION FILM FESTIVAL.

https://www.sydneysciencefictionfilmfestival.com.au/news

I had to bump a couple of brilliant features to settle on this lot, but the line had to be drawn somewhere.

SUBMIT for the 2026 festival here: https://filmfreeway.com/SydneyScienceFictionFilmFestival

As a journey down movie-watching memory lane, this brought back memories of so many incredible hours experiencing the visionary talent of filmmakers from around the world.

31/05/2026

40 ACRES EARNS NINE TROPHIES AT CANADIAN ACADEMY AWARDS

The centrepiece feature of our 2025 festival, R.T. Thorne's devastating dystopian thriller 40 ACRES, has dominated the film arts and crafts categories at this year's Canadian Screen Awards.

Starring the mesmerising Danielle Deadwyler as the matriarch of a rural family fighting for survival, the film earned top honours for Direction, Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Art Direction, Sound Editing, Music, Casting, Stunt Co-ordination and Best First Feature Film.

Congratulations to Ontario Creates, Telefilm Canada, Visit Films, Australian distributor Rialto Distribution AU, and all the key creatives on this remarkable vision.

In a famine-decimated near future, Hailey Freeman and her family struggle to safeguard their generational farm as they make one last stand against a vicious militia hell-bent on taking their 40 Acres.

30/05/2026

VALE MARCIA LUCAS | STAR WARS, RETURN OF THE JEDI EDITOR DIES, 80

Marcia Lucas, the film editor who won an Oscar for editing Star Wars, directed by her former husband George Lucas, and shaped several influential films of the 1970s, died Wednesday in City of Rancho Mirage, Calif. She was 80.

Having met Lucas while serving as an assistant editor on THX-1138 in 1969, she was Oscar-nominated for American Graffiti then won Best Editing for the 1977 blockbuster. She also edited Return of the Jedi, as well as Martin Scorsese’s Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Taxi Driver and New York, New York.

Marcia Lucas, George Lucas' former wife and Oscar-winning editor of 'Star Wars,' died Wednesday. She was 80.

21/05/2026

The Force was strong this week at IMAX Sydney for the Australian Premiere of THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU. Get out this weekend for some thrilling sci-fi, an adventure that heralds the triumphant return of Star Wars to the big screen. Thanks Lucasfilm and Walt Disney Studios for the invite and cool activation…

19/05/2026

When not festival directing, Simon Foster co-hosts the weekly Screen Watching podcast with TV industry analyst Dan Barrett. Last night, thanks to Lucasfilm and Walt Disney Studios, they got an early look at THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU at the IMAX Sydney theatre and, on the shores of Darling Harbour, Sydney, wasted no time recording their thoughts...

Dan and Simon left the Sydney IMAX where they saw Mandalorian and G...

18/05/2026

The maestro himself Louis Savy and his team look to have pulled off another spectacular and successful SCI-FI-LONDON Film Festival. Congratulations to all the selected titles and huge props to the UK fans who keep turning up.

18/05/2026

CIAO UFO IN AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND FROM MAY 21

Based on a Hong Kong urban legend, 再見UFO Ciao UFO tells the coming-of-age tale of four childhood friends, living in Wah-Fu Estate in the golden '80s. After witnessing a mysterious extra-terrestrial event, their life was changed drastically. Years later the friends, now in their late twenties, each struggling with life, must once again face the past event, as well as to define the bond between them.

Coming to these shores courtesy of 京華戲院 Chinatown Cinema,
Patrick Leung's film underwent a long journey from production to its release. Follow the whole amazing journey here: https://bit.ly/4rVg07p

See CIAO UFO at Event Cinemas across OZ/NZ, as well as Village Cinemas City and 京華戲院 Chinatown Cinema in Melbourne.

11/05/2026

AUSTRALIA'S MOST LOVABLE TOUGH GUY ACTOR IS NOW AN ACCLAIMED AUTHOR.

Friend of the fest Roger Ward (who'll ever forget his larger-than-life presence at our Mad Max drive-in screening in 2024) is one of Australia's greatest character actors, with iconic roles as 'Fifi' in Dr. George Miller's action classic, 'Bob Taylor' in The Man From Hong Kong and 'Ritter' in Turkey Shoot etching him in Ozploitation film lore for eternity.

Now, Ward brings his sharp intelligence and profound empathy to often unsung heroes - the frontline war journalist - in his book GROWL (available here: https://amzn.to/3Rd1fz5 ).

Says Ward in his cover notes, "World War II ushered in the era of journalists and photographers who trod the front line and bore witness, yet their accounts were shaped by what authorities deemed palatable. Korea echoed the same filtered narrative. Then came Vietnam, where war was narrated in real time by ambitious young reporters transmitting raw accounts through rapidly evolving media. By the time Iraq exploded, society was hungry for unfiltered truth. And adventurous women and men, journalists, photographers, and videographers, risked everything to expose the human side of war. It is of these people that I write."

GROWL is now available in print and e-book formats, wherever good books are sourced.

ISBN-13: 979-8259342880 | ASIN: ‎B0GZ745LWN

11/05/2026

IN 2026, OUR FESTIVAL IS GOING TO HAVE A SLIGHTLY DARKER (BUT STILL FUN!) EDGE | WE NEED SCIFI/HORROR HYBRIDS!

We are negotiating for some classic scifi/horror films to play at the seventh annual Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival; fingers-crossed it happens, cos these are a couple of cult gems.

So we need a bunch of scifi/horror hybrids to be on-brand come October 9-11, when our three-day event kicks off on the big screen at Event Cinemas George Street.

Need more, huh? Ok, for a VERY limited time (for those that have read this far) I'm gonna offer a 15% discount off the FilmFreeway submission fee. So get over there and submit your scary speculative film or script NOW: https://filmfreeway.com/SydneyScienceFictionFilmFestival