Ben Apfelbaum

SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL PROGRAM ANNOUNCED

In front of an audience of filmmakers both behind and in front of the camera, as well as veteran and aspiring movie folk, Sydney Film Director Nashan Moodley launched the 66th Sydney Film Festival at the Lower Town Hall, a venue hosted by Clover Moore, Lord Mayor of Sydney, a keen and continuing supporter of the Festival.

The program is one of the most ambitious to date whereby the Festival will screen 307 films from over 55 countries including 33 world premieres, combining hundreds of international and local stories. There are 112 feature films and 79 documentaries several of which have received international awards.

As part of its pledge to have gender parity in the 2020 Festival, this year the program includes 2 retrospectives showcasing influential women directors : Viva Varda, a retrospective of Agnes Varda’s work, and 10 ground breaking Australian directors selected by David Stratton.

The gala opening night sees the world premiere of Palm Beach, a drama/comedy from Australia, director Rachel Ward. On a humorous note, Moodley did not know yet what the Closing Night film would be.

The Lower Town Hall will host the Festival hub with free filmmaker talks, panels and themed parties. It will be open from the 6th to the 16th June with a Happy Hour Pop Up Bar between 4.30 and 6pm on weekdays.

The Festival also holds an Official Competition of 12 films that vie for the Sydney Film Prize which is worth $60,000 decided by a jury of international and Australian filmmakers and industry professionals.

There is also a Prize for the most popular film as voted by the Festival audience.

Coinciding with the Festival is Vivid Sydney, the largest Festival of light, music and ideas in the southern hemisphere attracting last year 2.25 million visitors.

Accordingly there will be talks by filmmakers with Vivid ideas including Rachel Ward, Ian Darling, Ben Lawrence alongside Hugo Weaving, Dany Cooper and a US actor  R.J.Mitte.

To accommodate the screenings there are several Festival venues as follows- the State Theatre (celebrating its 90th year), Event Cinemas George Street, Dendy Opera Quays, Dendy Newtown, Randwick Ritz, Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace Cremorne, Hoyts Entertainment Quarter, Art Gallery of New South Wales and the Casula Powerhouse. There will also be an outdoor screen in Pitt Street Mall between 8am and 10pm where passers can catch previews of compelling Festival films and Red Carpet footage on the giant double sided screen.

The full Sydney Film Festival 2019 program can be found online at www.sff.org.au. The Sydney Film Festival runs from the 5th to the 16th June, 2019 and one can also call 1300733733 for further information.

Featured image- Clover Moore and Nashen Moodley

 

Published by Ben Apfelbaum

My photography began when my father handed me the proverbial brownie box camera as a child. As cameras developed I went through Fujica and Olympus range finders graduating to my first single lens reflex camera, the Minolta SRT101, the latter being the greatest facilitator to my growth as a photographer. Digital photography has only added to this. I was a regular contributor to Camera Craft magazine (Australian Camera ) for over three years. During Australia’s Bicentennial year (1988) I made it a personal project to document the celebrations. This culminated in the creation of a book of my photos which was published in 1989. The book was called CELEBRATING AUSTRALIA and came with an accompanying calendar. My works have appeared in a number of publications including the coffee book entitled MY AUSTRALIA (1989), publisher Robertsbridge Severn. This book had a preface by the then Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke. I was a co-photographer on a book entitled SYDNEY- DISCOVER THE CITY with text written by Robert Treborland. Major Mitchell Press was the publisher. Also for two years I was the photographer for calendars celebrating Sydney’s multicultural communities. The two calendars were entitled MULTICULTURAL SYDNEY. My work appeared in a group exhibition held at Sydney’s Town Hall pertaining to the diversity of life in South America to raise money for orphanages there. I have over one hundred photos stored in the New South Wales State Library archive. I had a solo exhibition held in 2007 entitled Ben’s Lens at the Sydney Jewish Museum which celebrated the vibrancy of the Sydney Jewish community. Some of these photos are on the Museum’s permanent display. I have exhibited internationally firstly at the Spruill Gallery in Atlanta Georgia, united states, and in an exhibition entitled Kosher and Co at the Jewish Museum in Berlin. Currently I am a regular contributor to J-Wire and this esteemed publication.