Travelling Film Festival Warrawong kicks off the festival season with a brand-new program in July
“Despite the challenges of the past two years, we are excited to be able to come back to Warrawong this July to celebrate a fresh and exciting program to be enjoyed on the big screen. There will be nine feature films and three Australian short films in this year’s program, filled with fascinating and mind-blowing storytelling from Australia, Ireland, Norway, Palestine and so much more!” says Travelling Film Festival Manager, Sanam Rodrigues.
Opening the festival is Australian director Macario De Souza’s 6 Festivals, an emotional tale of friendship between three teenagers who throw themselves into a whirlwind of music festivals in an attempt to escape reality. Shot at actual festivals and featuring various iconic artists, including Dune Rats, G Flip, Bliss n Eso, B Wise, Peking Duk, Ruby Fields and more, 6 Festivals is a moving love letter to young friendship and the life-altering power of live music.
Highlights of the program include The Humans, a stylish cinematic visual storytelling by writer-director Stephen Karam, adapted from his Tony Award-winning play. Featuring a star cast including Richard Jenkins (The Shape of Water, 2017), Amy Schumer (Trainwreck, 2015), Beanie Feldstein (Lady Bird, 2017), June Squibb (Nebraska, 2013) and Steven Yuen (Minari, 2020), the film showcases an uncanny balance between family dramedy during a Thanksgiving gathering in a New York apartment.
Two documentaries in this year’s program showcase the magic of human connection: Everybody’s Oma, directed by Australian filmmaker Jason van Genderen, follows his NSW Central Coast family as they manage the health of their family’s matriarch but accidentally turn her into an online celebrity; and My Old School, directed by Jono McLeod, is a hybrid documentary with actor Alan Cumming’s voiceover and animation to recreate a mind-blowing stranger-than-fiction story from 90s Glasgow.
Also in the program and nominated for Best European Animated Feature Film at the European Film Awards in 2021 is Where is Anne Frank? by visionary director Ari Folman, who cleverly combines young-adult adventure, fantasy and social commentary, in a timely tale enlivened by wonderfully vivid and dreamlike animation.
Other stories from around the world include: winner of seven Irish Film and Television Awards including Best Film, The Quiet Girl, Colm Bairéad’s beautiful family drama portrays the loneliness of an innocent child oblivious to the drama in the adult world around her; an eco-disaster thriller, The Burning Sea, directed by John Andreas, is filled with nail-biting tension as the characters try to save lives and prevent the unthinkable; and Huda’s Salon, directed by two-time international Oscar nominee Hany Abu-Assad, is a gripping drama that tells the story of an innocent Palestinian woman who becomes trapped in a web of blackmail and deceit is based on real events.
The Film Festival is also proud to present three Australian short films from this year’s Sydney Film Festival, including Donkey that explores the stories of three Anangu women of different generations; Voice Activated, supported by the Screenability initiative, showcasing provocative cinema by filmmakers with disability; and The Moths Will Eat Them Up, a 2022 finalist of SFF Dendy Awards for Australian Short Films Competition.
Tickets to TFF Warrawong are now on sale. With a Flexipass and Full Subscription, patrons can watch the whole program and save up to 30%. For more information and bookings, please visit here.
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