Sydney Film Festival

Violence is a fact of everyday life in Colombia, where the drug cartels have kept the country in an armed conflict for decades, and where almost all families have lost a loved one.
The unorthodox presidential candidate Antanas Mockus does all he can to reverse the vicious circle with an imaginative and positive election campaign. His idealism is both his strength and his weakness in a corrupt political system, where the people have lost faith in being able to make a difference.
An inspiring man, and an inspiring story, whose points are relevant far beyond Colombia’s borders.

Abdul is in love with Fatemeh, the girl next door. The two have been exchanging romantic letters for over a year and hope to marry one day. But Fatemeh’s father has other plans – he has decided to marry her off to anyone who can offer a large sum of money as her dowry.
When Mahboba Rawi, a strong-willed Afghan-Australian woman, hears the story, she is concerned about the couple’s possible fate, and the outcome Fatemeh’s a forced marriage. She is determined to make the marriage happen but she only has one month and limited resources.

A young Maori boy from humble beginnings carries the hopes of his people on his shoulders as he races through school and starts university at the age of 14. This is the story of two cultures colliding within one boy, who shows remarkable potential for becoming a future world leader and creating political zeitgeist shifts to speak for indigenous peoples. Will Ngaa fulfil the dreams of his family and the expectations of his tribe?

Perhaps one of the most romantic documentaries ever made. Beautifully shot in a breathtaking mountain village in South Korea, the film follows a husband and wife known as the “100-year-old lovebirds.” Joyful, playful and so visibly in love, they have lived a fairy-tale romance through their 76 years of marriage.
But when the husband falls ill, the thought of his death becomes almost unbearable for the wife. With gorgeous cinematography, exquisite storytelling and a compassionate approach to his subjects, it is no wonder that the film broke box office records in its native South Korea.

As a vocal advocate for everyone’s right to sexual expression, Sydney sex worker Rachel Wotton is passionate about providing people with disabilities the opportunity to experience sexual intimacy. She helped set up an advocacy group, runs workshops for carers and sex workers, and is studying for a masters degree in her spare time.
The indefatigable blonde also provides a specialised service to her clients, two of whom, John and Mark, permit the cameras in to record their most intimate moments. Their pride and pleasure makes this one of the most uplifting films you’ll see all year.

Provoking, witty, stylish and sweepingly informative, THE CORPORATION explores the nature and spectacular rise of the dominant institution of our time. Part film and part movement, THE CORPORATION is transforming audiences and dazzling critics with its insightful and compelling analysis. Taking its status as a legal “person” to the logical conclusion, the film puts the corporation on the psychiatrist’s couch to ask “What kind of person is it?” THE CORPORATION includes interviews with Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, Milton Friedman, Howard Zinn, Vandana Shiva and Michael Moore.

25 years ago, the French secret service bombed the Rainbow Warrior, sinking Greenpeace’s flagship and killing a crew member. Some of the original crew now lives together in a harmonious community on Waiheke Island, New Zealand. In addition to interviews with six original members, the film contains shocking images of the consequences of the French nuclear tests, exciting action-packed footage of brave little rubber boats up against threatening whalers, and joyous home movies that bear witness to the exceptional sense of camaraderie that existed on the legendary ship.

Roots music icon Chris Strachwitz is the guiding force behind legendary Arhoolie Records, bringing Cajun music out of Louisiana, Tex-Mex out of Texas, blues out of the country – and into the living rooms of Middle America. American music and culture have never been the same. We join him for on a hip-shaking stomp from Texas to New Orleans, Cajun country to Appalachia, as he continues his passionate quest for the musical soul of America.

SPACE TOURISTS succeeds in surprising its audience with images and situations that have very little to do with the futuristic fantasy of “space tourism”. The filmmaker sets up encounters with the least likely people imaginable: places even stranger and more unknown than outer space itself.

With extra-ordinary access and truly first-time images the film investigates the emotional oscillations of an expensive enterprise and questions the meaning and boundaries of the human spirit and our hunger for adventure and discovery.

The Sichuan earthquake took 90,000 lives and left 5 million people homeless. Beichuan, once a beautiful valley town, was entirely leveled and nearly every family lost a loved one. But the Chinese construction miracle rebuilt a new city in just three years and what began as a journey to overcome loss becomes entangled with dreams of an upgraded life.
As the survivors emerge from China’s worst natural disaster in decades, they speak for today’s Chinese generation thrust into the nation’s relentless pursuit of progress and violently uprooted from their past.