Producer Marian McGowan and writer/director Charles Williams were on hand to accept their gongs; actor Guy Pearce appeared in a pre-recorded thank you speech.

Other winners include lead actress Susie Porter for THE TRAVELLERS; supporting actress Marta Dusseldorp for WITH OR WITHOUT YOU; DOP Mark Wareham for his cinematography and Kiah Roache-Turner on behalf of his fellow editors for BEAST OF WAR; Fiona Donovan took out the Best Production Design honour for THE CORRESPONDENT; and, composer François Tétaz was feted for his score for THE SURFER.

In one of the emotional highlights of the night, Madison McMahon accepted her late father Julian’s Supporting Actor award for THE SURFER, acknowledging the actor’s love of filmmaking and how proud her family is of both the evening’s honour and his body of work.

Industry figurehead Deanne Weir accepted the Best Documentary trophy for THE WOLVES ALWAYS COME AT NIGHT, with her director Gabrielle Brady contributing via a pre-record; LESBIAN SPACE PRINCESS added to its recent AACTA wins by scoring Best Animated Feature; and, EMILIA PEREZ earned the inaugural David Stratton International Film prize.

Hosted by FCCA member Rod Quinn, the evening proved a strong pull for industry identities with those present including actors Susan Prior, Matt Day, Lynette Curran INSIDE nominee Vincent Miller; KANGAROO composer Josie Mann; Oscar-nominated sound designer Wayne Pashley; KANGAROO ISLAND director Timothy David; THE CORRESPONDENT director Kriv Stenders and his set designer Karla Urizar; and, Piccolo Films boss and industry stalwart, Ray Argall.

The full list of 2025 Film Critics Circle of Australia Award winners and nominees are: 

BEST FILM

*WINNER* INSIDE | Producers Kate Glover and Marian McGowan
KANGAROO ISLAND | THE SURFER | THE CORRESPONDENT | BRING HER BACK

BEST DIRECTOR

*WINNER* CHARLES WILLIAMS | Inside
BRUCE BERESFORD | The Travellers; LORCAN FINNEGAN | The Surfer; MICHAEL PHILIPPOU, DANNY PHILIPPOU | Bring Her Back; KRIV STENDERS | The Correspondent

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A MALE ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

*WINNER* GUY PEARCE | Inside
LUKE BRACEY | The Travellers; BRYAN BROWN | The Travellers; VINCENT MILLER | Inside; RICHARD ROXBURGH | The Correspondent

BEST SCREENPLAY

*WINNER* CHARLES WILLIAMS | Inside
PETER DUNCAN | The Correspondent; DANNY PHILIPPOU, BILL HINZMAN | Bring Her Back; KIAH ROACHE-TURNER | Beast of War

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

*WINNER* MARK WAREHAM, A.C.S. | Beast of War
ANDREW COMMIS, A.C.S. | Inside; GEOFFREY HALL, A.C.S. | The Correspondent; RADEK LADCZUK | The Surfer; AARON McLISKY, A.C.S. | Bring Her Back

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A MALE ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

*WINNER* JULIAN MCMAHON | The Surfer
JAI COURTNEY | Dangerous Animals; COSMO JARVIS | Inside; JONAH WREN PHILLIPS | Bring Her Back

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A LEAD ROLE

*WINNER* SUSIE PORTER | The Travellers
REBECCA BREEDS | Kangaroo Island; SALLY HAWKINS | Bring Her Back; DAISY RIDLEY | We Bury The Dead; LILY WHITELEY | Kangaroo

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

*WINNER* MARTA DUSSELDORP | With or Without You
ADELAIDE CLEMENS | Kangaroo Island; DEBORAH MAILMAN | Kangaroo; BROOKE SATCHWELL | Kangaroo

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

*WINNER* THE WOLVES ALWAYS COME AT NIGHT | Dir: Gabrielle Brady; Prods: Julia Niethammer, Ariunna Tserenpil, Rita Walsh
NOT ONLY FRED DAGG, BUT ALSO JOHN CLARKE | EDGE OF LIFE | JOURNEY HOME, DAVID GULPILIL | YURLU COUNTRY.

BEST MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)

*WINNER* FRANÇOIS TÉTAZ | The Surfer
MATTEO ZINGALES & JOSIE MANN | Kangaroo; ARIEL MARX | Kangaroo Island; CORNEL WILCZEK | Bring Her Back; MICHAEL YEZERSKI | Dangerous Animals

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

*WINNER* FIONA DONOVAN, A.P.D.G. | The Correspondent
NICHOLAS DARE | Together; ESTHER ROSENBERG | Beast of War; VANESSA CERNE | Bring Her Back; SHERREE PHILIPS | Went Up The Hill

BEST EDITING

*WINNER* KIAH ROACHE-TURNER, REGG SKWARKO, STEPHEN EVANS | Beast of War
TONY CRANSTOUN | The Surfer; VERONIKA JENET | The Correspondent; GEOFF LAMB | Bring Her Back; KASRA RASSOULZADEGAN | Dangerous Animals

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

*WINNER* LESBIAN SPACE PRINCESS | Dirs: Emma Hough Hobbs, Leela Varghese; Prod: Tom Phillips.
MAGIC BEACH | THE LOST TIGER.

THE DAVID STRATTON AWARD FOR INTERNATIONAL FILM

*WINNER* EMILIA PEREZ | Dir: Jacques Audiard; Prods: Anthony Vaccarello, Valérie Schermann, Pascal Caucheteux, jacques Audiard.
BUGONIA | I’M STILL HERE | ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER.

Best Picture

Bugonia | (Focus Features) An Element Pictures/Square Peg/CJ ENM in association with Pith/Fruit Tree Enterprises Production; Ed Guiney & Andrew Lowe, Yorgos Lanthimos, Emma Stone and Lars Knudsen, Producers
F1 | (Apple) An Apple Original Films/Monolith Pictures/Jerry Bruckheimer/Plan B Entertainment/Dawn Apollo Films Production; Chad Oman, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Joseph Kosinski and Jerry Bruckheimer, Producers
Frankenstein | (Netflix) A Netflix/Double Dare You/Demilo Films/Bluegrass 7 Production; Guillermo del Toro, J. Miles Dale and Scott Stuber, Producers
Hamnet | (Focus Features) A Hera Pictures/Neal Street/Amblin Entertainment in association with Book of Shadows Production; Liza Marshall, Pippa Harris, Nicolas Gonda, Steven Spielberg and Sam Mendes, Producers
Marty Supreme | (A24) An A24/Central Group Production; Eli Bush, Ronald Bronstein, Josh Safdie, Anthony Katagas and Timothée Chalamet, Producers
One Battle After Another | (Warner Bros.) A Ghoulardi Film Company Production; Adam Somner, Sara Murphy and Paul Thomas Anderson, Producers
The Secret Agent | (Neon) A CinemaScópio/MK/Lemming Film/One Two Films Production; Emilie Lesclaux, Producer
Sentimental Value | (Neon) A Mer Film/Eye Eye Pictures/MK/Lumen/Zentropa/ Komplizen Film/BBC Film Production; Maria Ekerhovd and Andrea Berentsen Ottmar, Producers
Sinners | (Warner Bros.) A Proximity Media Production; Zinzi Coogler, Sev Ohanian and Ryan Coogler, Producers
Train Dreams | (Netflix) A Black Bear/Kamala Films Production; Marissa McMahon, Teddy Schwarzman, Will Janowitz, Ashley Schlaifer and Michael Heimler, Producers

Best Director

Chloé Zhao, Hamnet; Josh Safdie, Marty Supreme; Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another; Joachim Trier, Sentimental Value; Ryan Coogler, Sinners

Best Actor

Timothée Chalamet, Marty Supreme; Leonardo DiCaprio, One Battle After Another; Ethan Hawke, Blue Moon; Michael B Jordan, Sinners; Wagner Moura, The Secret Agent

Best Actress

Jessie Buckley, Hamnet; Rose Byrne, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You; Kate Hudson, Song Sung Blue; Renate Reinsve, Sentimental Value; Emma Stone, Bugonia

Best Supporting Actor
Benicio del Toro, One Battle After Another; Jacob Elordi, Frankenstein; Delroy Lindo, Sinners; Sean Penn, One Battle After Another; Stellan Skarsgård, Sentimental Value

Best Supporting Actress Elle Fanning, Sentimental Value; Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Sentimental Value; Amy Madigan, Weapons; Wunmi Mosaku, Sinners; Teyana Taylor, One Battle After Another

Best Adapted Screenplay
Bugonia, Screenplay by Will Tracy; Frankenstein, Written for the Screen by Guillermo del Toro; Hamnet, Screenplay by Chloé Zhao & Maggie O’Farrell; One Battle After Another, Written by Paul Thomas Anderson; Train Dreams, Screenplay by Clint Bentley & Greg Kwedar

Best Original Screenplay
Blue Moon, Written by Robert Kaplow; It Was Just an Accident, Written by Jafar Panahi, Nader Saïvar, Shadmehr Rastin, Mehdi Mahmoudian; Marty Supreme, Written by Ronald Bronstein & Josh Safdie; Sentimental Value, Written by Eskil Vogt, Joachim Trier; Sinners, Written by Ryan Coogler.

Best Animated Short Film
Butterfly, (Sacrebleu Productions) Florence Miailhe and Ron Dyens; Forevergreen, Nathan Engelhardt and Jeremy Spears; The Girl Who Cried Pearls” (National Film Board of Canada) Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski; Retirement Plan, John Kelly and Andrew Freedman; The Three Sisters, (Polydont Films/Rymanco Ventures) Konstantin Bronzit

Best Costume Design
Avatar: Fire and Ash, Deborah L. Scott; Frankenstein, Kate Hawley; Hamnet, Malgosia Turzanska; Marty Supreme, Miyako Bellizzi; Sinners, Ruth E. Carter

Achievement in Casting
Hamnet, Nina Gold; Marty Supreme, Jennifer Venditti; One Battle After Another, Cassandra Kulukundis; The Secret Agent, Gabriel Domingues; Sinners, Francine Maisler

Best Live Action Short Film
Butcher’s Stain, (Tel Aviv University Steve Tisch School of Film and Television) Meyer Levinson-Blount and Oron Caspi; A Friend of Dorothy, Lee Knight and James Dean; Jane Austen’s Period Drama, Julia Aks and Steve Pinder; The Singers, Sam A. Davis and Jack Piatt; Two People Exchanging Saliva, (Canal+/The New Yorker) Alexandre Singh and Natalie Musteata.

Best Makeup and Hair Styling
Frankenstein, Mike Hill, Jordan Samuel and Cliona Furey; Kokuho, Kyoko Toyokawa, Naomi Hibino and Tadashi Nishimatsu; Sinners, Ken Diaz, Mike Fontaine and Shunika Terry; The Smashing Machine, Kazu Hiro, Glen Griffin and Bjoern Rehbein; The Ugly Stepsister, Thomas Foldberg and Anne Cathrine Sauerberg

Best Original Score
Bugonia, Jerskin Fendrix; Frankenstein, Alexandre Desplat; Hamnet, Max Richter; One Battle After Another, Jonny Greenwood; Sinners, Ludwig Goransson

Best Animated Feature Film
Arco | (Neon) Ugo Bienvenu, Félix de Givry, Sophie Mas and Natalie Portman
Elio | (Walt Disney) Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina and Mary Alice Drumm
KPop Demon Hunters | (Netflix) Maggie Kang, Chris Appelhans and Michelle L.M. Wong
Little Amélie or the Character of Rain | (GKIDS) Maïlys Vallade, Liane-Cho Han, Nidia Santiago and Henri Magalon
Zootopia 2 | (Walt Disney) Jared Bush, Byron Howard and Yvett Merino

Best Cinematography
Frankenstein, Dan Laustsen; Marty Supreme, Darius Khondji; One Battle After Another, Michael Bauman; Sinners, Autumn Durald Arkapaw; Train Dreams, Adolpho Veloso.

Best Documentary Feature
The Alabama Solution | (HBO Documentary Films) An HBO Documentary Films/Alabama Film Project Production, Andrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kaufman
Come See Me in the Good Light | (Apple)An Apple Original Films/Tripod Media/Amplify Pictures in association with Treat Media/Something Fierce Production; Ryan White, Jessica Hargrave, Tig Notaro and Stef Willen
Cutting Through Rocks | A Gandom Films Production; Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni
Mr. Nobody Against Putin | (PINK) A PINK Production; Nominees to be determined
The Perfect Neighbor | (Netflix) A Netflix Documentary/Message Pictures in association with SO’B/Park Pictures Production; Geeta Gandbhir, Alisa Payne, Nikon Kwantu and Sam Bisbee

Best Documentary Short Film
All the Empty Rooms, Joshua Seftel and Conall Jones; Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud, Craig Renaud and Juan Arredondo; Children No More - Were and Are Gone, Hilla Medalia and Sheila Nevins; The Devil Is Busy, Christalyn Hampton and Geeta Gandbhir; Perfectly a Strangeness, Alison McAlpine

Best Editing
F1, Stephen Mirrione; Marty Supreme, Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie; One Battle After Another, Andy Jurgensen; Sentimental Value, Olivier Bugge Coutté; Sinners, Michael P. Shawver

Best International Feature
The Secret Agent | A CinemaScópio Production; Brazil
It Was Just an Accident | A Les Films Pelléas Production; France
Sentimental Value | A Mer Film/Eye Eye Pictures Production; Norway
Sirāt | An El Deseo Production; Spain
The Voice of Hind Rajab | A Mime Films Production; Tunisia

Best Original Song
Dear Me from Diane Warren: Relentless | Music and Lyrics by Diane Warren
Golden from KPop Demon Hunters | Music and Lyrics by EJAE, Mark Sonnenblick, Joong Gyu Kwak, Yu Han Lee, Hee Dong Nam, Jeong Hoon Seon and Teddy Park
I Lied To You from Sinners | Music and Lyrics by Raphael Saadiq and Ludwig Goransson
Sweet Dreams Of Joy from Viva Verdi! | Music and Lyrics by Nicholas Pike
Train Dreams from Train Dreams | Music by Nick Cave and Bryce Dessner; Lyrics by Nick Cave

Best Production Design
Frankenstein, Production Design: Tamara Deverell; Set Decoration: Shane Vieau
Hamnet, Production Design: Fiona Crombie; Set Decoration: Alice Felton
Marty Supreme, Production Design: Jack Fisk; Set Decoration: Adam Willis
One Battle After Another, Production Design: Florencia Martin; Set Decoration: Anthony Carlino
Sinners, Production Design: Hannah Beachler; Set Decoration: Monique Champagne

Best Sound
F1, Gareth John, Al Nelson, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Gary A. Rizzo and Juan Peralta
Frankenstein, Greg Chapman, Nathan Robitaille, Nelson Ferreira, Christian Cooke and Brad Zoern
One Battle After Another, José Antonio García, Christopher Scarabosio and Tony Villaflor
Sinners, Chris Welcker, Benjamin A. Burtt, Felipe Pacheco, Brandon Proctor and Steve Boeddeker
Sirāt, Amanda Villavieja, Laia Casanovas and Yasmina Praderas

Best Visual Effects
Avatar: Fire and Ash, Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon and Daniel Barrett
F1, Ryan Tudhope, Nicolas Chevallier, Robert Harrington and Keith Dawson
Jurassic World Rebirth, David Vickery, Stephen Aplin, Charmaine Chan and Neil Corbould
The Lost Bus, Charlie Noble, David Zaretti, Russell Bowen and Brandon K. McLaughlin
Sinners, Michael Ralla, Espen Nordahl, Guido Wolter and Donnie Dean

TO WIN: Like/Share this post then email screenspace3@gmail.com with your answer to this question: WHO IS THE GREATEST SPORTSWOMAN OF ALL TIME? (Australian residents only; T&Cs apply)

From acclaimed Australian director David Michôd (Animal Kingdom) comes the extraordinary true story of Christy Martin, the first female boxer promoted by Don King. A gripping, emotionally charged story about resilience, survival, and breaking boundaries. One of the must-see performances of the year, in a film that Vanity Fair called, ""More than a boxing story, it's a tale of survival."

T&Cs: Australian residents only, sorry; Competition closes 11:59pm AEDT Wednesday January 7, 2026; One entry per person; Winners will be notified by return email, and e-passes sent by email or DM; The judges decision is final; Passes will be valid from January 8 at participating cinemas nationally for the duration of the film’s season. 

Essentially, you’ll enjoy all of what you’ve come to expect from SCREEN-SPACE - the right mix of insight, analysis, history and humour - but now, it’s straight into your inbox every week. I’m based on Australia’s East Coast, so I’ll certainly be reporting on our local industry, but we are one as a planet (now THAT’S writing) so there will be plenty of international coverage as well.

When I started SCREEN-SPACE, a key aim was to keep long-form film journalism alive. I grew up on the editorial scope of iconic magazines like Empire, Premiere and Movieline; kept up with ‘The Biz’ by devouring every word of Variety and The Hollywood Reporter; and, idolizing the artisans and craftspeople whose work was chronicled in Fangoria, Cinefex and American Cinematographer.

So let’s build a like-minded SCREEN-SPACE community together - through subscribing and sharing the newsletter; by clicking on the links and opening yourself up to a vast network of news and views; and, perhaps most importantly, through passionate discourse between each other about the inspiring world of film.

Simon Foster
Editor

A beloved film presence, Teri Garr has passed away aged 79 after a long, courageous battle with Multiple Sclerosis. From her beginnings as a chorus dancer in Elvis Presley films, to a vast resume of television appearances, to a film career peppered with too-few leads and a myriad of perfect character parts, Garr was Hollywood’s ‘ace-in-the-hole’ for over five decades. When a project needed some moments of support-player magic, Teri Garr was as good as the industry has ever known…

In the hours after her passing, her Mr. Mom co-star Michael Keaton wrote, “Forget about how great she was as an actress and comedienne, she was a wonderful woman. Not just great to work with but great to be around. And go back and watch her comedic work; man, was she great! R.I.P., girl.”

We recall our five favourite Teri Garr big screen performances:

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (Dir: Steven Spielberg; 1977) As ‘Ronnie Neary’, the wife and mother who had to hold the family together as husband Roy (Richard Dreyfuss) succumbed to his UFO obsession, Garr lent on her dramatic acting training at New York’s Lee Strasberg Institute to keep Spielberg’s fantasy epic grounded in its suburban reality and deep emotion. She remains one of the director’s great ‘movie moms’ alongside Goldie Hawn in The Sugarland Express; co-star Melinda Dillon; Lorraine Gary in Jaws; and Dee Wallace in E.T. 

YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN (Dir: Mel Brooks; 1974) What wasn’t often exploited in most of Teri Garr’s performances (to her credit) is just how damn beautiful she is. When casting the voluptuous lab assistant ‘Inga’, Mel Brooks recognised Garr would not only be able to nail the inspired comedic moments in his script, but also emerge as one of the 70’s most desirable ‘movie stars,’ in a role that called for all that moniker entails. Her line “Vould you like to have a roll in ze hay?” remains a comedy classic.

ONE FROM THE HEART (Dir: Francis Ford Coppola; 1981) Director Francis Ford Coppola had cast Garr in his 1974 paranoia classic The Conversation, opposite Gene Hackman (who she’d reteam with 24 years later for the romance Full Moon in Blue Water) and his 1979 production, The Black Stallion, directed by Carroll Ballard. So great was his faith in the actress, Coppola chose her as the female lead in his mega-budgeted musical One From The Heart, a dark song-and-dance love story that drained the director’s Zoetrope Studios of every penny and goes down as one of the filmmaker’s great follies. Garr, who got to draw on her ballet roots as dreamer/travel-agent ‘Frannie’, is luminous in the film. 

TOOTSIE (Dir: Sydney Pollack; 1982) The Academy finally catches up with what audiences had embraced for the best part of a decade - that Teri Garr is one of the great support stars in Hollywood’s history. She earned her first (unbelievable) and only (also, unbelievable) Oscar nomination, for Supporting Actress in Sydney Pollack’s blockbuster Tootsie. It’s the perfect American comedy, rich with hilarious characterisations deep into the cast list - Hoffman, of course, but also Dabney Coleman, Bill Murray, George Gaynes, Charles Durning and Jessica Lange - who took out the coveted trophy. Lange’s very good, of course, but…really?...

AFTER HOURS (Dir: Martin Scorsese; 1985) Full disclosure - After Hours is our favourite Scorsese film, not least because of a dazzling Teri Garr as Julie, the achingly-sweet but also slightly off-kilter romantic whose skills as a portrait artist amps up the late night odyssey in which Griffin Dunne’s Paul finds himself. ‘Julie’ is why Garr in her prime was a Hollywood gemstone; just a few fleeting moments of her presence lit up an entire scene…hell, an entire movie. See also Michael Winner’s Won Ton Ton: The Dog That Saved Hollywood (1976); Carl Reiner’s Oh, God! (1977); John Schlesinger’s Honky Tonk Freeway (1981); and Jim Kouf’s Miracles (1986).

The Sydney Film Festival has announced a first wave of programming with 17 new films and events to be featured in this year’s event, set to unspool at sites all over Sydney from June 5-16. 

“This selection, though diverse in setting and scope, reveals some common themes: resilience foremost amongst them. These films offer a taste of a Festival program rich with discovery and insight, poised to captivate and inspire,” Sydney Film Festival Director Nashen Moodley said.

Two new Australian films will have their world premiere at the 71st festival. In Vitro, the highly anticipated feature from directors Will Howarth and Tom McKeith, stars Ashley Zukerman (pictured, top) in an Australian sci-fi mystery thriller set on a remote cattle farm in the near future. And in The Pool, director Ian Darling paints a cinematic portrait of a year in the life of the iconic Bondi Icebergs.

From New Zealand comes The Mountain (pictured, right), the directorial debut of actor Rachel House. Executive produced by Taika Waititi, the film centres on three children discovering friendship's healing power through the spirit of adventure as they trek through spectacular New Zealand landscapes. 

International festival prize-winners in the first release of films include winner of the Golden Shell for Best Film at San Sebastián, The Rye Horn, a story of a rural Galician midwife who flees after an illegal abortion goes awry. Winner of the Special Jury Prize at Venice, legendary filmmaker Agnieszka Holland’s refugee thriller Green Border raised the ire of some Polish politicians and inspired protests before setting a box office record.

Pepe won the Silver Bear at Berlinale 2024. The film tells the true-ish story of Pepe the hippo who broke free of Pablo Escobar’s private zoo, featuring narration from the multilingual hippo himself. Explanation for Everything (pictured, left) is a Hungarian satire about the culture wars where a student accidentally becomes a figurehead for the right when he is embroiled in a national scandal. The film won the Orizzonti Award for Best Film at the Venice International Film Festival.

One of the hits of Berlinale 2024, Sex follows two married and ostensibly heterosexual chimneysweeps who are unmoored when one of them sleeps with a man and the other begins to question the recurring dreams he’s been having about David Bowie.

Another offbeat tale in the Festival line-up is Clair Titley’s documentary The Contestant, an incredible true story of a TV contestant left naked in a room, unaware his months-long challenge was being broadcast to millions via a Japanese television show.

Gastronomes will find their appetites whetted by Menus-Plaisirs – Les Troisgros (pictured, right), director Frederick Wiseman’s mouth-watering epic set in a three-Michelin-star French restaurant; Mexican director Alonso Ruizpalacios’ La Cocina, featuring Rooney Mara and Raúl Briones in a comedic drama set during the hectic lunch rush at a New York restaurant; and Busan Film Festival favourite House of the Seasons, an intergenerational family saga set in a tofu factory in Daegu, Korea.

Documentaries include COPA ’71, the untold story of the 1971 Women’s Soccer World Cup and their fight against systemic sexism within governing bodies determined to undermine women’s soccer, and The Battle for Laikipia explores the tensions in Kenya's Laikipia region among herders, landholders, and conservationists against a backdrop of drought, politics, and colonial history.

Other highlights announced include Olivier Assayas’ most personal film yet, Suspended Time, about art, memory, and love in the time of COVID; and Oscar-nominated Pawo Choyning Dorji’s The Monk and The Gun (pictured, below), which takes place in rural Bhutan during the lead-up to his country’s first-ever election.

A special film and live music event not to be missed, Hear My Eyes: Hellraiser will give audiences the opportunity to experience Clive Barker’s 1987 extra-dimensional horror classic, re-scored live by EBM explorers Hieroglyphic Being and Robin Fox, and a synched laser-art show at City Recital Hall.

When the arguments about who have been ‘snubbed’ arise each year in the wake of the Oscar nominations announcement, there is always a counter-argument about who should have missed out to make way. There isn’t a name amongst the nominees that we’d begrudge their spot. But there is certainly a sense of “What might have been…” when you consider our most startling non-nominees…

GRETA GERWIG (Best Director) and MARGOT ROBBIE (Best Actress): They weren’t technically shut out of the ceremony - Greta, with hubby Noah Baumbach, are up for Adapted Screenplay; Robbie as a producer for Best Picture - but the now decade-long trend that favoured viewer-inducing box-office hits in key categories screeched to a halt when the Barbie pair missed out. Just as last year, when Tom Cruise’s cinema-saving return as Maverick was ignored, Robbie and her director deserved Oscar’s respect - for both shepherding the film’s bold narrative to fruition and its billion dollar box office.

BEST DOCUMENTARY - BEYOND UTOPIA (pictured, right) and STILL: A MICHAEL J. FOX MOVIE: The first-person factual filmmaking masterclass in 2023 was Madeleine Gavin’s account of the horrors of life in North Korea and one family’s odyssey to freedom. And the soul laid bare that Davis Guggenheim’s camera captures in his profoundly moving chat with Hollywood’s favourite son is unforgettable viewing. How these two missed a Best Doco slot…well, I just don’t get it…  

BEST ACTOR - JOAQUIN PHOENIX (Beau is Afraid) and NICHOLAS CAGE (Dream Scenario): Seems there is only room for one obnoxious, neurotic white guy in the Best Actor mix, and that spot was filled by Paul Giamatti in The Holdovers. Phoenix’s masterclass in anxiety and Cage’s everyman dream guy were, let’s be frank, far more nuanced and inventive performances than Giamatti’s one-note, smart-alec, cliched academic, but…well, here we are.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS - RACHEL McADAMS (Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret) and PENELOPE CRUZ (Ferrari): Admittedly, this was a super-competitive category, as usual. But both McAdams, as the perfect movie-mom incarnation ever in the adored adaptation of Judy Blume’s YA-lit classic, and Cruz, as the emotionally-tortured wife of the automobile industry giant, support their films with invaluable, indelible characterisations.  

BEST ACTRESS - GRETA LEE (Past Lives; pictured, right): Another example of a film that didn’t go unnoticed - Past Lives earned two nominations, including Best Film - but one that couldn’t hold award season momentum in the category it deserved most, Best Actress, for the luminous Greta Lee. We can legitimately point an accusing finger at the FYC marketing budget at Netflix; Annette Bening’s kind-of surprising inclusion here for the streamer’s biopic Nyad stole away Lee’s shot at a trophy.   

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM - FALLEN LEAVES (Finland) and THE MOTHER OF ALL LIES (Morocco): These are two films that bear the unmistakably unique hallmarks of two truly singular auteur’s - Finnish cinema’s national treasure, Aki Kaurismäki and one of 2023’s breakout talents, Asmae ElMoudir, from Morocco. Their films were perhaps ultimately too idiosyncratic, given the Best International Film spots were taken by the far more palatable Society of the Snow (no pun intended) and Perfect Days (which we love, so no shade intended).

BEST SONG - “PEACHES” by JACK BLACK (The Super Mario Bros. Movie): Can you imagine the giggly, crowd-pleasing thrill of following up Ryan Gosling’s live rendition of ‘I’m Just Ken’ with Jack Black going all-in on stage as his SMB villain Bowser singing his unhinged love serenade ‘Peaches’? Well, it ain’t gonna happen. Black’s brilliantly comedic ballad, an inspired intermission in the otherwise frantic animated hit, should’ve been nominated.      

EVERYTHING SALTBURN: There was a tangible momentum over the last month that suggested Emerald Fennell’s hot-button pic was on Oscar’s radar. Barry Keoghan for Best Actor; Rosamund Pike for Supporting Actress; Original Script, Set and Costume Design, Cinematography, Editing all seemed within reach. But the divisive film instead fell in with a prestige crowd that includes The Iron Claw, Priscilla, All of Us Strangers, Eileen, A Thousand and One, Origin, Memory, Asteroid City - great films from 2023 that didn’t get their shot.

SEE THE FULL LIST OF NOMINATIONS HERE

As I write this, we near the final week of 2023, and the industry question that all the trade papers are pondering is, “Is cinema back?”

Variety notes that, unless Wonka and Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom overperform, the domestic U.S. box office will fall just shy of $9billion - the number that analysts have set as a healthy highwater mark for the first full twelve months of cinema patronage, post-COVID. Fact is, if Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania or Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny or Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1 had realised their full potential; or, if The Marvels had contributed at all; or, if the biggest industrial action in Hollywood history hadn’t bumped to 2024 a bevy of pics (including the one-two Zendaya punch of Dune: Part Two and Challengers), that $9billion would’ve been shrinking in the rear-view mirror.

Also, let’s not ignore the phenomenon that was #Barbenheimer, an unambiguous pop culture moment that proved that movies can still cut through and hold the global society in their thrall. Some sequels worked just fine (Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse; Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3; John Wick: Chapter 4); fresh content connected (M3GAN; Five Nights at Freddy; Sound of Freedom); and, nostalgia proved lucrative (The Super Mario Bros. Movie; The Little Mermaid). 

And that Variety article also points out that, although 2023 will fall short of $10b-$11b levels that were de rigueur pre-COVID, studios also premiered a lot less movies this year. There were 88 films released in 2023 compared to 108 in 2019, when ticket sales reached $10.5 billion. 

So…well, there’s still some ground to make up but, yeah, cinema is back.

Here are my favourites of 2023.

Simon Foster
Editor, SCREEN-SPACE

1. ANATOMY OF A FALL (Dir: Justine Triet | Stars Sandra Hüller, Swann Arlaud, Milo Machado Graner | France | 171 mins) The framework is a cop/court procedural - did he fall? was he pushed? what does the boy know? - and Anatomy of a Fall is a compelling take on that well-worn genre. There’s more to Justine Triet’s best ever film, however. A marriage is imploding; a child is witness to the disintegration of his stability; violence dwells and swells within this middle-class setting. Anatomy of a Fall is anxiety as an artform; an intimate epic about the deceitful depths we plumb to not only keep secrets but convince ourselves we are justified in doing so. As 2023 closes out, Sandra Hüller is the finest European actress of her generation (see also, The Zone of Interest). 

2. THE CONCERT FILM - TAYLOR SWIFT: THE ERAS TOUR (Dir: Sam Wrench | USA | 169 mins); RENAISSANCE: A FILM BY BEYONCÉ (Dir: Beyoncé, Ed Burke | USA | 169 mins); STOP MAKING SENSE Remastered (Dir: Jonathan Demme | USA | 88 mins) Can the concert documentary recapture the immersive thrill of the world’s biggest music shows? No, of course not, but the very best do what any great cinema does and conjure a version of reality that enhances it as only film can. Whether it is the giddy performance highs that Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour delivered, or the glimpse inside a brilliant diva-artist’s creative process that Beyoncé’s Renaissance revealed, there was no matching the sheer cinematic bravado they provided in 2023. Or in 1984, for that matter, as the remastered Stop Making Sense reaffirmed. 

3. PAST LIVES (Dir: Celine Song | Stars Greta Lee, Teo Yoo, John Magaro | USA, South Korea | 105 mins) The year’s most beautiful  narrative examines a soulful connection that fate keeps determinedly apart…in this life, anyway. Celine Song wrote and directed a deconstruction of love that tears at the very fibre of what we’ve been conditioned to expect a screen romance should be. Greta Lee has a Best Actress nomination in the bag; the denouement will reduce you to sobs.     

4. GODZILLA MINUS ONE (Dir: Takashi Yamazaki | Stars Minami Hamabe, Ryunosuke Kamiki, Sakura Ando | Japan | 124 mins) It’s been seven years since Toho Studios released a Godzilla adventure; in the interim, those amongst us who worship at the mighty lizard’s talons have had to settle for just-OK Hollywood versions. This year, Toho and FX maestro-turned-director Takashi Yamazaki took Godzilla back to a post WWII Japan, crafting the most heartfelt, exciting action blockbuster of the year.     

5. PERFECT DAYS (Dir: Wim Wenders | Stars Kôji Yakusho, Tokio Emoto, Arisa Nakano | Japan, Germany | 123 mins) Kôji Yakusho won the Cannes Best Actor trophy as Hirayama, a Tokyo everyman who finds contentment in life’s smallest details. A book by lamplight; his favourite driving song; a sandwich in the park; the slightest moment of shared joy with a stranger. There’s more to Hirayama’s inner life, of course, but director Wim Wenders will take you there when he’s ready. Afterwards, you’ll float from the cinema.   

6. BARBIE (Dir: Greta Gerwig | Stars Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling | USA | 114 mins) When Greta and Margot had a dolly playdate, moviegoers to the tune of US$1.45billion - the highest global gross in Warner Bros. history - joined in the fun. After years of script development, the final polish came amidst The #MeToo Movement and Trump’s toxic reign; the result was the smartest, funniest possible brand-based film adaptation ever. 

7. BEYOND UTOPIA (Dir: Madeleine Gavin | USA | 115) No capes and tights defined this year’s greatest film hero. His name is Pastor Seungeun Kim, a South Korean human rights activist whose efforts to aid a family of five seeking refuge from North Korea’s heartless regime makes for the most gripping and heartbreaking factual filmmaking experience 0f 2023. A great geopolitical thriller and bracing testament to the importance of film journalism.  

8. REALITY (Dir: Tina Satter | Stars Sydney Sweeney, Josh Hamilton, Marchánt Davis | USA | 83 mins) As the intelligence specialist who blew the whistle on Russia’s involvement in the 2016 election, Sydney Sweeney went from being next-big-thing to Big Thing. In Tina Satter’s ultra-realistic portrayal of Reality Winner’s takedown, Sweeney conveys a brittle fragility grounded in a bedrock of integrity; a few decades back, Shelley Duvall or Sissy Spacek would have similarly nailed the part.    

9. NIMONA (Dirs: Nick Bruno, Troy Quane | Voice cast Stars Chloë Grace Moretz, Riz Ahmed, Eugene Lee Yang | USA | 101 mins) Imagine a fantasy world where the latest Disney princess is not the bog standard hetero-normative stereotype, but instead an androgynous punk-rock shapeshifter with a taste for wicked misadventure. Stunning design and progressive but non-preachy plotting make Nimona a line-in-the-sand moment for one of cinema’s oldest disciplines. 

10. BOTTOMS (Dir: Emma Seligman | Stars Rachel Sennott, Ayo Edebiri, Ruby Cruz | USA | 91 mins) Sennot and Seligman signposted their MO with Shiva Baby a few years back - cringey, character-based comedy with a tart mouth and big heart. Their sophomore effort is more of the same, with the added sheen of a studio teen pic but no-less brimming with their indie ‘f**k off’ joie de vivre. It-girl Ayo Edibiri seals the deal. 

THE NEXT BEST TEN:

• TIME ADDICTS (Dir: Sam Odlum | Stars Freya Tingley, Charles Grounds, Joshua Morton | Australia | 97 mins)
• TO CATCH A KILLER (Dir: Damián Szifron | Stars Shailene Woodley, Ben Mendelsohn, Jovan Adepo | USA, Canada | 119 mins)
• ASTEROID CITY (Dir: Wes Anderson | Stars Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks | USA, Germany | 105 mins)
• POOR THINGS (Dir: Yorgos Lanthimos | Stars Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe, Mark Rufalo | Ireland, United Kingdom, USA | 141 mins)
• STILL: A MICHAEL J. FOX MOVIE (Dir: Davis Guggenheim | USA | 95 mins)
• THE MOTHER OF ALL LIES (Dir: Asmae El Moudir | Stars Mohamed El Moudir, Asmae ElMoudir, Zahra Jeddaoui | Morocco, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar | 96 mins)
• OPPENHEIMER (Dir: Christopher Nolan | Stars Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr., Emily Blunt | USA, UK | 180 mins)
• MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - DEAD RECKONING PART 1 (Dir: Christopher McQuarrie | Stars Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Esai Morales | USA | 163 mins)
• CALIGULA: THE ULTIMATE CUT (Dir: Thomas Negovan, Tinto Brass | Stars Malcolm McDowell, Helen Mirren, Peter O’Toole | USA | 178 mins)
• HE AIN’T HEAVY (Dir: David Vincent Smith | Stars Leila George, Sam Corlett, Greta Scacchi | Australia | 103 mins)

There is a skill that comes with experience when you set out to pick your must-see Sydney Film Festival ten films. If I book this one, do I miss that one? If I miss that one, can I catch it at Newtown, Randwick or Cremorne? Does it have a local distributor, and a likely release soon anyway? What’s its Rotten Tomatoes rating? Wasn’t this booed at Cannes (if so, I’m in!)? And where do I even park at that time of day?! With all that in mind, Team Screen-Space zeroed in on the ten films that will have earned our time and dollars by Closing Night 2023…

THUNDER (Dir: Carmen Jaquier; Switzerland, 92 mins) In the summer of 1900, pious 17-year-old Elisabeth learns of the death of her sister, Innocente. Ripped away from her beloved nunnery, she returns home to the Valais Valley, where an encounter with three village boys and Innocente’s hidden diary awakens stirrings in the touch-starved novice. Director Carmen Jacquier’s debut draws on the staggering beauty of the mountains and rivers, in an elemental portrayal of youth caught between restriction and discovery, desire and God. BUY TICKETS

SNOW AND THE BEAR (Dir: Selcen Ergun; Türkiye, 93 min) Selcen Ergun’s directorial debut begins with a car driving through a snowy Turkish hinterland, setting an ominous note of isolation and paranoia that continues right up to the haunting final shot. The car’s driver is headstrong young nurse Asli (Merve Dizdar), who has arrived in a small village for compulsory service. The men look down upon Asli, but that is the least of her worries when a townsperson disappears and the locals settle with conspicuous certainty on a bear attack as the cause. BUY TICKETS

SISU (Dir: Jalmari Helander; Finland 91 mins) Tipping its hat to no-nonsense action movies that dominated drive-ins in the ’70s and home video in the ’80s, Finnish filmmaker Jalmari Helander’s splattery Sisu won of Best Picture, Cinematography, Music and Actor (Jorma Tommila) at Sitges on its way to Sydney; a thunderous revenge tale that pits a grizzled old geezer against a bunch of arrogant Aryans with no idea what they’re in for. BUY TICKETS

RAGING GRACE (Dir: Paris Zarcilla; UK, 99 mins) Joy is almost invisible to the rich Londoners whose houses she cleans. With cheeky young daughter Grace to support and huge visa fees to pay if she wants to avoid deportation, Joy has to take any work she can find. Zarcilla’s intelligent screenplay hits high gear when Joy lands a job as live-in caretaker at the musty ol’ Garrett Manor. Reality and fantasy combine as revelations about her strange new home bring all kinds of demons into the open. BUY TICKETS

PICTURES OF GHOSTS (Dir: Kleber Mendonça Filho; Brazil 93 mins) The Brazilian city of Recife has been home to Mendonça Filho’s family since the 1970s and it is where he discovered cinema in the grand picture palaces of the time. Shot over decades, the film features a delightful, humorous narration by Mendonça Filho himself, and is a glorious love letter to his historian mother Joselice, his neighbourhood and the films and cinemas that made him. BUY TICKETS

OMEN (Dir: Baloji; Belgium 90 mins) Banished from Congo because he was considered a sorcerer, Koffi and his partner Alice return to reconcile with his family but receive a welcome that’s anything but warm. In telling this compelling story, Baloji takes fascinating diversions through the streets of vibrant Lubumbashi, capturing unforgettable images; Omen marks the emergence of an incredible filmmaking talent. BUY TICKETS

LAST THINGS (Dir: Deborah Stratman; USA, Portugal, France 50 minS) Iridescent crystals spin and exquisite fractal patterns bloom. The camera zooms out to lunar landscapes and in on chondrules (droplets of solar nebula) glimmering like stained glass under a microscope. Stratman’s camera ekes wonder from seemingly inert matter, celebrating – in her words – the ‘delicious candy snack' appeal of the geo-biosphere. Embracing otherworldly visual thrills, Last Things takes pleasure in the unknown. BUY TICKETS

JOAN BAEZ I AM A NOISE (Dirs: Karen O'Connor, Miri Navasky, Maeve O'Boyle; USA, 113 mins) With a career spanning over 60 years, Baez has a lifetime of stories and secrets to share, but she also has boxes of never-before-seen home movies, diaries, paintings and audio recordings. This treasure trove forms the basis of a compelling doco-portrait, alongside archival footage and revealing interviews with the now 82-year-old. BUY TICKETS

GAGA (Dir: Laha Mebow; Taiwan 111 mins) Grandpa Hayung has spent his life following ‘gaga’, the spiritual traditions of the Indigenous Tayal people. Few others abide by gaga nowadays, including Mayor Toli, who has started encroaching on Hayung’s land and inspiring eldest son Pasang to run for mayor, hoping to reclaim his family’s status. Featuring a big-hearted ensemble of non-professional actors, Mebow beautifully depicts the complexities of modern family life that retains a connection to ancient culture. BUY TICKETS

BLUE BAG LIFE (Dirs: Rebecca Lloyd-Evans, Lisa Selby, Alex Fry; UK, 92 mins) Even though her mother abandoned her as a baby, Lisa Selby idolised her glamourous yet addicted parent. Flicking through photo albums and searching online she tries to find a connection, but her mother is dying and her partner is jailed for drug dealing. All this trauma, captured on iPhones and hard drives, is assembled into an emotionally raw and striking factual film. BUY TICKETS