!["One day you'll be in <i>Star Wars</i>": Ben Mendelsohn at Sydney Film Festival.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170614070653im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/o/v/m/p/image.related.landscape.300x200.gwo6ka.gwh3pg.png/1497219681688.jpg)
Sydney Film Festival
Movies
![Hotel Coolgardie follows two female Finnish backpackers in an outback mining town.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170614070653im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/q/y/a/i/image.related.wideLandscape.300x169.gwqwyw.png/1497416826277.jpg)
Hotel Coolgardie review: Dark outback doco raises questions about objectivity
A documentary follows two female Finnish backpackers as they confront the seedy underside of an Australian mining town.
I Am Not Your Negro is Sydney Film Festival frontrunner
![Writer James Baldwin in <i>I Am Not Your Negro</i>.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170614070653im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/m/b/x/z/image.related.landscape.120x80.gwq6qj.png/1497415688574.jpg)
An incendiary documentary about race is the frontrunner for the $60,000 prize.
Thriller Watch The Sunset takes the one-shot approach
![One-shot Australian film: Tristan Barr and Chelsea Zeller in Watch The Sunset.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170614070653im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/q/4/9/2/image.related.landscape.120x80.gwq37k.png/1497415571305.jpg)
A new film about an ex-bikie trying to reunite his family follows in the footsteps of Birdman.
How fame swallowed Whitney
![Whitney Houston in June 1988. Director Nick Broomfield theorises that part of the reason the singer/actor was so unhappy ...](http://web.archive.org./web/20170614070653im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/o/h/s/2/y/image.related.landscape.120x80.gwqtya.png/1497414376134.jpg)
Whitney: Can I Be Me Directed by Nick Broomfield and Rudi Dolezal Written by Nick Broomfield 111 minutes, rated M ★★★★
MIFF kicks off with Harry Potter lost in Jungle
![Jungle stars Daniel Radcliffe as Yossi Ghinsberg, a young Israeli who becomes lost in the Amazon.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170614070653im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/q/a/r/9/image.related.landscape.120x80.gwqaky.png/1497407743042.jpg)
The Melbourne Film Festival will open with a thrilling true story of survival from Wolf Creek director Greg McLean.
Companion of the Order of Australia for Cate Blanchett
![Honoured ... Cate Blanchett.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170614070653im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/v/x/q/i/n/image.related.landscape.120x80.gwo0n7.png/1497228464826.jpg)
The two-time Oscar winner is honoured for being a role model and supporter of causes as well as for her acting.
'One day you'll be in Star Wars': Ben's renaissance
!["One day you'll be in <i>Star Wars</i>": Ben Mendelsohn at Sydney Film Festival.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170614070653im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/o/v/m/p/image.related.landscape.120x80.gwo6ka.png/1497219681688.jpg)
The Australian actor was everywhere on the Sydney Film Festival's opening weekend.
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels star dies at 62
![Glenne Headly with Michael Caine and Steve Martin in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170614070653im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/o/k/4/1/image.related.landscape.120x80.gwojyo.png/1497098821092.jpg)
Co-stars including Steve Martin and Ryan Reynolds led tributes to the late actress.
Mountain: the drama and the beauty
![Unique Collaboration: Jennifer Peedom with Richard Tognetti.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170614070653im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/i/2/8/7/image.related.landscape.120x80.gwo30g.png/1497016944095.jpg)
It was only after film director Jennifer Peedom and Richard Tognetti began working together on their documentary Mountain that they realised they were seeing the same footage in radically different ways.
The Mummy: More than Tom Cruise running, it's a female-empowering horror-laden thriller
![Sofia Boutella revisits Boris Karloff's menacing Mummy in the new Universal thriller.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170614070653im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/4/7/e/0/image.related.landscape.120x80.gwm6h0.png/1496918567978.jpg)
The Mummy revives the 1932 Universal Studios classic, but with a female twist and stunts aplenty.
Brian Cox on playing a troubled wartime leader in Churchill
![Brian Cox as Winston Churchill and Miranda Richardson as wife Clementine in <i>Churchill</i>.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170614070653im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/f/u/l/s/image.related.landscape.120x80.gw7m84.png/1496969677087.jpg)
Personal connections helped the veteran Scottish actor play Winston Churchill.
Wilson's character smeared by Bauer Media's legal team, says actor's barrister
![Rebel Wilson arrives at the Victorian Supreme Court on Thursday.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170614070653im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/n/6/u/l/image.related.landscape.120x80.gwn6fq.png/1496917082751.jpg)
Defence QC says the actor deliberately lied about her age and real name.
Wonder Woman earns surprise Oscar buzz
![Gal Gadot in Wonder Woman.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170614070653im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/j/z/r/w/image.related.landscape.120x80.gwmx8u.png/1496959761316.jpg)
Prominent US entertainment voices have suggested record-breaking release Wonder Woman could be in the running for Oscar nominations, prompting talk the female-centric production could be the superhero movie to finally earn a major accolade from the Academy.
The Handmaid's Tale: a newly resonant dystopia comes to TV
![Women stripped of their rights and forced to bear children for the elite: Elisabeth Moss (left) as Offred and Alexis ...](http://web.archive.org./web/20170614070653im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/l/o/3/5/image.related.landscape.120x80.gwlm1e.png/1497069203775.jpg)
On the set of Margaret Atwood's classic, The Handmaid's Tale.
From the martini to the meat puppets, the strange language of film sets
![Illustration: John Shakespeare](http://web.archive.org./web/20170614070653im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/h/k/s/j/image.related.landscape.120x80.gwgot1.png/1496905064982.jpg)
'DMB' and 'DFI' are both bad news when film crews talk to each other.
I Am Not Your Negro dismantles the illusion of progress
![Protesters gather at the Lincoln Memorial to march on Washington.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170614070653im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/h/j/h/b/image.related.landscape.120x80.gwmbpz.png/1497279528822.jpg)
I Am Not Your Negro is a condensed version of a conversation Raoul Peck has been having his whole adult life.
How an Aussie horror film became a gay meme
![Australian horror film The Babadook has become a gay meme after Netflix lumped the movie into its LGBT category for US ...](http://web.archive.org./web/20170614070653im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/1/1/u/5/q/h/image.related.landscape.120x80.gwmucy.png/1496904684822.jpg)
Move over Madonna and Lady Gaga, The Babadook has become the new beacon for queer visibility.
The Mummy review: Neither Tom Cruise nor Russell Crowe can revive this tired, tedious reboot
![Sofia Boutella is a vengeful Egyptian princess in The Mummy.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170614070653im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/m/d/a/d/image.related.landscape.120x80.gwmczn.png/1496905947676.jpg)
This Mummy has been revived by a corporation rather than an individual, for all too evident strategic purposes. ★½
Seth Rogen hits out at Sony's 'clean' films plan
![Seth Rogen has publicly called out Sony Pictures' new 'Clean Version' initiative.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170614070653im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/p/v/4/a/7/image.related.landscape.120x80.gwmust.png/1496936300858.jpg)
Actor Seth Rogen has hit out at a move from Sony Pictures to distribute edited 'clean versions' of its films.
My Cousin Rachel is a pleasurably intriguing romance
![Rocky relationship: Everything hangs on how much Rachel (Rachel Weisz) can be trusted by Philip (Sam Claflin).](http://web.archive.org./web/20170614070653im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/m/5/b/q/image.related.landscape.120x80.gwm52a.png/1496905367495.jpg)
Writer-director Roger Michel uses a varied bag of stylistic tricks to create a romantic mood and at the same time put us on edge. ★★★
New series of Top of the Lake to screen at MIFF
![Nicole Kidman in <i>Top of the Lake: China Girl</i>.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170614070653im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/3/5/o/s/image.related.landscape.120x80.gwm1s7.png/1496829452892.jpg)
After acclaim at Cannes, the entire season of Top of the Lake: China Girl will screen.
Danielle Macdonald gets a good rap in Patti Cake$
![Break-out role: Australian actress Danielle Macdonald as aspiring New Jersey rapper Patricia Dombrowski in <i>Patti ...](http://web.archive.org./web/20170614070653im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/x/j/j/3/image.related.landscape.120x80.gwlevz.png/1496911112104.jpg)
How did a girl from Sydney's northern beaches get to play a rapper from New Jersey?
Why Terence Davies watched Cynthia Nixon without sound
![Sisterly bond: Cynthia Nixon and Jennifer Ehle in A Quiet Passion.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170614070653im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/l/r/g/c/image.related.landscape.120x80.gwlri9.png/1496887009580.jpg)
The work of Emily Dickinson was a siren's call to director Terence Davies, who felt he had much in common with the American 19th-century writer.
Top Five Films: our pick of the best of the big screen
![Happy Feet from Australian filmmaker George Miller.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170614070653im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/l/n/g/c/image.related.landscape.120x80.gwlnc9.png/1496790397232.jpg)
What's showing on the big screen this week.
Festival documentary focuses on refugee's walk of hope
![Tom Zubrycki with Zacharia Machiek, the subject of his documentary Hope Road.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170614070653im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/l/m/m/k/image.related.landscape.120x80.gwlfal.png/1496904959093.jpg)
A documentary about a security guard on a 42-day trek to raise funds for a school in South Sudan premieres at Sydney Film Festival.
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