Elvis star Austin Butler will join members of rock band Midnight Oil and legendary directors Peter Weir and Phillip Noyce at next month’s Sydney Film Festival.
Butler will be on hand for the Australian premiere of Jeff Nichols’ The Bikeriders, a 60s-set story about the fictional outlaw Chicago motorcycle gang The Vandals inspired by Danny Long’s 1967 photobook. The film, which also stars Jodie Comer, Tom Hardy, and Aussie Toby Wallace, will screen at the State Theatre on June 6.
Weir and Noyce will appear as part of the Classics Restored section for The Cars That Ate Paris and Rabbit-Proof Fence, respectively. Rolf de Heer and Peter Djigirr will also attend for Ten Canoes.
Other guests for the event’s State Theatre presentations include directors Lee Tamahori (The Convert), Paul Goldman (Kid Snow), and Ian Darling (The Pool), as well as Porcelain War producer Camilla Mazzaferro, and Lee producers Troy Lum and Andrew Mason, along with writer John Collee.
It comes as the SFF unveils the jury for its annual film prize, with Bosnian writer and director Danis Tanović to serve as jury president, overseeing a panel that comprises Indonesian director Kamila Andini, Australian producer Sheila Jayadev, US producer Jay Van Hoy, and Australian director Tony Krawitz.
Attending the festival to present their films in competition are German director Matthias Glasner (Dying), Buenos Aires director Benjamin Naishtat (Puan), Mexican filmmaker Astrid Rondero (Sujo), Vietnamese filmmakers Trương Minh Quý and Nguyễn Thị Xuân Trang (Việt And Nam), and Australian director Paul Clarke and members of Midnight Oil, who will walk the red carpet at SFF’s Opening Night Gala.
The $60,000 Sydney Film Prize will be announced at the Festival’s Closing Night Gala on Sunday 16 June at the State Theatre.
The Sydney Film Festival will be held June 5-16. Find out more information here.