EUROPE! VOICES OF WOMEN IN FILM spotlights ten outstanding European women directors at the Sydney Film Festival June 7 – 18, 2017

WOLF AND SHEEP by Shahrbanoo Sadat in competition at SFF

EFP (European Film Promotion) partners again with the Sydney Film Festival (SFF) for the second edition of EUROPE! VOICES OF WOMEN IN FILM to introduce ten outstanding European women filmmakers to the Australian audience, film industry and press. The selection by festival director Nashen Moodley presents an exciting range from feature film debuts making a first splash on the international festival circuit to well-versed directors, whose work has already been critically acclaimed. All of them are award-winning directors, most of them relying on their own scripts to tell their stories.

The five feature length debuts include much lauded Shahrbanoo Sadat, who presented her first shortfilm "Vice Versa One" at the Quinzaine des réalisateurs in Cannes 2011, which earned her a residence at the Cinéfondation in Cannes, when she was only 20 years old. Award-winning "Wolf and Sheep" – screened in competition in Sydney - is her feature film debut. Also from Scandinavia comes writer/director Amanda Kernell, whose debut "Sami Blood" was presented at festivals in Berlin, Venice, Toronto, Sundance and Rotterdam among others and awarded Best Nordic Film in 2017 in Gothenburg. German literary sensation Helene Hegemann – praised for her authenticity – wrote her first script at the age of 14 and was only 18 when she published her first novel, which became her feature film debut "Axolotl Overkill" in 2017. From Georgia comes Rusudan Glurjidze, whose semiautobiographical debut "House of Others" won several awards and critical acclaim. British director Hope Dickson Leach, already one of Screen International's Stars of Tomorrow right after finishing film school in 2006, will present her feature debut, the tautly told family drama "The Levelling", for which she also wrote the script.

Macedonian director Teona Strugar Mitevska developed the Balkan youth drama "When the Day Had No Name" about lost values and sexual magnetism together with her young actors. Shining a light on an almost unbelievable aspect of Swiss history is Petra Biondina Volpe. In the darkly humored "The Divine Order" she tells of the fight of the Swiss women for the right to vote and to be elected – in 1971! Taking a dive in a completely different culture is Claudia Varejão, who portrays in her documentary the Japanese apnoea divers called "Ama-San". Another documentary comes from Ireland: Neasa Ní Chianáin and co-director David Rane follow the work of two teachers, whose unconventional methods empower youngsters in "School Life". Tizza Covi, who realizes her films with Rainer Frimmel, takes the main character in "Mister Universo" on a journey guided by irrational forces.

The supporting EFP members are: Austrian Films, British Council, Danish Film Institute, Georgian National Film Center, German Films, ICA / Portugal, Irish Film Board, Macedonian Film Agency, Swedish Film Institute, Swiss Films

The selected films are: