First Nations films to feature in 73rd Sydney Film Festival

The Sydney Film Festival has unveiled its 73rd edition with a strong slate of First Nations cinema, returning to the city from 3 to 14 June with 248 films from 81 countries.

The festival, which includes 19 world premieres, three international premieres and 140 Australian premieres, will run across the State Theatre, Sydney Opera House and cinemas right around the city. Tickets are on sale and the full program is now live through the Sydney Film Festival website.

For Indigenous audiences, the standout strand remains the First Nations Award, which carries a $35,000 prize – the largest cash award for Indigenous filmmaking in the world. The award is supported by Truant Pictures, the production company co-led by Animal Logic Entertainment chief executive Zareh Nalbandian, and is open to First Nations filmmakers globally.

The 2026 First Nations Award jury comprises Warumungu and Luritja filmmaker Beck Cole, Nyikina actor and director Mark Coles Smith, and Japanese-American producer Shozo Ichiyama.

This year’s First Nations program brings together storytellers from First Nations communities in Australia, Canada, Aotearoa, Papua New Guinea, the Sámi Arctic and beyond. Films selected to screen include Yumburra (2026), Lomu (2026), ARRU (2026), Powwow People (2025), At The Place of Ghosts (2025), Wrong Husband (2025), Nika & Madison (2025), Aanikoobijigan (2026), and Sukundimi Walks Before Me (2026).

Sukundimi Walks Before Me follows the campaign of an Indigenous community in Papua New Guinea to protect the Sepik River from a proposed mining project, and is also in contention for the Documentary Australia Award.

Wrong Husband, by celebrated Inuk filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk, is a supernatural epic set in 2000 BCE in which two lovers defy the curse of an evil shaman. The film won the Best Canadian Film prize at the Toronto International Film Festival. Watercolour-and-animation hybrid documentary Ceremony, by Banchi Hanuse, won the Audience Award at SXSW.

Closer to home, The Native Police – a story set in 1884 in which an Aboriginal Native Police officer escorts an Arrernte girl across desert Country – will receive its World Premiere at Sydney as part of the First Nations short films selection. Black-and-white film Socks, produced by Jane Campion, follows a Māori boy who forms a bond with a Mormon missionary in small-town Aotearoa.

The 2026 Official Competition jury is presided over by Brazilian filmmaker Kleber Mendonça Filho, with Hungarian director Ildikó Enyedi, Singaporean filmmaker Boo Junfeng, Australian cinematographer Ari Wegner and senior First Nations producer and director Sally Riley (Mystery Road) on the jury panel.

Festival director Nashen Moodley said the 2026 program offered audiences “an opportunity for discovery and empathy” with films that helped “make sense of the world” while reminding viewers to remain vigilant about their rights and freedoms.

“And we can’t forget, they’re also an enormous source of joy,” Mr Moodley said of the program.

The Sydney Film Festival is supported by the NSW Government through Screen NSW and Destination NSW, the Federal Government through Screen Australia, and the City of Sydney. The Sydney Film Prize and First Nations Award winners will be announced at the closing night gala on 14 June.