Editor

2005 Adelaide Film Festival Announces Full Program

The full program for the Adelaide Film Festival 2005 (AFF 05) was launched at Greater Union City Cinema today, Tuesday 25 January by South Australian Premier Mike Rann and Festival Director Katrina Sedgwick.

Running from February 18 until 3 March the AFF 05 will showcase films from more than 43 countries across more than 200 screenings including more than 100 Australian premieres, nineteen world premieres more than seventy feature films and more than sixty documentaries.

AFF Director Katrina Sedgwick said, “The fourteen day AFF 05 celebrates the screen in all its diversity. We are delighted to be bringing to Adelaide an extraordinary line up of some of the hottest new films from Australia and across the globe, along with some of the great cinema classics. Much of this program will never be seen again in South Australia so don’t miss this chance to truly engage with film from around the world. There is literally something for everyone in this program!”

Alongside an amazing line up of feature films, documentaries, shorts, animations and more, new program strands for AFF 05 include a focus on South American Cinema, The Screen Goddess, Architecture on Film, Globalisation, Sports Docs, Late & Great and Dance on Film. In addition the Festival has formed key partnerships with the Australian International Documentary Conference and Giffoni Film Festival [Italy] for children.

The South American strand features some of the best new work from Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Brazil, including the Australian premiere of B-Happy, with director Gonzalo Justiniano, in Adelaide as a guest of the Festival.

The SCREEN GODDESS strand explores classic Hollywood screen legends and also showcases goddesses from other cultures. From silent films, dramas, comedies and biopics this strand explores the many faces of the screen goddess, including the Australian Premiere of 2046 (Wong Kar-Wai 2004.) which also screens as the Closing Night Gala.

DANCE ON FILM is curated by Garry Stewart, Director of the Australian Dance Theatre. The program features some of the best explorations of dance on film – from the revelatory bio pics exploring the lives and work of Merce Cunningham and Douglas Wright, to the films which break ground in the fusion of these two art forms.

Globalisation takes up the baton from Farenheit 9/11 and The Corporation, exploring the impact of globalisation on individuals and industries, neighbourhoods and nations. It includes the Australian premiere of three documentaries: Blue Collar White Christmas, directed by Max Kestner; A Decent Factory directed by Thomas Balmès and Riot On! Kim Finn. All three directors will be guests of the 2005 AFF and AIDC 2005.

The 2005 AFF also presents Sports Docs, a new strand which includes the Australian premiere of Hell on Wheels (Germany 2004) and two docs that explore the lives of soccer greats Maradona & Escobar.