A curated program of local hits and international award-winners from the Sydney Film Festival, including the Palme d'Or winner Fjord, screened over a weekend.
The Travelling Film Festival comes to Event Cinemas Kotara from Friday 7 August to Sunday 9 August, bringing nine films to Newcastle over a single weekend. It's a curated slice of the Sydney Film Festival, with local hits and international award-winners that usually stay in the city.
The big draw this year is Fjord, the 2026 Palme d'Or winner from Cristian Mungiu, starring Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve. Alongside it, there's the romantic comedy No Good Men from Afghanistan and the crowd favourite Whistle, an offbeat Australian documentary about the world of competitive whistling. The rest of the line-up runs through Silent Friend by Ildikó Enyedi, Rose, The History of Concrete, Ben'Imana, Minotaur by Andrey Zvyagintsev, and The World of Love, with Whistle taking opening night.
For context, the Travelling Film Festival is Australia's longest-running touring festival, started by David Stratton AM in 1974. It takes features, documentaries and short films from the Sydney Film Festival out to regional audiences across the country, and the Newcastle edition packs nine of those films into one weekend. The Sydney Film Festival acknowledges Australia's First Nations People as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the land and pays respect to the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation.
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There are a few ways to see the programme. A Subscription lets you see all nine films for A$16 per ticket. If you're under 26, the Youth Pass covers three films for A$16 per ticket, with proof of age required. There's also a Flexipass for five films at A$17 per ticket. All nine screen at Event Cinemas Kotara in Westfield Kotara, from Friday 7 August through Sunday 9 August.
