Film festival screening at Strand

THE Travelling Film Festival, part of the Sydney Film Festival’s regional tour, is returning to Toowoomba this weekend with seven feature films and two documentaries screening at Strand Cinemas.

Receiving a standing ovation and taking out the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the Sydney Film Festival 2018, Backtrack Boys will open the Toowoomba festival.

The film follows a troubled teenage trio on a rocky path towards jail until they meet a rule-breaking jackaroo and join his legendary dog jumping team.

Closing the festival will be 2018 Sydney Film Prize winner The Heiresses by Paraguayan director Marcelo Martinessi.

A rare film from Paraguay’s modest film industry, the complex relationship drama takes an unusual look at the lives of wealthy Paraguayan families through the tribulations of a lesbian couple.

Highlight films include The Insult, winner of the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature at Sydney Film Festival 2018; Oscar-nominated filmmaker Gus Van Sant’s Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far On Foot, starring Joaquin Pheonix alongside Jonah Hill, Rooney Mara and Jack Black; and Kusama – Infinity, a colourful documentary following celebrated Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama.

Other international features include Ága, Bulgarian director Milko Lazarov’s award-winning story of enduring love in frozen Siberia; emotional drama Daughter Of Mine from Laura Bispuri (Sworn Virgin, SFF 2015); Wajib – The Wedding Invitation, following the lives of Palestinians living in Israel, starring real-life father and son Mohammad and Saleh Bakri; and wartime love story Transit, from Christian Petzold (Barbara, SFF 2012; Phoenix, SFF 2015).

Tickets to Australia’s longest-running travelling film festival are on sale with ‘Subscribe and Save’ packages offering great value for multiple ticket purchases, with tickets from just $9.

The Travelling Film Festival will be screening at the Strand Cinemas from tomorrow through to Sunday. Book tickets online at sff.org.au/toowoomba.