Rachel Ward’s latest will kick things off at this year’s Sydney Film Festival. The Sydney Morning Herald confirms “Palm Beach,” an ensemble comedy about a group of friends gathering for a milestone birthday celebration, will open the fest on June 5. The 66th edition of the fest will run through June 16.
Starring Sam Neill, Richard E. Grant, Greta Scacchi (“The Terror”), Jacqueline McKenzie (“The 4400”), Heather Mitchell (“The Great Gatsby”), and Bryan Brown (“The Light Between Oceans”), the Sydney-set pic revolves around “a three-day party at a luxurious house in Palm Beach where tensions break out and an old secret threatens to emerge.”
Ward wrote the film with playwright Joanna Murray-Smith. The director said it “is a really special treat” to have her film open this year’s festival.
Calling Ward “an incredible storyteller,” fest director Nashen Moodley said “Palm Beach” “combines a breathtaking Sydney location with an exuberant and life-affirming story celebrating friendship, brought alive with witty dialogue and a cast of great talent at the top of their game.”
Also an actress, Ward has received three Golden Globe nods for her on-screen work. She previously directed feature “Beautiful Kate,” TV movie “An Accidental Soldier,” and episodes of “Devil’s Playground” and “The Straits.”
Among Sydney Film Fest’s other 2019 titles is Sophie Hyde’s “Animals,” an adaptation of Emma Jane Unsworth’s novel. The Holliday Grainger and Alia Shawkat-starrer about codependent best friends just nabbed UK distribution via Picturehouse Entertainment.
Today, Sydney Film Fest signed the Pledge for Gender Parity and Inclusion. Joining the likes of Cannes, Venice, and TIFF, the festival has committed to better gender representation and transparency by the year 2020. According to the press release, 43 percent of Sydney’s 2019 films are women-directed or co-directed, while 37 percent of fest submissions were from women filmmakers. The fest’s selection committee is comprised of 27 women and 18 men, and its board of directors includes four women and four men.
In March, Sydney Film Fest announced it would be hosting Essential Women Directors, a program celebrating the women directors who helped launch, sustain, and further Australian cinema. It will screen Paulette McDonagh’s “The Cheaters,” Gillian Armstrong’s “High Tide,” and Shirley Barrett’s “Love Serenade,” among others. Essential Women Directors will take place June 5-10.
