Adelaide Film Festival reveals first titles of 2026 including ‘Phenomena’, ‘Shine’ 30th anniversary screening
Australian filmmaker Josef Gatti’s experimental odyssey Phenomena and a milestone 30th-anniversary screening of Scott Hicks’ Oscar-winning classic Shine are among the first 10 titles unveiled for October’s Adelaide Film Festival (AFF).
The initial cohort also includes three prize-winning films from up-and-coming women directors – Everytime, Josephine, and Yo (Love Is A Rebellious Bird).
AFF CEO and creative director Mat Kesting said the early lineup offered a glimpse into the diverse cinematic worlds heading to South Australia.
“Each year, as the AFF program begins to take shape, I am always struck by the incredible worlds where cinema takes us, and 2026 is no exception,” he said.
“Nothing can ever equal the magic of cinema; come be a part of it. I am incredibly excited to announce these first 10 films and bring some of the most anticipated films to Adelaide for the first time.”
South Australian director Scott Hicks will be on hand to present a brand-new 4K digital restoration of his internationally acclaimed drama, led by Geoffrey Rush in his Oscar-winning turn as pianist David Helfgott and featuring performances from Noah Taylor, Sir John Gielgud, Lynn Redgrave and Armin Mueller-Stahl.
Following its appearance at next month’s Melbourne International Film Festival, Gatti’s psychedelic exploration will offer Adelaide audiences a sensory experience that blurs the line between art and science. Captured entirely through camera with no visual effects or artifice, the unfolding hyper-real imagery is elevated by music from legendary Nils Frahm and an ethereal electronic original score by Rival Consoles, transforming curious observation into a hypnotic audio-visual adventure spanning from the subatomic to cosmological scales.
Leading the international contingent is Sandra Wollner’s Cannes Un Certain Regard prize-winner Everytime – the follow-up to her second feature The Trouble With Being Born – which follows a mother, her daughter, and a teenage boy blamed for a tragic death as they travel to Tenerife together.
There is also Beth de Araújo’s Sundance Grand Jury and Audience Award sophomore feature Josephine, starring Gemma Chan and Channing Tatum, and Anna Fitch and Banker White’s Berlinale Silver Bear winner Yo (Love Is A Rebellious Bird), which uses miniature models and puppetry to chart an extraordinary 20-year friendship.
Rounding out the narrative feature selections are Paweł Pawlikowski’s Fatherland, a portrait of writer Thomas Mann and his daughter navigating post-war Germany; Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s All of a Sudden, for which Virginie Efira and Okamoto Tao shared the Cannes Best Actress prize for their roles as scholars whose academic correspondence evolves into intimate discussions about mortality after one of them falls ill; and Ira Sachs’ Cannes competition entry The Man I Love, a 1980s New York drama starring Rami Malek alongside Tom Sturridge, Rebecca Hall, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach.
The festival’s music strand includes Grant Gee’s Berlinale Silver Bear winner Everybody Digs Bill Evans, exploring the legendary jazz pianist’s mysterious 1960s disappearance, alongside the Australian premiere of Christian Cargill’s Wolf, which charts the tumultuous creative life of British musician Patrick Wolf through conversations with Tilda Swinton.
This year’s AFF will run October 14-25.