Mostofa Sarwar Farooki made SFF competition jury

Actor and director David Wenham will lead the Official Competition Jury at the 2022 Sydney Film Festival.

The Sydney Film Festival (SFF) has announced the 2022 Official Competition jury, who will award the Sydney Film Prize to one of the 12 titles in the Official Competition, alongside the first slate of stars and filmmaker guests to attend the Festival, which runs from 8-19 June.

The jury members are: acclaimed actor/director David Wenham (Australia), who will also be Jury President, BAFTA-nominated writer and director Jennifer Peedom (Australia), writer-director-producer Mostofa Sarwar Farooki (Bangladesh), Berlin Golden Bear-winning writer-director-producer Semih Kaplanoğlu (Turkey), and the Executive Director of the Kawakita Memorial Film Institute, Tokyo, Yuka Sakano (Japan).

Now in its 13th year, the internationally recognised Official Competition recognises courageous, audacious and cutting-edge film. The winner of the Sydney Film Prize will be announced at the Festival’s Closing Night ceremony at the State Theatre on Sunday 19 June.

SFF Director Nashen Moodley said: ‘The 2022 jury is made up of five Australian and international film professionals of exceptional stature and vision. The Official Competition features some of the most innovative and extraordinary films and filmmakers in the world right now, so the jury have some tough calls to make.’

Archibald-Prize winning Australian artist Del Kathryn Barton will introduce her Official Competition feature Blaze, a magical story of a teenager who witnesses a brutal crime.

Also attending SFF to present the premiere of their films in competition will be: French-Cambodian writer-director Davy Chou (Return to Seoul); Venezuelan director and co-writer Lorenzo Vigas (The Box); Irish writer-director Colm Bairéad (The Quiet Girl); Bolivian director Alejandro Loayza Grisi (Utama); Australian producer Kristina Ceyton (You Won’t Be Alone) and Indonesian film star Happy Salma (Before, Now & Then).