Punks, Fashion Icons & Boy Bands - Your First Taste Of The Epic 2018 Sydney Film Festival

Get out the popcorn because Sydney Film Festival has just dropped the first taste of their massive 65th program, and its full of blockbusters, tear-jerkers and powerful premieres.

The first 22 films of the June event have been unveiled, with homegrown and international films being well represented.

Aussie journalist Travis Beard brings a raucous documentary, RocKabul, which follows Afghanistan’s first metal band, District Unknown. Just in time for Harry Styles touchdown in Australia, I Used To Be Normal: A Boyband Fangirl Story examines the worldwide phenomenon of boyband-mania, touching on everything from The Beatles to One Direction.

Fans of fashion rejoice because Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist, an in-depth profile on revolutionary fashion designer and icon Vivienne Westwood, is being brought our way by UK model-turned-filmmaker Lorna Tucker.

There’s still plenty of dramatic escapism to be had, with several films on the line-up already heavy with critical accolades.

Gay conversion drama The Miseducation Of Cameron Post starring Chloe Grace Moretz has already picked up the 2018 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Award, the festival's highest honour. Also, not one, but two Oscar nominees are in the midst; Best Animated Feature nominee The Breadwinner and Best Foreign Film nominee The Insult.

“In 2018's sneak peek of the program, there are features and documentaries from Argentina to the Arctic Circle,” Sydney Film Festival Director Nashen Moodley said.

“The 2018 Sydney Film Festival is once again proud to kick-start exciting conversations and showcase powerful ideas and bold statements that open eyes, expand horizons and enrich the lives of our audiences and community.”

To top off all of the mind-bogglingly amazing cinema on offer, the festival is welcoming a new venue; Moore Park’s HOYTS Entertainment Quarter will host a swath of family-friendly films during the festival as well as Screenability, the platform for screen practitioners with disability.

The Sydney Film Festival’s full program will launch Wednesday, 9 May; for more information head over to the official website.