INTRODUCING OUR 2025 SCREEN HEADLINERS

September 8, 2025

This year’s SXSW Sydney Screen Festival headliners are daring, disruptive and unforgettable. Bold stories from visionary filmmakers take centre stage and, for the first time, Sydney audiences will experience them on the big screen. With five Australian premieres and one NSW premiere, every film is a fresh discovering waiting to ignite conversation.

Don’t miss your chance to be among the first to see these boundary-pushing films from 13-18 October at the Seymour Centre.

SXSW Sydney 2025 Screen Headliners

Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere

Scott Cooper's biopic captures the making of Bruce Springsteen's landmark Nebraska album, with Jeremy Allen White as the Boss, joined by Jeremy Strong and Odessa Young. It is a portrait of a young musician on the cusp of superstardom, wrestling with success, family and the ghosts of his past.

Black Phone 2

From horror visionary Scott Derrickson comes a chilling new nightmare. Finn is haunted by his past, his sister receives dream-calls from the black phone, and visions lead to Alpine Lake where three boys are being stalked. Terror builds fast, and horror icon Ethan Hawke is back on the line.

Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie

Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol swore this was going to be about their band. Instead it turned into a movie. There are schemes that should never work, pranks that maybe shouldn’t be legal, and enough fourth wall shenanigans to make you wonder if you’re in on the joke or the punchline. Somehow it is a film. Somehow it is hilarious.

Die My Love

The Australian premiere of Lynne Ramsay’s searing new vision arrives at the SXSW Sydney Screen Festival. Jennifer Lawrence delivers one of the most fearless performances of her career as Grace, a new mother unraveling in the isolation of rural Montana. Alongside Robert Pattinson, Ramsay crafts a haunting portrait of love, rage and desire that flickers between dark humour and raw despair.

Bugonia

From visionary filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos comes a darkly funny descent into paranoia. Two conspiracy-obsessed young men kidnap a powerful CEO, convinced she’s an alien plotting the end of Earth. Chaos builds, and Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons deliver performances that critics are already calling gloriously unhinged.

If I Had Legs I’d Kick You

Rose Byrne gives a career-best performance anchoring this pitch-black dramedy that builds unbearable tension with every frame. A portrait of a woman pushed to the edge, that captures her slow descent into chaos as the demands of life close in, this Sundance-premiering stunner features an all-star supporting cast including Conan O'Brien, Ivy Wolk and A$AP Rocky.

Each screening has a limited number of seats allocated for passholders with Primary Access (Platinum and Screen Pro Passes) or Secondary Access (other Pro Passes and Screen Wristbands) to Screen Festival events. There’s also a limited allocation of rush tickets available.

Secure your pass or rush ticket today, and stay tuned for the full Screen program announcement later this month!