26th Festival 1979

The demands of the International Federation of Film Producers Associations restricted the ability of the Sydney and Melbourne Film Festivals to share all films and the costs associated with them in 1979, reducing the maximum overlap to 30%. This, then, had an impact upon films chosen for that year.

Despite the setback, SFF was still able to screen films by major directors (Wajda, Chabrol, Tanner, two by Fassbiner, Zanussi, Altman, Ivory, Oshima and Saura); a fine selection of films by equally important, if less-well-known, filmmakers whose films were featured in previous festivals (Delvaux, Breien, King Hu, Bill Douglas, Jiri Menzell, Sautet, Berri, Hauff, Benegal, Berlanga); and a number of films by then-newcomers John Carpenter and Paul Schrader. In addition to this, Peter Weir’s The Plumber was screened, as was Gates of Heaven, the feature debut of documentarian Errol Morris.

Retrospectives included a screening of De Sica’s The Bicycle Theives, and there was a special programme of Spanish cinema. Ken G. Hall’s Dad and Dave Come to Town was screened as a restoration print.

Opening Night Film: Movie Movie (directed by Stanley Donen)

Closing Night Film: A Perfect Couple (directed by Robert Altman)

Award Winners

Greater Union Award for Australian Short Films (General):

Payrole (directed by Brendon Stretch)

Greater Union Awards for Australian Short Films (Fiction):

Morris Loves Jack (directed by Sonia Hoffman)

Greater Union Awards for Australian Short Films (Documentary):

My Survival as an Aboriginal (directed by Essie Coffey)

Rouben Mamoulian Award:

Essie Coffey (director of My Survival as an Aboriginal)