PALACE BYRON BAY

  • Poster for A Rare Grand Alignment, showing a red cable car suspended in the night sky above snowy mountains, with green aurora lights glowing overhead.

    A RARE GRAND ALIGNMENT

    Australian Premiere

    Saturday 18 October 8:30pm

    From Cinqué Lee comes a hauntingly beautiful coming-of-age tale set in the winter of 1982, when three American boys become stranded in a cable car high above the snowy Norwegian wilderness. Starring Roman Griffin Davis (Jojo Rabbit), A Rare Grand Alignment unfolds under a sky lit by the Northern Lights - a breathtaking backdrop for a gripping story of friendship, guilt, and survival. Visually stunning and emotionally raw, it’s a rare cinematic achievement that lingers long after the credits roll.

  • Poster for Beyond the Break, directed by Caleb Graham. A man in a wheelchair faces the ocean, with text noting Joel Taylor’s story of returning to surfing 20 years after a paralyzing wave.

    BEYOND THE BREAK

    East Coast Premiere

    Saturday 18 October 6:00pm + Q&A

    Friday 24 October 7:30pm

    In 2001, Lennox Head’s Joel Taylor was a rising bodyboarding star when a wave at Pipeline left him paralysed. For 20 years, he stayed out of the water, struggling with the loss of identity and purpose. The birth of his son sparked a return to the ocean - and the beginning of a powerful comeback. Through adaptive surfing, Joel found strength, community, and a new path. In 2023, he became a World Champion. A story of resilience, reinvention, and the healing power of the sea.

  • A poster for the drama brithright

    BIRTHRIGHT

    Byron Premiere

    Friday 17 October - Party 6:30pm Film 8pm

    Encore Sunday 26 October 5pm + Q&A

    BBFF2025 opened with Birthright, a sharp, darkly funny Aussie satire where boomer wealth meets millennial despair. When Cory and his pregnant wife move back in with his parents, a “temporary” stay spirals into a pressure cooker of entitlement, resentment, and generational tension. a theatrical, twisted, and painfully relatable comedy about housing, family, and the high cost of free rent.

  • Poster for Champions of the Golden Valley. A boy in a patterned hat looks out against snowy mountains and ancient cliffs, with bright yellow title text in the center. Festival laurels for Tribeca and DocBox 2024 appear below.

    CHAMPIONS OF THE GOLDEN VALLEY

    Byron Premiere

    Saturday 25 October 5.15 pm

    In Afghanistan’s remote, snow-covered valleys, a homegrown ski culture blossomed - bringing together young athletes from rival villages to race, connect, and dream. Guided by former Olympic hopeful Alishah Farhang, and armed with handmade skis and boundless spirit, they built something rare and beautiful.

  • Poster for Common Wealth, directed by Kane Guglielmi. A man in a floral shirt and helmet rides a motorbike down a cobblestone street, with mountains and colorful houses in the background.

    COMMON WEALTH

    World Premiere + Q&A

    Sunday 19 October 7:30pm (SOLD OUT) Encore Session 7:40pm

    Kane Guglielmi is on a journey to explore more compassionate alternatives to the systems we take for granted. What began as a personal quest - sparked by trauma and transformation - evolves into a global search for fairness, empathy, and unity. Through candid conversations and cross-cultural encounters, the film invites us to question old structures and imagine a more hopeful future where equity and care sit at the heart of how we live.

  • Poster for the film 'COMPARSA'

    COMPARSA

    Australian Premiere

    Saturday 18 October 3pm

    In a Guatemalan barrio silenced by fear, two teenage sisters lead a luminous rebellion - unleashing giant puppets, fire, and artful performance to protest gender violence in a joyful fight for survival, rallying local youth and healing deep wounds.

  • A poster advertising the documentary film "DEEPER"

    DEEPER

    Saturday 18 October 12:30pm

    From saving lives to risking his own, Dr Richard “Harry” Harris embarks on a perilous cave dive into one of the world’s most extreme underwater systems. Directed by Jennifer Peedom (SHERPA) and Alex Barry, with stunning visuals and Harris’s own footage, it’s a breathtaking journey into darkness, danger, and the depths of human curiosity.

  • Poster for DJ Ahmet, directed by Georgi M. Unkovski, showing two boys outdoors—one in a red sweater on a tractor, the other smiling and holding a device.

    DJ AHMET

    Saturday 18 October 5:15pm

    Wednesday 22 October 5pm

    In a remote Yuruk village in North Macedonia, 15-year-old Ahmet finds unexpected freedom through music as he grapples with tradition, family expectations, and first love. DJ Ahmet is a joyful ode to self-expression and the power of music to bridge generations, cultures, and hearts - leaving audiences smiling long after the beat drops.

  • Poster for Fools’ Paradise (Lost?) by Alexandra Lexton. A baby chimp sits in green foliage above the title, with an upside-down desert landscape below. The tagline reads “a love letter to our wild.”

    FOOLS' PARADISE (LOST?)

    Saturday 25 October 12:30pm

    Fools’ Paradise (Lost?) is a love letter to the wild - both the wilderness that surrounds us and the untamed spirit within.

    At a time when climate change and environmental degradation threaten the future of life on earth, this film asks: how do we heal ourselves through reconnection to nature, and how do we heal what remains of our planet?

  • Poster for Happyend. Two men stand facing each other on an overpass in soft sunlight, with the film’s title in bold outlined letters at the bottom and Venice Film Festival 2024 laurels above.

    HAPPYEND

    Byron Premiere

    Sunday 19 October 2:45pm

    Friday 24 October 5:00pm

    In a surveillance-heavy near-future Tokyo, five high school friends face their final year under constant watch. When a harmless prank sparks a school-wide crackdown, friendships are tested as AI-powered systems punish even small acts of rebellion. Happyend, the debut narrative feature from Neo Sora (Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus), is a tender, quietly urgent portrait of youth, resistance, and the fragility of freedom. A beautifully performed and deeply resonant story about growing up in a world that’s closing in.

  • Poster for It Was Just an Accident. Against a wide desert landscape, a bride and groom sit at the back of a van while another man stands nearby. Bold yellow title text appears above, with the Cannes Palme d’Or laurel.

    IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT

    Byron Premiere

    Sunday 26 October 7:30pm

    Winner of the 2025 Cannes Palme d’Or, It Was Just an Accident is the latest masterwork from Iranian auteur Jafar Panahi. What begins with a late-night stop at a rural repair shop spirals into a tense, darkly comic tale of revenge and uncertainty. Blending suspense, gallows humour and moral complexity, Panahi proves once again why he’s one of cinema’s most fearless voices.

  • Poster for John Lilly and the Earth Coincidence Control Office. A stylized illustration shows a man in a suit at a desk pointing toward a dolphin leaping from the water below.

    JOHN LILLY & THE EARTH COINCIDENCE CONTROL OFFICE

    NSW Premiere

    Monday 20 October 7pm

    Isolation tanks, dolphin communication, and LSD-fuelled experiments - neuroscientist John C. Lilly’s life was as strange as it was visionary. A mind-bending dive into consciousness, control, and the cosmic unknown. A cinematic time capsule that asks how far we’re willing to go in the search for truth, freedom, and connection.

  • Poster for Journey Home, David Gulpilil. A close-up of David Gulpilil’s face fills the left side, with festival laurels and critical praise above, and the title in bold white and gold text below.

    JOURNEY HOME, DAVID GULPILIL

    Saturday 18 October 7:30pm - with introduction by Jack Thompson (SOLD OUT)

    Encore - Monday 20 October 5pm

    Encore - Tuesday 21 October 5pm

    Sunday 26 October 3:00pm

    Before his passing in 2021, iconic Yolŋu actor David Gulpilil asked to be returned to his ancestral Homeland of Gupulul. This moving documentary follows his family’s epic journey across more than 4,000 kilometres to honour that promise. A rare and respectful glimpse into Yolŋu ceremony, kinship, and connection to Country. It’s a powerful and deeply spiritual homecoming for a man who walked between two worlds with extraordinary presence.

  • Poster for Magic Farm, a film by Amalia Ulman. Large pale text fills the sky-blue background with a small plane above, while stylized orange-and-white images of cast members and a film camera appear below.

    MAGIC FARM

    Byron Premiere

    Saturday 25 October 8:30pm

    When a clueless New York media crew lands in rural Argentina chasing a viral story, only to realise they’re in the wrong country, chaos ensues. Desperate to justify their trip, they stage a fake cultural trend - roping in the locals as unwitting participants. Featuring Chloë Sevigny, Magic Farm is a surreal, deadpan satire of media arrogance, cultural tourism, and the Western gaze.

  • Poster for Mistress Dispeller, directed by Elizabeth Lo. Against a red floral background, a large hand manipulates strings like a puppet, controlling a silhouetted woman and two men below. Festival laurels line the right side.

    MISTRESS DISPELLER

    Byron Premiere

    Sunday 19 October 5:00pm

    In China, a surprising new profession has emerged - “mistress dispellers” hired to break up affairs and preserve marriages. With extraordinary access, this compelling documentary follows one such case as professional Wang Zhenxi goes undercover to intervene in a crumbling relationship. As the story unfolds from all sides of the love triangle, Mistress Dispeller offers a rare glimpse into the emotional, cultural, and moral complexities of modern relationships, where love, loyalty, and social expectation collide behind closed doors.

  • Poster for Ngā Ao e Rua (Two Worlds) featuring Marlon Williams. He stands in tall grass wearing a white shirt and woven flax garment, with rolling hills and a lake in the background.

    MARLON WILLIAMS: TWO WORLDS - NGĀ AO E RUA

    Byron Premiere

    Saturday 25 October 7:30pm

    Sunday 26 October 8:00pm

    At the height of his global success, Marlon Williams returned home to Ōhinehou/Lyttelton to create something deeply personal - an album sung entirely in te reo Māori, the language of his ancestors. A moving portrait of an artist finding his way home through language, music, and whakapapa.

  • Poster for Nansie. Against a vivid sunset sky, two women laugh beside an older woman wrapped in a blanket, seated by the water, with a dog in the foreground.

    NANSIE

    Byron Premiere + Q&A with the Filmmakers

    Sunday 19 October 12:30pm

    A moving reminder that love endures, even when memory does not.

    Dementia affects countless families, yet Nansie offers an unusually tender window into one - the Miller family of Sydney. Sisters Adelaide and Lucinda share a deep devotion to their grandmother Ann, affectionately known as “Nansie,” who once helped raise them and remains central to their lives, even as dementia gradually reshapes hers.

  • Poster for ORWELL. A man in a suit faces a giant eye with concentric circles, under the bold title “ORWELL” in gradient colors, with the equation “2 + 2 = 5” beneath.

    ORWELL 2+2=5

    Byron Premiere

    Thursday 23 October 7pm

    Blending archival footage, past screen adaptations, and striking 21st-century imagery, this timely documentary from Oscar-nominated director Raoul Peck (I Am Not Your Negro) revisits Orwell’s final months and the creation of his seminal novel, examining concepts like Doublethink, Newspeak, and Big Brother - ideas that feel increasingly urgent in today’s world. A powerful cinematic essay on surveillance, truth, and the fragility of freedom in modern society.

  • Poster for Sirât by Oliver Laxe. Large desert landscape with two vans, speakers, and people gathered on chairs, under giant sandy-textured title text. Includes Cannes 2025 Official Selection laurel.

    SIRÂT

    Byron Premiere

    Wednesday 22 October 7pm

    Deep in the mountains of southern Morocco, a father and son search for Mar - daughter and sister - who vanished months earlier at a desert rave. Following ravers to one final party in the wilderness, the journey becomes an intense reckoning with loss, connection, and limits. Winner of the Jury Prize at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, this is a hypnotic, soul-searching odyssey.

  • SHAPING WAVES, SHAPING WORLDS

    Thursday 23 October 5pm

    Special Encore Screening

    In a time of disruption - environmental, cultural, and personal - Featuring Matty Hannon’s new film Haus Tumbuna alongside Beehives & Bottom Turns, Spaghetti Week, Flowing Wood and A Silent Rebellion - this session is for the dreamers, the doers, and those listening closely to the land and sea.

  • Poster for Stay Strange short film session at the Byron Bay International Film Festival. A close-up shows two people laughing joyfully, one with their head tilted back, set against a dark background.

    STAY STRANGE - SHORT FILM SESSION

    Friday 24 October 8:30pm

    Because normal is a myth... Stay Strange flips the bird to conformity with a bold selection of short films that are anything but safe. Headlining the session is the World Premiere of Strange Attractor by Byron’s own Hadley Perkins - a darkly funny outback tale where satire, volatility and mischief collide.

  • Poster for The Extraordinary Miss Flower. A woman holds an open suitcase filled with papers, framed by a kaleidoscopic swirl of colorful, mirrored figures around her.

    THE EXTRAORDINARY MISS FLOWER

    Byron Premiere

    Tuesday 21 October 7pm

    From the creators of 20,000 Days on Earth comes a bold and intoxicating hybrid of cinema, theatre and memory. When a trove of handwritten letters from the 1960s is uncovered, the hidden life of Geraldine “Miss” Flower is reimagined through music, performance and dreamscape. Featuring Emilíana Torrini, Nick Cave, and Richard Ayoade.

  • Poster for The Heart Revolution. Golden light rays fill the background with elegant script text in the center reading “Your heart is much more than you think.” Festival laurels appear above.

    THE HEART REVOLUTION

    Australian Premiere

    Sunday 26 October 12:30pm

    Your heart is more than a pump - it’s a powerful, intelligent organ that shapes how we think, feel, and connect. This poetic documentary blends stunning imagery with groundbreaking science to reveal the heart’s hidden role at every stage of life, from before the first beat to beyond the last. Exploring emotion, memory, and meaning, it invites us to reimagine what it means to live with an open heart.

  • Poster for Universal Language. Two people embrace at the center of a brown geometric background. The tagline reads “This film longs to hold you,” with multiple festival winner laurels below.

    UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE

    Byron Premiere

    Saturday 25 October 3pm

    In a dreamlike Winnipeg that feels part Tehran, part Canada, Universal Language unfolds in three absurdly tender tales - a wintry quest sparked by a frozen banknote, a baffled tour of a strange city, and a son's quiet displacement from his mother’s affections. Matthew Rankin’s genre-defying comedy won the inaugural Cannes Critics’ Fortnight Audience Award and MIFF’s Bright Horizons Award, it’s a strange, beautiful ode to belonging, memory, and the mysteries of home.

  • Poster for the Byron Bay International Film Festival featuring a close-up of a young man with curly hair and blue eyes, gazing thoughtfully into the distance, with text highlighting his award as Young Australian Filmmaker of the Year.

    YOUNG AUSTRALIAN FILMMAKERS

    Sunday 19 October 4pm

    The Young Australian Filmmaker of the Year Competition shines as a highlight of the Byron Bay International Film Festival (BBFF). Since 2007, it has served as a launchpad for emerging filmmakers, drawing an eclectic mix of narratives, genres, and styles. This year, we've curated a showcase of the top 11 finalists for 2025, representing the pinnacle of young Australian talent.