Australian Premiere Of Silenced To Open 73rd Sydney Film Festival

Sydney Film Festival today announces that Silenced, Selina Miles' Sundance-premiered Australian documentary, will open the 73rd edition of the Festival (3-14 June) on Wednesday 3 June at the State Theatre, followed by a post-screening celebration at Sydney Town Hall.

Selina Miles' documentary follows international human rights lawyer Jennifer Robinson as she fights against the weaponisation of defamation law by alleged perpetrators to silence survivors and journalists, taking audiences inside the courtroom and behind the global headlines.

The film traces the cases of Brittany Higgins, Australian survivor and advocate against gendered violence; Catalina Ruiz-Navarro, Colombian journalist and co-founder of feminist magazine Volcánicas; and Amber Heard, whose defamation battle became one of the most high-profile legal cases in recent history. Inspired by Robinson's book How Many More Women?, co-authored with Dr Keio Yoshida, the film premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival.

"We are proud to open the Festival with Silenced," said Sydney Film Festival Director Nashen Moodley. "Selina Miles has made a clear-eyed and urgent work that challenges audiences to question the systems that decide whose voices are heard and whose are suppressed."

Selina Miles says, "The opportunity to play at the State Theatre as the opening night Film for Sydney Film Festival is a dream come true, and a testament to the power of storytelling to elevate voices that might otherwise go unheard.”

From International Emmy Award-winning filmmakers Miles and Blayke Hoffman, Silenced is produced by Australia’s Stranger Than Fiction (Mountain, SFF 2017; River, SFF 2021; Deeper, SFF 2025).

Tickets to Silenced, the Sartorial: Fashion on Film strand, Flexipasses and subscriptions to Sydney Film Festival 2026 are on sale now at sff.org.au. Call 1300 733 733 or visit sff.org.au for more information. The full Sydney Film Festival program is announced on Wednesday 6 May 2026, when tickets to all films will be on sale.

ABOUT SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL 
The Sydney Film Festival is one of the world’s longest running and most prestigious film festivals. The 73rd edition, taking place from 3 to 14 June 2026, will showcase the very best in contemporary cinema and offer audiences the chance to experience premieres, red carpet events, and exciting special programs across Sydney.

The Festival is supported by the NSW Government through Screen NSW and Destination NSW, the Federal Government through Screen Australia, and the City of Sydney.

FILM INFORMATION

SILENCED 
Dir. Selina Miles | Australia | 97 mins | In English | Australian Premiere 
In this eye-opening documentary, courtroom footage and behind-the-headlines interviews reveal how the legal system is being used to victimize, discredit and financially ruin survivors, and journalists reporting on their stories. 
From Amber Heard at London’s Law Courts to journalist Catalina Ruiz-Navarro in Colombia, and Brittany Higgins’ experience in our own backyard, women globally face a new kind of silencing at the hands of perpetrators of sexual violence. It’s a legal backlash Australian Jennifer Robinson is committed to fighting, inspired by her courageous grandmother who was also a survivor. With unrivalled access, director Selina Miles (Martha: A Picture Story, SFF 2019) challenges the flaws in the justice system that make this silencing possible, while simultaneously revealing the personal cost to those who speak up.

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