The 64th Sydney Film Festival has announced the first 28 films joining more than 200 others on its 2017 lineup, including some of the groundbreaking documentaries and award-winning features that will be hitting screens in June. Here are just a few of the highlights.
Joining the line-up is the in-depth look at the life of superstar Whitney Houston with Nick Broomfield's 'Whitney: I Can Be Me', which showcases never-before-seen footage and recordings and tracks Huston's life and death. The award-winning director of the documentary will be a guest of the festival this year and will also be presenting an industry masterclass.
After winning the Academy Award for his role in 'Manchester by the Sea', Casey Affleck's non-traditional horror film 'A Ghost Story'. The film also stars Rooney Mara as Affleck's wife, who is haunted by her husband after he dies in a car crash and returns to their shared home as a ghost, covered in a white sheet and everything.
Winner of the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, the Philippine drama 'The Woman Who Left' marks the return of Charo Santos-Concio to acting after her 17-year break. The film follows the difficulties faced by a woman who was released from a Siberian jail after 27 years, imprisoned for a crime she didn't commit.
Joining the awards crowd, the Golden Globe-nominated 'My Life as a Zucchini' is a gorgeous stop-motion animated film based on the novel 'Autobiography of a Courgette'. While brightly coloured, the film tackles hard-hitting subjects as it follows a young boy sent to a home for children after the death of his alcoholic mother. There, he's able to find a makeshift family with his new companions in the home.
And for those that can't get enough of the classics, the first retrospective was announced as 'An American Werewolf In London'. The 35-year-old film follows two Americans who are attacked by a werewolf on a walking tour of England. Killing one of the men and mauling the other, the wolf dies in the scuffle and reverts back to its human form, but that's just where things begin to get hairy.
You can view all 28 of the preview films on the film festival website, with the full program being announced Wednesday, May 10.
The Sydney Film Festival will run Wednesday, 7 June to Sunday, June 18.
ALSO ON HUFFPOST AUSTRALIA