Sydney Film Fest’s Doing A Special Fashion Program This Year – And It Looks Gorgeous

Sydney Film Festival (SFF) is bringing high fashion to the big screen this winter, unveiling a new program showcasing both the glossy highlights and the darker underbelly of the fashion world.

Titled SARTORIAL: Fashion on Film, the program will screen as part of the festival’s 73rd edition from 3–14 June, stitching together seven films that traverse decades, continents and creative disciplines.

From Paris ateliers to Chinese factory floors to Sydney modelling agencies, the curated selection explores how the fashion world doesn’t just reflect culture – it has the ability to shape it (*cue the ‘cerulean sweater’ speech from Devil Wears Prada*).

“The relationship between fashion and film extends far beyond the traditional fashion documentaries we know and love,” SFF Senior Programmer Jessica Moraza said.

“In this special series, we wanted to highlight instances where some of cinema’s most distinctive directors have brought their singular perspective to the fashion world.”

The glam SFF ‘SARTORIAL: Fashion on Film’ program

Leading the program is the Australian premiere of Marc by Sofia, Sofia Coppola’s first documentary, offering an intimate portrait of designer Marc Jacobs and a decades-long creative partnership that has shaped fashion and pop culture alike.

On the home front, French Girls marks the world premiere of Hyun Lee’s Sydney-set debut — a microbudget feature following a young woman drawn into Sydney’s modelling industry after being scouted.

Documentary heavyweights also feature prominently. Frederick Wiseman’s restored Model captures the relentless pace and blunt realities of a New York modelling agency, while Jia Zhangke’s Useless traces the human cost of garment production across China, from factory workers to haute couture runways.

Portraiture takes centre stage in Agnès Varda’s Jane B. par Agnès V., a playful and unconventional exploration of Jane Birkin’s life and image, and Wim Wenders’ Notebook on Cities and Clothes, which reflects on creativity through the work of Japanese designer Yohji Yamamoto.

Rounding out the lineup is Robert Altman’s chaotic fashion satire Prêt-à-Porter, a sprawling, star-studded romp set during Paris Fashion Week, complete with backstage drama and industry absurdity.

Across documentary, fiction and everything in between, SARTORIAL doesn’t just admire fashion – it interrogates it. These films look closely at labour, image-making, power and performance, asking who gets seen, who gets paid, and who gets left behind.

The full Sydney Film Festival lineup will be announced on 6 May.