Ari Aster’s Eddington to Premiere at the 2025 Sydney Film Festival

The Hereditary director’s latest will make its Australian debut at the 72nd SFF.

Eddington, the new film from Hereditary and Midsommar director Ari Aster, has been announced as a late addition to the imminent Sydney Film Festival. Having just made its global bow at Cannes, the New Mexico-set drama will have its Australian premiere at Randwick’s Ritz Cinema on Thursday, June 12.

Written and directed by Aster, Eddington is set in the titular New Mexico town circa 2020, just when the Covid pandemic was really starting to bite in. A feud begins to brew between the town’s sheriff Joe Cross, played by Joaquin Phoenix, and its mayor, Ted Garcia, played by Pedro Pascal. It’s ostensibly about pandemic mandates – Joe doesn’t hold with masks and lockdowns – and spurs Joe to throw his sheriff’s hate into the mayoral ring.

Meanwhile, as their rivalry escalates, his wife, Louise (Emma Stone) has fallen under the sway of a predatory self help guru, Vernon Jefferson Peake (Austin Butler, who seems to be approaching ubiquity). It grows more complicated from there – a sprawling, messy, anxiety-inducing portrait of American paranoia.

Sounds fun! SFF Festival Director Nashen Moodley certainly thinks so, noting “With Eddington, Ari Aster turns his razor-sharp gaze to the fractured heart of America, and perhaps the world, in a film that is provocative, urgent and completely gripping. This is a compelling work that speaks to the chaos and contradictions of our times – and one that will spark passionate conversation. We are delighted to present its Australian Premiere at Sydney Film Festival and offer Sydneysiders the chance to be some of the very first people in the world outside of Cannes to see this incendiary film.”

The 72nd Sydney Film Festival runs from June 4 – 15. Hit up the official site for tickets and info.