Our top picks for Sydney Film Festival

LBF The title of this film is too rude to spell out, but with up-and-coming screen stars Toby Schmitz, Gracie Otto, Sep Caton and April Rose Pengilly stepping into the shoes of boozed up young party animals, the sex factor is sufficient without it. Directed by pop-savvy local Alex Munt with sounds by teenagersintokyo, Tortoiseshell (then Tennis), Fergus Brown and Kids at Risk, the film is based on an excellent novel by Perth writer Cry Bloxsome, so big-screen success is promising. Jun 10, 12

MEEK’S CUTOFF An aesthetically spare homage to the American Western genre, this meticulous movie follows three families and their adventures along the Oregon Trail. Starring Blue Valentine’s Michelle Williams along with Shirley Henderson and Zoe Kazan, Meek’s Cutoff adds some refreshing grit to the women on the prairie mythology. Jun 11, 19

SLEEPING BEAUTY Emily Browning may have sleepwalked through the Zach Snyder-stinker Sucker Punch, but she is one hell of an actress. She lends her disarming fragility and beauty to the Jane Campion-endorsed, Sydney-based Julia Leigh-directed eerie erotica of Sleeping Beauty, a fractured fairytale in which the somnolent princess actually works in an exclusive lingerie club. Boredom and the disinterestedness of youth is the new tower to be vanquished.  Jun 10-11

THE TREE OF LIFE This Terrence Malick opus was met with equal measures booing and applause in Cannes. But as Badlands and The Thin Red Line proves, Malick is a genius and 15-minute unvoiced scenes of cosmic wonder notwithstanding, the cast (Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, Jessica Chastain) is impressive. Jun 14-15

THE TROLL HUNTER is Norway’s answer to the Blair Witch Project, with ample spades of super-dry Scandinavian humour. Said to be the best example of the found footage trend to hit screens in a long while. Jun 8, 17