About the Festival
This year's unmissable line up of the 2026 Russell Hobbs British Film Festival features a spectacular programme of thirty-six films, including five retrospectives, and will screen from 28 October to 6 December at Palace Cinemas, Palace Nova and Luna Palace Cinemas across the country.
Audiences can look forward to performances from a host of Britain's finest actors including Dame Helen Mirren, Sir Ian McKellen, Saoirse Ronan, Andrew Scott, Olivia Colman, Andrew Garfield, Cynthia Erivo and Bill Nighy. New works from directors Danny Boyle, Mike Leigh, Anton Corbijn and Andrew Haigh, plus James McAvoy's directorial debut are highlights of this year's programme which features stirring dramas, fascinating documentaries, retrospective anniversaries and delightful comedies.
Opening the Festival is the drama MY DUCHESS from acclaimed director Mike Newell (Four Weddings and a Funeral) starring Dame Joan Collins as Wallis Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor. After the Duke's death, Wallis retreats to her Paris châteaux surrounded by aides including her exploitative lawyer Suzanne Blum, played by Isabella Rossellini.
In a Festival exclusive, PRIMA FACIE starring Cynthia Erivo will screen in special Centrepiece Premiere sessions. Erivo commands the courtroom in this gripping legal drama that follows a brilliant barrister forced to confront the justice system she once fiercely defended, adapted from Suzie Miller's award-winning play.
Directed by Anton Corbijn (Control), mystery thriller A TALENT FOR MURDER stars Academy Award® winner Dame Helen Mirren as Patricia Highsmith, the legendary author behind The Talented Mr. Ripley. Based on the play Switzerland from Joanna Murray-Smith, the story imagines a strange confrontation between a literary agent and Highsmith, deliciously entangling history and myth.
One of the most talked about films to hit the festival circuit recently is romantic comedy WICKER. Starring acclaimed British actress Olivia Colman and the brilliant Alexander Skarsgård, this hilarious, raunchy and irresistible fable tells the tale of an ostracised fisherwoman and the husband she wishes for.
From award-winning director Danny Boyle, intoxicating drama INK follows the tumultuous rise of The Sun, the newspaper that Rupert Murdoch and Larry Lamb moulded to become Britain's most influential tabloid. Starring Jack O'Connell, Guy Pearce and Claire Foy, Ink presents a fierce, funny and deeply unsettling examination of the moment News learnt how profitable it could be to provoke outrage.
Based on true events, visceral historical drama THE UPRISING stars Andrew Garfield as a grief-stricken labourer in the 14th Century who ignites a peasant's revolt in an England ravaged by plague, poverty and growing distrust of the Crown.
The Closing Night film is the Australian Premiere of the highly anticipated biographical drama ELSINORE directed by Australian Simon Stone. Andrew Scott delivers an unforgettable performance as the legendary actor Ian Charleson as he embarks on his final role in London's National Theatre production of Hamlet.
Festival Dates
Canberra: 28 Oct – 29 Nov, Palace Electric Cinemas
Adelaide: 28 Oct – 29 Nov, Palace Nova Eastend Cinemas, Palace Nova Prospect Cinemas
Melbourne: 28 Oct – 29 Nov, The Astor Theatre, Palace Balwyn, Palace Brighton Bay, Palace Cinema Como, Palace Westgarth, Palace Penny Lane, The Kino, Pentridge Cinema, Palace Church St
Ballarat: 28 Oct – 29 Nov, Palace Regent Ballarat
Sydney: 28 Oct – 29 Nov, Palace Norton Street, Palace Moore Park, Palace Central
Byron Bay: 28 Oct – 29 Nov, Palace Byron Bay, Ballina Fair Cinemas
Brisbane: 29 Oct – 29 Nov, Palace Barracks, Palace James Street
Perth: 5 Nov - 6 Dec, Palace Raine Square, Luna on SX, Leederville and Windsor Cinema