Our pick of the flicks at Revelation Film Festival 2026
It’s Christmas in July for cinephiles, as the Revelation Perth International Film Festival returns to multiple venues from Wednesday, July 8, to Sunday, July 19—with tickets on sale now. Showcasing new features, documentaries, and shorts from around the world (including plenty of local talent), these are likely to end up being some of the best films you see this year. DAVID O’CONNELL and DAVID MORGAN-BROWN have had a sneak preview at a handful of what this year’s festival has to offer, and based on what we’ve seen, it looks like a Revelation program for the ages.
$Positions
9/10
For a film absolutely stuffed with thrills, laughs, gasps, and even a heavy dose of personal profundity, you may not do any better than $Positions. Its hapless main character may be a teetotaller, but his main addiction is arguably more (financially) destructive than any substance you can put in your body: cryptocurrency. His focus on those numbers going up and down on his phone causes problems in every department of his life, and the film excruciatingly amps up the tension as he screws over and gets screwed over by those closest to him. A true crypto-cousin to Uncut Gems, this is a wild ride into the world of this modern-day life-ruining vice.
DAVID MORGAN-BROWN
Dead Man’s Wire
8.5/10
Another intense film revolving around money, Dead Man’s Wire features a bank robber who may have the audience’s sympathies—he takes a mortgage broker hostage so he can be paid back the shonky loan he took out years ago. Using a ‘dead man’s wire’ to keep a gun at his head at all times, our sympathies with this financially screwed-over man become tested as he becomes increasingly volatile, not to mention more smitten with the media attention he’s receiving (which is how this man actually was when the end credits show footage of this true story).
The whole cast does a terrific job at seeming so believable, particularly Dacre Montgomery’s infectiously nervous acting, and Bill Skarsgaard delivers a career best, with an even more terrifying role than his work as the monsters in It and Nosferatu. Director Gus van Sant has returned with one of the finest works of his career, his best in a long time, and certainly his most edge-of-your-seat-intense.
DAVID MORGAN-BROWN
Lady
7/10
A financially struggling BAFTA-nominated director (Laurie Kynaston) is called to an estate to create a documentary about a rather self-involved noble. What starts as a pointed satirical mockumentary about the ennobled elite soon morphs into something different, tilting towards magical realism and opening up its potential. The cutting satire is still there, but it’s tempered with a more empathetic approach.
Hence, instead of focusing on the entitlement and ego that Lady Isabella (Sian Clifford) projects, it shows something deeper: her vulnerability. Instead of being secure in her vast estate, she’s trapped by it. Instead of being buoyed by her wealth and status, she’s isolated by it. As a middle-aged woman, she’s stuck between being an object of ridicule or being entirely invisible.
That shift in perspective makes Lady something different. Boosted by a mesmerising performance from Sian Clifford, director Samuel Abrahams gives us a very humanist comedy—especially interesting in an era where the wealth gap seems more alienating than ever, and you can almost hear the guillotines being oiled.
DAVID O’CONNELL
Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie
8/10
This account of the attempted assassination of author Salman Rushdie would be quite harrowing if its victim weren’t such a chill cat. As evident from this document (based on his own memoir on this event), he keeps a very cool head while we see him medically recuperating as he recounts the origins of the outrage his book The Satanic Verses caused in the Muslim community all round the world back in 1985, and even when returning to the scene of the crime, with the doco shockingly showing the graphic footage of the attack. This is an inspiring watch, making a calm but urgent call to retain safe, free speech in the arts.
DAVID MORGAN-BROWN
Revelation Perth International Film Festival runs from Wednesday, July 8, to Sunday, July 19, at multiple locations across Perth. For more info and to buy tickets, head to revelationfilmfest.org
