Highlights of the Sydney Film Festival (SFF) will screen at Odeon 5 Cinema over one packed weekend as the Travelling Film Festival returns to Orange, August 15-17.

Nine films will be screened over the three days, one on Friday night and four each on Saturday and Sunday.

Travelling Film Festival (TFF) manager Beatrix Brady is excited about the opportunity to bring the best new arthouse and international films to the regions, with Orange one of eight stops on the TFF itinerary that also includes Coffs Harbour, Newcastle, Warrawong, Mount Victoria, Huskisson, Wagga Wagga and Tamworth.

Ms Brady said the whole purpose behind the TFF is to give regional audiences access to films that they might otherwise miss seeing on the big screen.

“Often regional cinemas just can’t take the risk on arthouse and international films – which is totally understandable,” she explained.

“So, the TFF just tries to fill that gap, and ensure that no matter where you live, you have access to the very best of cinema from Australia and around the world.”

Ms Brady pointed to the critically acclaimed ‘IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT’ by legendary Iranian filmmaker, Jafar Panahi. Orange audiences will get to see the film just months after winning the coveted Palm d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in May, and just weeks after another win at the Sydney Film Festival in June.

“We can’t wait to give Orange a very early look at a truly remarkable film,” Ms Brady said.

Orange has a long history with the Travelling Film Festival and was one of the very first stops when the tour began 51 years ago.

It was founded in 1974 by legendary film critic David Stratton, who set out with a van and a dream, meeting with regional cinemas all over the country to gauge interest.

Stratton described himself in those days as being a ‘long-haired, hippy type’, and many cinemas wanted nothing to do with him.

“Very fortunately, Orange was not one of those places, and so the TFF found one of its new homes on the road,” Ms Brady said.

“It’s been wonderful to bring the festival back to Orange, and we’ve built a really lovely base of returning audience, which is always a marvellous thing to see..

“With the TFF’s long history with the city, it’d be wonderful to see even more returning, and new faces!”

Opening the Festival will be the Sundance Audience Award winner DJ AHMET which follows a teenage sheep farmer in who discovers a love of music after stumbling across a rave near his North Macedonian farm – and is sure to leave audiences beaming. More feel-good flicks filling the weekend include the delightful The Ballad of Wallis Island starring Carey Mulligan as one half of a former folk duo duped into reconciliation by a quirky lotto winner, and the hysterical Canadian sports comedy Racewalkers.

Australian filmmaking voices will also be celebrated with the unmissable, charming and hilarious documentary about the world porridge making championships, THE GOLDEN SPURTLE, plus a suite of Aussie shorts

“It’s an opportunity to see nine different perspectives, stories and countries - all from your local cinema,” Ms Brady said.

“Where you have a curated program of films just for you, introduced to you by someone from the festival… having this little capsule of time spent watching new movies, really opens up great discussion and debate about the films – and to me that’s the magic of the movies!

The Travelling Film Festival returns to Orange, August 15-17. For more information and the full program visit: www.sff.org.au