Sydney Film Festival has announced that Selina Miles’ Sundance-premiered Australian documentary, Silenced, will open the 73rd edition of the Festival on Wednesday 3 June at the State Theatre.
Selina Miles’ documentary follows international human rights lawyer Jennifer Robinson as she fights against the weaponisation of defamation law by alleged perpetrators to silence survivors and journalists, taking audiences inside the courtroom and behind the global headlines.
The film traces the cases of Brittany Higgins, Australian survivor and advocate against gendered violence; Catalina Ruiz-Navarro, Colombian journalist and co-founder of feminist magazine Volcánicas; and Amber Heard, whose defamation battle became one of the most high-profile legal cases in recent history.
Inspired by Robinson’s book How Many More Women?, co-authored with Dr Keio Yoshida, the film premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival.
“We are proud to open the Festival with Silenced. Selina Miles has made a clear-eyed and urgent work that challenges audiences to question the systems that decide whose voices are heard and whose are suppressed,” said Sydney Film Festival Director Nashen Moodley.
“The opportunity to play at the State Theatre as the opening night Film for Sydney Film Festival is a dream come true, and a testament to the power of storytelling to elevate voices that might otherwise go unheard,” said Selina Miles.
The Sydney Film Festival runs 3 – 14 June 2026. The full program will be announced on Wednesday 6 May. For more information, visit: www.sff.org.au for details.
Image: Silenced (film still)