Adelaide Films Festival announces Martin Mcdonagh’ s Wild Horse Nine as opening night film

… Leah Purcell to receive annual Don Dunstan Award.

…AFF feature competition Jury also announced

The Adelaide Film Festival (AFF) has announced that its Opening Night film will be the Australian premiere of Wild Horse Nine, the much-anticipated new film from Martin McDonagh, the Academy Award-winning writer and director behind In Bruges (2008), Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) and The Banshees of Inisherin (2022).

AFF today also announced writer, director and actor Leah Purcell AM as the recipient of the annual Don Dunstan Award, awarded by AFF’s Board and presented in 2026 in partnership with Adelaide University.

McDonagh’s most ambitious film yet, Wild Horse Nine is wickedly funny, sharply observed and thoroughly unpredictable. Set on Easter Island in the lead-up to the 1973 Chilean coup, the film’s extraordinary cast includes John Malkovich, Sam Rockwell, Steve Buscemi, Parker Posey, Mariana di Girólamo and Tom Waits.

“Wild Horse Nine combines McDonagh’s trademark humour, moral complexity and razor-sharp dialogue with a sweeping international canvas. By turns absurd, moving and audacious, this is event cinema from one of the great storytellers of our time. Adelaide Film Festival is proud to present the Australian Premiere of Wild Horse Nine as our Opening Night celebration reinforcing the power of cinema at a time when global leaders must take heed of history,” said Mat Kesting, AFF CEO & Creative Director.

AFF’s Opening Night celebration begins with a Pink Carpet at the Capri Theatre from 5:30PM ahead of the premiere screening at 6:15PM. After the screening, guests will celebrate till midnight with filmmakers and film lovers alike, at The Queens Theatre, Playhouse Lane, Adelaide, with a fully catered party inclusive of food, beverages and entertainment. Film and party tickets are $139/ $119 +booking fee.

Opening Night special guests walking the Pink carpet will include the 2026 AFF Feature Competition Jury, announced today as Cameron Bailey, CEO of the Toronto International Film Festival; internationally acclaimed South Australian Xavier Samuel (Send Help, Elvis); Malaysian filmmaker and academic Sandeep Ray; Adelaide-based based writer, director and actor Tilda Cobham-Hervey (I Am Woman, Apple Cider Vinegar); and Adelaide-based producer Anna Vincent (Golda, I Am Mother).

Cameron Bailey is the CEO of TIFF, the world’s largest public film festival and one of Canada’s leading cultural brands. Bailey grew up in England and Barbados before migrating to Canada. He began his career as a film critic before joining TIFF as a programmer. From 2012 to 2025, Toronto Life has named him one of the city’s 50 Most Influential People.

Xavier Samuel is an internationally acclaimed Australian actor known for his versatility across film, television and theatre. His credits include Blonde, Elvis, Send Help, Fury, Adore, Love and Friendship, Seven Types of Ambiguity and most recently The Killings At Parrish Station.

Sandeep Ray is a filmmaker and academic. His work has been screened at several festivals including at Busan, Taiwan, Dubai, Sydney and CPH:DOX. He has written two books, Celluloid Colony (2021, NUS) and A Flutter in the Colony (2019, Harper Collins). Sandeep is the head of the School of Humanities at the University of Nottingham Malaysia.

Tilda Cobham-Hervey is an Australian actor, writer, director and producer. Her screen credits include 52 Tuesdays, I Am Woman and Apple Cider Vinegar. Her short A Field Guide to Being a 12-Year-Old Girl won the Berlinale Crystal Bear. Her feature directorial debut will be released in 2027.

Anna Vincent is an Australian filmmaker working internationally across scripted and documentary films. Her work has premiered at Cannes, Sundance, Berlin and Tribeca, with seven films screening at Adelaide Film Festival, most recently The Speedway Murders, which was supported by AFF’s Investment Fund and received multiple AACTA nominations.

Don Dunstan Award recipient Leah Purcell – an extraordinary voice in any medium- refuses to work within anyone else’s limits. In a specially commissioned essay for AFF, writer Andrew Bovell reflects on the significance of her voice as an artist and cultural leader. Read the full essay at adelaidefilmfestival.org

A proud Goa-Gunggari-Wakka Wakka Murri woman from Queensland, Leah’s debut feature film as a writer, director, producer and lead actor The Drover’s Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson premiered at SXSW 2021. Her adaptation of The Drovers Wife – The Opera premiered at QPAC Brisbane in 2025 followed by a season at the Sydney Opera House in August 2026.

As one of Australia’s most in demand actors, Leah has appeared in films such as The Last Cab to Darwin (2015), Lantana (2001), Jindabyne (2006) and The Proposition (2005) and in TV series Wentworth (2018-2021), Police Rescue (1996), Redfern Now (2012-2013), Janet King (2016), The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart (2023) and High Country (2023-2024).

“Adelaide University has a strong and ongoing commitment to arts, culture and creativity and so we are delighted to partner with the Adelaide Film Festival to present the Don Dunstan Award,” Professor Craig Batty, Pro Vice Chancellor, College of Creative Arts, Humanities and Design at Adelaide University said.

“We congratulate stage and screen luminary Leah Purcell as this year’s recipient and will be honoured to host an in-conversation event, moderated by noted Australian playwright Professor Wesley Enoch, celebrating Leah’s extraordinary contribution to Australian screen culture.”

Leah Purcell said: “I am beyond honoured to be the recipient of the 2026 Don Dunstan Award. Knowing a little bit about the person that this award is named after, Don Dunstan, he was ahead of his time with cultural and social beliefs and a progressive supporter of the arts especially in the 1970s. The legends that have come before me as recipients of this award are people I’ve worked with in the past and hope to work with in the future. All great humans and very special filmmakers and collaborators. I am immensely proud of this award; it is right up there with anything I’ve ever achieved or done in my career thus far. Thank you to the Adelaide Film Festival and Board for selecting me. This is truly is an honour.”

Mat Kesting said: “It’s always a special moment when we get to announce Opening Night – one of Adelaide’s biggest party events of the year – and also the first of our guests attending the Festival; this year led by the incomparable Leah Purcell an our incredibly talented Feature Competition Jury. We look forward to welcoming interstate and overseas guests alongside the many South Australian filmmakers who will be presenting their films at AFF 2026.”

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