Sydney fest opens with 'Looking for Eric'

June 04, 2009 Aussie actors Miranda Otto, Rachel Taylor and Bryan Brown, along with directors Rachel Ward and Gillian Armstrong, were out in force Wednesday for the opening night of the Sydney Film Festival and its second official competition. In just two years, the visibility of the festival internationally has increased to the extent where getting films like the opening-night feature, Ken Loach's "Looking for Eric," which screened In Competition at May's Festival de Cannes, is a given, where several years ago it was unlikely, festival director Clare Stewart said. Ticket sales are on target to meet the record attendance numbers of 2007 and '08.

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