From June 8-19 Sydney Film Festival raises the curtain on a 12 day marathon of intensive cinema-going that’s a challenging prospect for even the most seasoned pros. To maximise your celluloid intake on what is the year’s big event for local cinephiles it’s wise to be seriously prepared. So here’s our ultimate user’s guide of everything you need to know but no-one else bothered to include in their Festival overview.

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First things first, tickets. Anyone serious about attending the Festival will consider nothing less than a FlexiPass, which is basically buying your Festival experience in bulk, and SFF offers three types: Flexi10 ($137); Flexi20 ($255); and Flexi30 ($347). You can always flog spares to your mates.

You might be thinking, ‘30 movies is a lot to see in 12 days’, or that $347 is a lot, but when you think people were paying something in the region of $410 of music at Falls Festival, $11.56 a movie suddenly doesn’t seem so bad. In fact, consider that over the rest of the year, those same 30 films would probably cost you $510 at regular prices. Besides, with one or two movies a night on working days (of which there are eight during the fest) and four or five a day at weekends (of which there are two), and you’ll quickly realise 30 movies is not such an unreasonable target. But if you’re still not sure, you can always team up with a friend to save yourself money, and frankly you’re going to need a few extra pennies in the pocket for all the drinking and eating out you’ll be doing.

We’ll come back to food and drinks later, as any good Scout will tell you, being prepared is about the basics and nothing is more fundamental that the tools you’ll carry on your person for a full day in the city, hopping from one screening to another.

Festival toolkit:

Umbrella
Not always the most obvious item, but SFF is notorious for bringing the rain to Sydney and a morning that started out with clear blue sky can easily turn grim inside a couple of flicks. Don’t get caught out whilst cocooned inside the theatre, especially if you’ve got to make the State Theatre to Events Cinema dash.

Shades
Similarly, going from sitting in darkened rooms to the bustling sidewalks constantly between 10am and 4pm, you should always be carrying. And even if not, should you walk one of the dozen or so red carpets taking place during the Fesival, you want to look cool too.

Jumper
Because not a theatre owner in the world seems to be able to work air conditioning properly and you don’t want to spend two hours trying to concentrate on reading subtitles whilst freezing your ass off.

Smartphone
Essential for so many reasons, not least because of the SFF app, which no serious Gen Y Festival tragic should be without. Handy for looking up filmmakers on the IMDb app, or just searching for photos of the hot actor/actress in the obscure indie you just caught. Being at 30 movies over 12 days also no longer means a total disconnection from society, but remember to turn it off once the lights go down!

Festival Guide
Regardless of whether you’ve got a smartphone or not, a paper copy of SFF programme is absolutely essential. Not only is it a badge of honour that says loudly, "I’m a movie nerd!", the screening calendar helps your plans by visualising all potential clashes. Keep a highlighter pen with you at all times and use liberally.

Hip flask
Filled with whatever tipple is deemed most palatable, because with 30 movies to watch not all are going to be laugh riots. And sometimes when you’re watching a philosophical Japanese film about suicide, something to take the edge off is welcome.

Berocca
You spending at least 60 hours over 12 days in the company of a few thousand people, chances are you’re gonna come in contact with a several strains of the common cold, the odd flu, and if you party too hard maybe something else. Berocca isn’t a magic cure, but it’s always good to carry protection.

Sour Squirms
My favourite movie theatre snack, have you tried the new raspberry flavour? Awesome. If sour isn’t your thing, anything from Natural Foods selection will work – and tempting though pick-n-mix is in the cinema, remember, the Festival is a marathon, not a race. Save those pennies.

(Continued next page - food, drink, Twitter and a few other things you should know)