Sydney Film Festival will host a special one-night-only conversation between Hideo Kojima and George Miller that fans of Death Stranding really won’t want to miss. As detailed, the conversation, taking place on 14 June 2025, will focus on Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, as well as concepts of cinema and interactive art.
Those familiar with Kojima’s work will know the reverence he has for artistic expression and filmmaking, and this passion will be explored throughout the evening. George Miller, likewise, is an award-winning filmmaker known for pushing boundaries with cinematic storytelling in films like Mad Max, and he’ll share more about his artistic practice during the event.
Notably, Miller also appears in Death Stranding 2, lending his likeness (but not his voice) to Tarman. Per the lore, Miller and Kojima met around 2015, during a promotional tour for Mad Max: Fury Road in Japan. Kojima has frequently spoken about the Mad Max series and its influence on his own work, leading to their meeting and subsequent collaboration.
This will no doubt be one of the topics of conversation when the pair deliver their joint talk during Sydney Film Festival. Here’s the official event description, per SFF:
‘Legendary video game creator Hideo Kojima states in his social media bio that “70% of my body is made of movies.” So it’s no surprise that his remarkable video games are deeply cinematic and blur the lines between film and video games like no other … It’s only appropriate that Australia’s biggest celebration of cinema, Sydney Film Festival, hosts this world exclusive event, where Hideo Kojima will be in conversation with Australian cinema icon, collaborator, and one of his own personal heroes, George Miller (Mad Max franchise).’
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‘This will be an unmissable conversation where they will discuss the fertile shared ground between cinema and video games, and the films that make up 70% of Hideo Kojima. Amongst the conversation will be discussions on George Miller himself featuring in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, and building Australia as the new game environment players will need to journey across to re-establish human connection.’
Those who’ve been listening out for news of Death Stranding 2 will note this game is actually set in Australia, so Kojima travelling to the country to talk about the game feels very apt. As an added note, it’s really nice to see Sydney Film Festival discussing video games alongside film, as the boundaries between both art forms shrink.
Tickets for the conversation between Hideo Kojima and George Miller at Sydney Film Festival are now on sale. We expect they will sell out once the news properly lands, so you’ll want to get in quick if you’re keen to attend. You can nab your spot on the SFF website.
The Sydney Film Festival takes place from 4-15 June 2025.
