Live On Hickson Road: Efectos Especiales

Name: Live On Hickson Road: Efectos Especiales
Start: 2026-01-10 17:30:00+11:00
End: 2026-01-10 19:30:00+11:00
Location: Hickson Road

Luciana Acuña & Alejo Moguillansky

Argentina

Lights. Camera. Action on Hickson Road.

PAST EVENT

Description

Australian Exclusive

A street. Action! The scene begins: a truck rumbles past, music blaring. A dancer sprints, leaps, stumbles – and suddenly the elements erupt. Thunder rolls. Wind lashes. Snow begins to fall. Smoke drifts through the frame. Light flashes against the night. Each take brings a new rhythm, a new pulse, a new spark of cinematic magic.

What’s real? What’s staged? As movement, sound and image collide, the answer keeps shifting.

Created by Argentinian filmmaker Alejo Moguillansky and choreographer Luciana Acuña, Efectos Especiales transforms the street into a live film set where cinema and dance unfold in real time. A camera mounted on a dolly tracks a performer across 300 metres in an unbroken shot – a body pushed to endure, moving forward against forces that refuse to let up.

The audience moves too. A DJ turns a van into a travelling party. At times you’ll run to keep up, then stop to watch the action projected live onto giant screens. Scenes are replayed, reshot, reimagined. Sometimes you’re a witness. Sometimes an extra. Sometimes you’re asked to move, to dance beneath an artificial storm, or to crawl through falling snow as the fiction keeps rolling.

Hailed internationally after acclaimed seasons in Santiago, Valencia and Cádiz, this free, large-scale performance brings the exhilaration of live cinema to Sydney’s waterfront. What emerges is not a tale of heroics, but of persistence – and of what becomes possible when people move, watch and endure together.

No tickets. No fourth wall. Just you, the city, and a camera capturing it all.

Event schedule:

4:00pm - Live on Hickson Road site opens

4:30pm - DJ set by Federico Puentes
5:30pm - Efectos Especiales performance one

6:30pm - Federico Puentes DJ set

7:30pm - Efectos Especiales performance two

8:30pm - The Kick On kicks off

10:00pm - Live on Hickson Road finishes

Stick around after the event as the evening evolves into a street sesh with DJ sets, dancing and peak-summer energy. Check out Live on Hickson Road: The Kick On for more.

“The joy of this production lies in adrenaline rush as the audience pursue the dancer, in the fun of seeing the urban streets presented in a different light, in the game that we are invited to be part of, in the pleasure of dancing along to Depeche Mode, The Clash and The Weather Girls.”

THE THEATRE TIMES

“Gloriously inventive”

THE THEATRE TIMES

Theatre Free Dance Immersive

Luciana Acuña & Alejo Moguillansky

Argentina

Luciana Acuña and Alejo Moguillansky have been working together for over 15 years, crossing over the languages of dance and film until the boundary between them becomes indiscernible, producing plays, installations and films. They are responsible for the fusion of the work of the collectives El Pampero Cine and Grupo Krapp.

Acuña is part of the films directed by Moguillansky from the choreographic language. Moguillansky participated in the creation of several works by Grupo Krapp, and those directed by Luciana Acuña alone. Together they created the film La edad media (2022) premiered in Berlinale, the play Por el dinero (2013), the film of the same name (2019) which premiered in Cannes, the short film Un día de caza (2020), the dance-video installation Les Revenants (Santiago de Chile, 2021), the film Castro (2009), El loro y el cisne (2013), among various films, plays and performances, such as Efectos Especiales (still touring internationally) or the multi-awarded piece Bailarinas Incendiadas. Their last collaboration, Pin de Fartie, premiered in Venice Film Festival 2025.

Government Partners

Credits

Important Information

Performance with a 300-metre route; there may be loud music and sounds.

Conditions of Entry - Live on Hickson Road event

It is a requirement of entry that patrons always follow the advice and directions of Sydney Festival staff, Security and volunteers at all times whilst in the event site.
For the safety and security of all persons, video surveillance is in use at all times.
The Sydney Festival reserves the right to require any bag, container or item be inspected.
Patrons who cause a disturbance or refuse to comply with requests made by venue staff will be denied entry or asked to leave the event area.
A person must not attempt to conceal their identity, either at the point of entry or while inside the event site. Sydney Festival will respect cultural differences and medical conditions but reserves the right to either refuse entry or remove anyone who covers their face in order to conceal their identity.
Any person who attempts to enter the venue after being asked to leave may be reported to police.
Patrons wearing or displaying inappropriate or other offensive images, logos etc. may be denied entry or asked to remove such items.
Persons wearing ‘Colours’ or ‘Insignia’ on any clothing or other item identifying them as belonging to Outlaw Motor Cycle Gangs or other groups as designated by the NSW Police Force.
Smoking and vaping is not permitted within the event site.
Patrons voluntarily assume all risk of all personal damage and personal loss arising (including by negligence) at the Venue including damage or loss caused by the acts or omissions of other patrons or any other person or thing present at the Venue.
Patrons consent to the Sydney Festival and/or third parties authorised by Sydney Festival taking photography and video for promotional purposes.
Patrons must not solicit, display or attempt to sell or distribute any goods or other material whilst inside the event site, if found doing so you will be requested to immediately cease such activity and may be asked to leave.
Children under the age of 16 must be accompanied by a responsible adult at all times

The following items are not permitted to be brought into the venue:

Glass.
Alcoholic beverages and illegal substances.
Flares, fireworks, explosives, smoke bombs or other flammable devices.
Laser pointers.
Knives, weapons or other items that could be used as weapons.
Cameras and audio/visual recording devices (for commercial purposes) including tripods.
Oversized banners and flags.
Whistles, hooters and horns.
Balloons, streamers, confetti or shredded paper.
Scooters, roller skates, skateboards and bicycles.
Drones or unmanned aerial vehicles.
Animals (other than certified service animals).
Any other item that could cause harm or public nuisance or that could interfere with the event.