The Breaker Upperers, by New Zealand directors Jackie van Beek, Madeleine Sami will open the 2018 Sydney Film Festival on June 6.   In this side-splittingly funny film,  Jackie van Beek and Madeleine Sami star as best friends who run an unconventional business breaking up couples for cash.

Directors Jackie van Beek and Madeleine Sami star as Jen and Mel, who 15 years ago discovered that they were being two-timed by the same man. From heartbreak, a friendship blossomed, alongside a hearty cynicism about love and relationships. And so The Breaker Upperers was born, a business helping people who lack the courage to end their relationships. Faking deaths, impersonating cops and strippers, and feigning pregnancies are all part of their extensive repertoire. But when consciences resurface and the prospect of romance rears up, the unbreakable friendship between the two starts to show its first cracks.  The Breaker Upperers is refreshingly candid about modern sexuality and beautifully captures a multicultural community. Executive produced by Taika Waititi (What We Do in the Shadows, SFF 2014), The Breaker Upperers is a joyous, hilarious film.