The 69th Sydney Film Festival tonight awarded Close by Belgian filmmaker Lukas Dhont, a stunningly beautiful examination of boyhood friendship, the prestigious Sydney Film Prize. The winner of the $60,000 cash prize for ‘audacious, cutting-edge and courageous' film was selected by a prestigious international jury headed by David Wenham.
The announcement was made at the State Theatre ahead of the Closing Night film, the Australian Premiere screening of the 2022 Cannes-award winning South Korean drama Broker.
Dhont said, “Thank you to the festival for expressing its love for the film, the jury for choosing it among all these outstanding pieces, and its first Australian audience for opening hearts and spirits to a film that comes from deep within. We wanted to make a film about friendship and connection after a moment in time where we all understood its necessity and power. I decided to use cinema as my way to connect to the world. And tonight I feel incredibly close and connected to all of you.” (Pictured, top; Close stars Eden Dambrine and Gustav De Waele).
In addition to Wenham, the Festival Jury was comprised of Australian BAFTA-nominated writer and director Jennifer Peedom (Mountain, SFF 2018); Bangladeshi writer-director-producer Mostofa Sarwar Farooki (No Land’s Man, SFF 2022); Golden Berlin Bear winning Turkish writer-director-producer Semih Kaplanoğlu (Commitment Hasan, SFF 2022); and Executive Director at the Kawakita Memorial Film Institute, Tokyo, Yuka Sakano. (Pictured, right; The Jury deliberates)
Wenham said, “[Close] displayed a mastery of restraint, subtle handling of story, astute observations and delicate attention to finer details. A film whose power was felt in things unsaid, the moments between the lines of dialogue. A film with inspired cinematography and flawless performances. A tender, moving, powerful film. A mature film about innocence.”
Australian filmmaker Luke Cornish was presented with the Documentary Australia Award’s $10,000 cash prize for Keep Stepping, about two remarkable female performers training for Australia’s biggest street dance competition. (Pictured, left; Director Luke Cornish, sitting, with street dancers Gabi Quinsacara, left, and Patricia Crasmaruc, from Keep Stepping. Photo:Louie Douvis)
The Dendy Awards for Australian Short Films saw the inaugural AFTRS Craft Award (a $7,000 cash prize) presented to the character artists behind Donkey; Tjunkaya Tapaya OAM; Carolyn Kenta; Imuna Kenta; Elizabeth Dunn; Stacia Yvonne Lewis; Atipalku Intjalki; Lynette Lewis; and Cynthia Burke.
The $5,000 Yoram Gross Animation Award was also awarded to Donkey, directed by Jonathan Daw and Tjunkaya Tapaya OAM. Both the $7,000 Dendy Live Action Short Award and $7,000 Rouben Mamoulian Award for Best Director were presented to Luisa Martiri and Tanya Modini for The Moths Will Eat Them Up (pictured, right).
The 2022 recipient of the $10,000 Sustainable Future Award, made possible by a syndicate of passionate climate activists led by Award sponsor Amanda Maple-Brown, is Australian documentary Delikado directed by Karl Malakunas, which reveals the tribulations of environmental crusaders on the Filipino island of Palawan.
Beniamino Cantena’s debut feature VERA DE VERDAD and hometown favourite Jonathan Adam’s charming short DAILY DRIVER have taken Best Film honours in their respective categories in The 2021 Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival, held Sunday at the Actors Centre Australia.
The films led an eclectic roster of winners selected from the 21 features and 78 short films made eligible as part of the festival's first ever foray into ‘hybrid programming’. The 4-day live event wrapped Sunday 14th, while the online program will run via the Xerb streaming platform until Thursday 25th.
An Italian/Chilean co-production that comes to Sydney via festival placements in Torino, Trieste, Brussels and Chuncheon, Vera De Verdad tells a deeply moving story of soul transference and shared destiny and stars Marcelo Alonso and Maria Gastini, both nominated in their respective lead acting categories. (Pictured, right: Vera de Verdad director, Beniamino Cantena)
The Best Film category is named in honour of the late production designer Ron Cobb, whose conceptual artistry is central to the iconic status of such works as Star Wars, Conan the Barbarian, Alien, Aliens, The Abyss, Total Recall and the TV series Firefly. Cobb married an Australian woman and lived in Sydney from the 1970s until his passing in September, 2020.
Other feature film winners included Ben Tedesco, crowned Best Actor for his self-directed performance in the lockdown time-loop drama NO TOMORROW; Peruvian actress Haydeé Cáceres for her wordless but wondrous lead turn in Aldo Salvini’s MOON HEART; and, exciting multi-hyphenate Carlson Young for her unique vision as director of the festival’s Opening Night film, THE BLAZING WORLD (pictured, left).
Also in contention for Director and Actor trophies, Daily Driver took top short film honours but ceded other categories to U.K. filmmaker Ryan Andrews (Best Director for HIRAETH) and French leading man Denis Hubleur (Best Actor for CAUSA SUI). Melbourne-based Jessica Tanner earned Best Actress for her blistering turn as the shell-shocked victim of cyclical domestic abuse in Andrew Jaksch’s controversy-courting drama TODAY.
The Audience Award winners were Eddie Arya’s RISEN, an ambitious alien invasion epic that filmed in Sydney and Canada over a four year period, and Spanish effects master Jorge Corpi’s CGI short-film thrill-ride, ELLIPSIS.
The twisted psychology and skewed world view of the serial killer is central to two of the top award winners at the 2021 Festival de Cannes. Julia Ducornau’s Titane, a nightmarish study of a killer impregnated by a car, won the coveted Palme d’Or, with Caleb Landry’s portrayal of Australia’s worst mass murderer in Justin Kurzel’s Nitram earning the Best Actor trophy.
Photo credit: Valerie Hache / AFP
"There is so much beauty and emotion to be found in what cannot be pigeonholed,” said Ducornau, who exploded onto the horror scene in 2016 with her cannibal thriller, Raw. Her latest exploration of body-horror themes and aesthetics has stunned critics on the Croisette. “Thank you to the Jury for calling for more diversity in our film experiences and in our lives,” the French director said, upon receiving her award from actress Sharon Stone, “And thank you to the Jury for letting the monsters in.”
Caleb Landry was not quite so outspoken in accepting his award, presented to him by French actress Adèle Exarchopoulos. Citing nerves and a genuine fear he would have thrown-up if he had tried to speak, he gave no podium speech. (Pictured, right; credit - Christophe Simon / AFP)
Other major winners were Best Director Leos Carax, for the rock-opera romance Annette; Best Actress Renate Reinsve, for Joachim Trier’s stirring drama The Worst Person in the World; and, Best Screenplay recipient Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, for Drive My Car.
It would appear that Jury members steadfastly refused to compromise their opinions with two tied awards announced - the Grand Prix was shared between Asghar Farhadi’s A Hero and Juho Kuosmanen’s Compartment No. 6, while Nadav Lapid Ahed’s Knee and Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Memoria tag-teamed the Jury Prize. (Pictured, left; Julia Ducorna and Sharon Stone; credit - Andreas Rentz / Getty Images)
Wrapping up a vibrant 12-day event that succeeded in recapturing the starpower and spontaneity of great festivals of the past, competition jury head Spike Lee fluffed his duties but couldn’t spoil last night’s award ceremony. Lee inadvertently read out the Palme d’Or winner at the start of the evening and not the end, meaning Ducornau sat wriggling with glee in her seat for the duration of the event, waiting to collect her award.
Best Actress winner Renate Reinsvem, with Lee-Byung-Hun (credit - Andreas Rentz / Getty Images)
The full list of 2021 Festival de Cannes winners:
COMPETITION Palme d’Or: TITANE Grand Prix — TIE: Asghar Farhadi, A HERO AND Juho Kuosmanen’s COMPARTMENT No. 6 Director: Leos Carax, ANNETTE Actor: Caleb Landry Jones, NITRAM Actress: Renate Reinsve, THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD Jury Prize — TIE: Nadav Lapid AHED'S KNEE and Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s MEMORIA Screenplay: Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, DRIVE MY CAR
OTHER PRIZES Camera d’Or: MURINA, Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović Short Films Palme d’Or: ALL THE CROWS IN THE WORLD, Tang Yi Short Films Special Mention: AUGUST SKY, Jasmin Tenucci Golden Eye Documentary Prize: A NIGHT OF KNOWING NOTHING, Payal Kapadia Ecumenical Jury Prize: DRIVE MY CAR, Ryusuke Hamaguchi Queer Palm: THE DIVIDE, Catherine Corsini
UN CERTAIN REGARD Un Certain Regard Award: UNCLENCHING THE FIST, Kira Kovalenko Jury Prize: GREAT FREEDOM, Sebastian Meise Prize for Ensemble Performance: BONNE MERE, Hafsia Herzi Prize for Courage: LA CIVIL, Teodora Ana Mihai Prize for Originality: LAMB, Valdimar Johannsson Special Mention: PRAYERS FOR THE STOLEN, Tatiana Huezo
DIRECTORS’ FORTNIGHT Europa Cinemas Label: A CHIARA, Jonas Carpignano Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers Prize: MAGNETIC BEATS, Vincent Maël Cardona
CRITICS’ WEEK Nespresso Grand Prize: FEATHERS, Omar El Zohairy Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers Prize: Elie Grappe and Raphaëlle Desplechin, OLGA GAN Foundation Award for Distribution: Elie Grappe and Raphaëlle Desplechin, ZERO FUCKS GIVEN Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award: Sandra Melissa Torres, AMPARO
CINÉFONDATION First Prize: THE SALAMANDER CHILD, Theo Degen Second Prize: SALAMANDER, Yoon Daewoon Third Prize — TIE:LOVE STORIES ON THE MOVE, Carina-Gabriela Dasoveanu and CANTAREIRA, Rodrigo Ribeyro
There is nothing that Hollywood loves more than Hollywood. Mank, the story of the alcoholic screenwriter Herman J Mankiewicz and his near-fatal struggle to get his script for Citizen Kane finished, leads the 2021 Academy Award nominations with 10 mentions (although, with a cruel irony probably not lost on the global writing community, not for its script).
Hollywood golden couple Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Nick Jonas announced the nominations in a two-part presentation via global live stream. The ceremony will take place in-person at Los Angeles’ Union Station and the Dolby Theatre on April 25.
Following Mank with six nominations apiece are The Father, Judas and the Black Messiah, Minari, Nomadland, Sound of Metal and The Trial of the Chicago 7. Emerald Fennell’s Promising Young Woman received five nods.
Diversity was acknowledged across several of the categories, notably in the Best Director line-up. Two women directors — Chloe Zhao, for Nomadland (pictured, right; with star and Best Actress nominee Frances McDormand), and Emerald Fennell, for Promising Young Woman — were nominated together in the category for the first time ever. Elsewhere, Viola Davis’ Best Actress nomination ensured her place in AMPAS history as the Black woman with the most acting nominations (with four) and the first Black woman to be nominated for best actress twice.
Steven Yeun, from Minari, became the first Asian American nominated for best actor in Oscars history, while Riz Ahmed, from Sound of Metal, joined Ben Kingsley, who is half Indian, as the only men of South Asian descent who have been recognized in the category. The filmmaking communities of Romania and Tunisia are celebrating first-ever International Feature nominations for, respectively, Alexander Nanau’s Collective and Kaouther Ben Hania's The Man Who Sold His Skin.
Almost as soon as the categories were announced, grumblings about the high-profile talent that missed out began. Highly touted performances that were shut-out included Michelle Pfeiffer (French Exit); Elizabeth Moss (The Invisible Man; Shirley); Julia Garner (The Assistant); Delroy Lindo (Da 5 Bloods); Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci (Supernova); Sophia Loren (The Life Ahead); Golden Globe winner Jodie Foster (The Mauritanian); Ben Affleck (The Way Back) Tom Hanks and co-star Helena Zengel (News of the World); and, Mads Mikkelsen (Another Round).
Completely bumped from Oscar parties will be reps from Never Rarely Sometimes Always, Dick Johnson is Dead, Malcolm & Marie, I’m Thinking of Ending Things, Palm Springs, On the Rocks, The Nest, and First Cow.
The full list of 2021 nominations are:
Best Picture “The Father” (David Parfitt, Jean-Louis Livi and Philippe Carcassonne, producers) “Judas and the Black Messiah” (Shaka King, Charles D. King and Ryan Coogler, producers) “Mank” (Ceán Chaffin, Eric Roth and Douglas Urbanski, producers) “Minari” (Christina Oh, producer) “Nomadland” (Frances McDormand, Peter Spears, Mollye Asher, Dan Janvey and Chloé Zhao, producers) “Promising Young Woman” (Ben Browning, Ashley Fox, Emerald Fennell and Josey McNamara, producers) “Sound of Metal” (Bert Hamelinck and Sacha Ben Harroche, producers) “The Trial of the Chicago 7” (Marc Platt and Stuart Besser, producers)
Best Director Thomas Vinterberg (“Another Round”) David Fincher (“Mank”) Lee Isaac Chung (“Minari”) Chloé Zhao (“Nomadland”) Emerald Fennell (“Promising Young Woman”)
Best Actor in a Leading Role Riz Ahmed (“Sound of Metal”) Chadwick Boseman (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”) Anthony Hopkins (“The Father”) Gary Oldman (“Mank”) Steven Yeun (“Minari”)
Best Actress in a Leading Role Viola Davis (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”) Andra Day (“The United States v. Billie Holiday”) Vanessa Kirby (“Pieces of a Woman”) Frances McDormand (“Nomadland”) Carey Mulligan (“Promising Young Woman”)
Best Actor in a Supporting Role Sacha Baron Cohen (“The Trial of the Chicago 7”) Daniel Kaluuya (“Judas and the Black Messiah”) Leslie Odom Jr. (“One Night in Miami”) Paul Raci (“Sound of Metal”) Lakeith Stanfield (“Judas and the Black Messiah”)
Best Actress in a Supporting Role Maria Bakalova (‘Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”) Glenn Close (“Hillbilly Elegy”) Olivia Colman (“The Father”) Amanda Seyfried (“Mank”) Yuh-jung Youn (“Minari”)
Best Animated Feature Film “Onward” (Pixar) “Over the Moon” (Netflix) “A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon” (Netflix) “Soul” (Pixar) “Wolfwalkers” (Apple TV Plus/GKIDS)
Best Adapted Screenplay “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm.” Screenplay by Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Dan Swimer, Peter Baynham, Erica Rivinoja, Dan Mazer, Jena Friedman, Lee Kern; Story by Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Dan Swimer, Nina Pedrad “The Father,” Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller “Nomadland,” Chloé Zhao “One Night in Miami,” Kemp Powers “The White Tiger,” Ramin Bahrani
Best Original Screenplay “Judas and the Black Messiah.” Screenplay by Will Berson, Shaka King; Story by Will Berson, Shaka King, Kenny Lucas, Keith Lucas “Minari,” Lee Isaac Chung “Promising Young Woman,” Emerald Fennell “Sound of Metal.” Screenplay by Darius Marder, Abraham Marder; Story by Darius Marder, Derek Cianfrance “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” Aaron Sorkin
Best Original Song “Fight for You,” (“Judas and the Black Messiah”). Music by H.E.R. and Dernst Emile II; Lyric by H.E.R. and Tiara Thomas “Hear My Voice,” (“The Trial of the Chicago 7”). Music by Daniel Pemberton; Lyric by Daniel Pemberton and Celeste Waite “Húsavík,” (“Eurovision Song Contest”). Music and Lyric by Savan Kotecha, Fat Max Gsus and Rickard Göransson “Io Si (Seen),” (“The Life Ahead”). Music by Diane Warren; Lyric by Diane Warren and Laura Pausini “Speak Now,” (“One Night in Miami”). Music and Lyric by Leslie Odom, Jr. and Sam Ashworth
Best Original Score “Da 5 Bloods,” Terence Blanchard “Mank,” Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross “Minari,” Emile Mosseri “News of the World,” James Newton Howard “Soul,” Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Jon Batiste
Best Sound “Greyhound,” Warren Shaw, Michael Minkler, Beau Borders and David Wyman “Mank,” Ren Klyce, Jeremy Molod, David Parker, Nathan Nance and Drew Kunin “News of the World,” Oliver Tarney, Mike Prestwood Smith, William Miller and John Pritchett “Soul,” Ren Klyce, Coya Elliott and David Parker “Sound of Metal,” Nicolas Becker, Jaime Baksht, Michelle Couttolenc, Carlos Cortés and Phillip Bladh
Best Costume Design “Emma,” Alexandra Byrne “Mank,” Trish Summerville “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” Ann Roth “Mulan,” Bina Daigeler “Pinocchio,” Massimo Cantini Parrini
Best Animated Short Film “Burrow” (Disney Plus/Pixar) “Genius Loci” (Kazak Productions) “If Anything Happens I Love You” (Netflix) “Opera” (Beasts and Natives Alike) “Yes-People” (CAOZ hf. Hólamói)
Best Live-Action Short Film “Feeling Through” “The Letter Room” “The Present” “Two Distant Strangers” “White Eye”
Best Cinematography “Judas and the Black Messiah,” Sean Bobbitt “Mank,” Erik Messerschmidt “News of the World,” Dariusz Wolski “Nomadland,” Joshua James Richards “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” Phedon Papamichael
Best Documentary Feature “Collective,” Alexander Nanau and Bianca Oana “Crip Camp,” Nicole Newnham, Jim LeBrecht and Sara Bolder “The Mole Agent,” Maite Alberdi and Marcela Santibáñez “My Octopus Teacher,” Pippa Ehrlich, James Reed and Craig Foster “Time,” Garrett Bradley, Lauren Domino and Kellen Quinn
Best Documentary Short Subject “Colette,” Anthony Giacchino and Alice Doyard “A Concerto Is a Conversation,” Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers “Do Not Split,” Anders Hammer and Charlotte Cook “Hunger Ward,” Skye Fitzgerald and Michael Scheuerman “A Love Song for Latasha,” Sophia Nahli Allison and Janice Duncan
Best Film Editing “The Father,” Yorgos Lamprinos “Nomadland,” Chloé Zhao “Promising Young Woman,” Frédéric Thoraval “Sound of Metal,” Mikkel E.G. Nielsen “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” Alan Baumgarten
Best International Feature Film “Another Round” (Denmark) “Better Days” (Hong Kong) “Collective” (Romania) “The Man Who Sold His Skin” (Tunisia) “Quo Vadis, Aida?”(Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Best Makeup and Hairstyling “Emma,” Marese Langan, Laura Allen, Claudia Stolze “Hillbilly Elegy,” Eryn Krueger Mekash, Patricia Dehaney, Matthew Mungle “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” Sergio Lopez-Rivera, Mia Neal, Jamika Wilson “Mank,” Kimberley Spiteri, Gigi Williams, Colleen LaBaff “Pinocchio,” Mark Coulier, Dalia Colli, Francesco Pegoretti
Best Production Design “The Father.” Production Design: Peter Francis; Set Decoration: Cathy Featherstone “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” Production Design: Mark Ricker; Set Decoration: Karen O’Hara and Diana Stoughton “Mank.” Production Design: Donald Graham Burt; Set Decoration: Jan Pascale “News of the World.” Production Design: David Crank; Set Decoration: Elizabeth Keenan “Tenet.” Production Design: Nathan Crowley; Set Decoration: Kathy Lucas
Best Visual Effects “Love and Monsters,” Matt Sloan, Genevieve Camilleri, Matt Everitt and Brian Cox “The Midnight Sky,” Matthew Kasmir, Christopher Lawrence, Max Solomon and David Watkins “Mulan,” Sean Faden, Anders Langlands, Seth Maury and Steve Ingram “The One and Only Ivan,” Nick Davis, Greg Fisher, Ben Jones and Santiago Colomo Martinez “Tenet,” Andrew Jackson, David Lee, Andrew Lockley and Scott Fisher
The Oscar race came into sharper focus over the last 48 hours with key critics groups on both U.S. coasts handing out their 2020 gongs.
Critics on the Eastern seaboard named Kelly Reichardt’s First Cow their Best Film at the New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC) Awards. Already a Jury Prize winner at Deauville and in the mix with Berlin, Boston and Ghent award bodies, the understated period drama has been a festival darling since it debuted at Telluride in 2019.
The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA) instead favoured Steve McQueen’s Small Axe (pictured, right) for their best pic honour, while also awarding the director a runner-up Best Director notice. The Amazon Original production earned the Best Cinematography trophy for Shabier Kirchner, who also took home the NYFCC award in this category. An anthology work tracking the lives of young black men in the U.K. over three decades, producers have not made the film eligible for Oscar contention, instead favouring an Emmy ballot slot in 2021.
Critics on both coasts shared a lot of love for Searchlight Pictures’, Nomadland. Director Chloé Zhao earned the Best Director nod from both organisations, to add to her wins to date from the Boston Critics, Indiewire Critics, TIFF and San Francisco Film Festival. The film also earned runner-up ribbons from LAFCA for Best Film and Best Cinematography.
There is a very real chance that this year’s Best Director Oscar race will be rich with women directors. In addition to Zhao and Reichardt, actress/filmmaker Regina King is heavily favoured to earn a nod for One Night in Miami while writer/director Emerald Fennell is likely to factor in AMPAS member’s thinking with Promising Young Woman (a NYFCC favourite; see below).
Other bi-coastal honorees included Best Animated Film winner Wolfwalkers (pictured, right), a Euro co-productionfrom directors Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart that looks set to topple the one-two 2020 Pixar punch of Onwards and Soul; Best Documentary pic Time, Garrett Bradley’s account of one woman’s fight for the release of her husband from prison; and, Radha Blanks’ debut The Forty-Year-Old Version, which earned Best First Film in New York and the New Generation award in Los Angeles.
However, the great divide between the critics became apparent in their awards for Best Supporting Actress (Youn Yuh-jung for Minari in LA; Maria Bakalova for Borat Subsequent Moviefilm in NYC) and Best Foreign Film (Kantemir Balagov’s Russian drama in LA; Brazilian thriller Bacurau, directed by Juliano Dornelles and Kleber Mendonça Filho, in NYC).
Eliza Hittman’s Never Rarely Sometimes Always played better in the East, where it won Best Screenplay for Hittman and Best Actress for Sidney Flannigan. Cali-crix instead favoured the incendiary drama Promising Young Woman, awarding Fennell and Carey Mulligan in those slots respectively. Similar circumstances prevailed in the male acting categories, with Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom scoring Actor (the late Chadwick Boseman) and Supporting Actor (Glynn Turman) from LA voters, while NYFCC decision-makers gave Actor to Delroy Lindo and Supporting Actor to Boseman for director Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods.
The full list of winners are:
LOS ANGELES FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION (LAFC) BEST PICTURE: Small Axe (Runner-Up: Nomadland) BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:: Beanpole (Runner up: Martin Eden) BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Shabier Kirchner, Small Axe (Runner-Up: Joshua James Richards, Nomadland) BEST SCORE/MUSIC: “Soul,” Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (Runner-Up: “Lovers Rock,” Mica Levi) BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Glynn Turman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Runner-Up: Paul Raci, Sound of Metal) BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN: Donald Graham Burt, Mank (Runner-Up: Sergey Ivanov, Beanpole) BEST EDITING: Yorgos Lamprinos, The Father (Runner-Up: Gabriel Rhodes, Time) BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Youn Yuh-jung, Minari (Runner-Up: Amanda Seyfried, Mank) BEST ANIMATION: Wolfwalkers (Runner-Up: Soul) DOUGLAS EDWARDS EXPERIMENTAL FILM PRIZE: Her Socialist Smile (Dir: John Gianvito) BEST SCREENPLAY: Emerald Fennell, Promising Young Woman (Runner-Up: Eliza Hittman, Never Rarely Sometimes Always) BEST DOCUMENTARY: Time (Runner-Up: Collective) BEST ACTOR: Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Runner-Up: Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal) BEST ACTRESS: Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman (Runner-Up: Viola Davis, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom) BEST DIRECTOR: Chloé Zhao, Nomadland (Runner-Up: Steve McQueen, Small Axe) NEW GENERATION: Radha Blank, The 40-Year-Old Version DOUGLAS EDWARDS EXPERIMENTAL FILM AWARD: John Gianvito’s Her Socialist Smile CAREER ACHIEVEMENT: Hou Hsiao-Hsien and Harry Belafonte LEGACY AWARD: Norman Lloyd
NEW YORK FILM CRITICS CIRCLE (NYFCC) BEST FILM: First Cow BEST DIRECTOR: Chloé Zhao, Nomadland BEST SCREENPLAY: Eliza Hittman, Never Rarely Sometimes Always BEST ACTRESS: Sidney Flanigan, Never Rarely Sometimes Always BEST ACTOR: Delroy Lindo, Da 5 Bloods BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Maria Bakalova, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Chadwick Boseman, Da 5 Bloods BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Small Axe BEST NON-FICTION FILM: Time BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: Bacurau BEST ANIMATED FEATURE: Wolfwalkers BEST FIRST FILM: The 40-Year-Old Version SPECIAL AWARD: Kino Lorber, “for their creation of Kino Marquee, a virtual cinema distribution service that was designed to help support movie theaters, not destroy them.” SPECIAL AWARD: Spike Lee, “for inspiring the New York community with his short film ‘New York New York’ and for advocating for a better society through cinema.”
Monday, June 20, 2022 at 10:11AM 
In addition to Wenham, the Festival Jury was comprised of Australian BAFTA-nominated writer and director Jennifer Peedom (Mountain, SFF 2018); Bangladeshi writer-director-producer Mostofa Sarwar Farooki (No Land’s Man, SFF 2022); Golden Berlin Bear winning Turkish writer-director-producer Semih Kaplanoğlu (Commitment Hasan, SFF 2022); and Executive Director at the Kawakita Memorial Film Institute, Tokyo, Yuka Sakano. (Pictured, right; The Jury deliberates)
Australian filmmaker Luke Cornish was presented with the Documentary Australia Award’s $10,000 cash prize for Keep Stepping, about two remarkable female performers training for Australia’s biggest street dance competition. (Pictured, left; Director Luke Cornish, sitting, with street dancers Gabi Quinsacara, left, and Patricia Crasmaruc, from Keep Stepping. Photo:Louie Douvis)
The $5,000 Yoram Gross Animation Award was also awarded to Donkey, directed by Jonathan Daw and Tjunkaya Tapaya OAM. Both the $7,000 Dendy Live Action Short Award and $7,000 Rouben Mamoulian Award for Best Director were presented to Luisa Martiri and Tanya Modini for The Moths Will Eat Them Up (pictured, right).
