Paolo Cortellesi’s “There’s Still Tomorrow,” a box office smash in its native Italy, was Sunday named winner of the Sydney Film Prize at the end of the Sydney Film Festival (June 5-16)
A jury headed by Danis Tanovic called the film about an industrious woman in post WWII Rome “audacious, cutting-edge and courageous.” The prize is one of the richest awarded at any festival and is worth A$60,000 ($39,600).
The announcement was made at the city’s State Theatre ahead of the Australian premiere screening of the Demi Moore-starring Cannes hit “The Substance.”
The A$20,000 ($13,200) Documentary Australia award went to local filmmaker James Bradley, for “Welcome to Babel,” which charts Chinese-Australian artist Jiawei Shen’s plans to create an epic work.
The inaugural recipient of the largest cash prize for First Nations filmmaking, the A$35,000 ($23,100) First Nations Award went to New Zealand filmmaker Awanui Simich-Pene’s “First Horse,” a short film that follows a young M?ori girl in 1826, a time when Aotearoa was on the cusp of colonization.
The 2024 recipient of the A$40,000 ($26,400) Sustainable Future Award was U.S. filmmaker Alina Simone for her film “Black Snow,” a documentary about a Siberian eco-activist, who fights for her community in a remote Russian mining town.
Five short film prizes were awarded for The Dendy Awards for Australian Short Films. These included the A$7,000 ($4,620) Dendy Live Action Short Award for “Die Bully Die,” directed by Nathan and Nick Lacey; Yoram Gross Animation Award which was awarded to “Darwin Story,” directed by Natasha Tonkin; the Rouben Mamoulian Award for best director which was presented to Pernell Marsden for “The Meaningless Daydreams of Augie & Celeste.”
The AFTRS Craft Award for best practitioner (a $7,000 cash prize) went to Chloe Kemp, screenwriter of “Say.” The Event Cinemas Rising Talent Award, with a cash prize of A$7,000 was awarded to Bridget Morrison, lead actor of the same film.
The A$10,000 ($6,600) Sydney-UNESCO City of Film Award, provided by Screen NSW to a trail-blazing New South Wales-based screen practitioner, went to producer Debbie Lee.
“Our 71st Sydney Film Festival has been an extraordinary success, with a remarkable turnout of film enthusiasts attending over 400 screenings, special events, and talks. This year, we showcased over 230 exceptional films from around the world, and our audiences eagerly participated in the festivities, resulting in nearly 150 sold-out sessions throughout the Festival,” said festival CEO Frances Wallace.
Festival director Nashen Moodley said: “This year, we have been privileged to showcase remarkable films from around the world, each bringing its unique voice and vision to our screens [..] This has been another resoundingly successful year for the festival.”
In related news, it was announced that the festival’s head of programs and documentary programmer, Jenny Neighbour, will be leaving after 35 years with the organization.
“She leaves with the festival in fantastic shape, for which she should take a great deal of credit, and on the occasion of the exceptional high of a great 2024 edition,” said Moodley.