39th Festival 1992

This year saw the passing of the most-screened filmmaker (not including retrospectives) in SFF history, Satyajit Ray. From Pat McDonald: “While his films portrayed the everyday lives of his Bengali people, his themes were universally relevant. Pather Pachali and its sequel Aparijito were screened at the 4th Sydney Film Festival in 1957 and in subsequent years we presented no fewer than 13 of his films. He attended the 15th festival in 1968 when Kanchenjungha screened here. We salute this great film-maker.”

The 1992 festival also featured a world first, in having a retrospective of Japanese post-war cinema, curated by Donald Ritchie. The festival saw 5 Japanese films grace our screens, ten of which were in the retrospective. A screening series of the Winnipeg Film Group was also presented. Following on from the last few years, special nights of international cinema were screened, including a night of European cinema, Japanese cinema and Mexican cinema.

Kenneth Anger’s Magick Lantern Cycle (Part 1) was screened, as were Jim Jarmusch’s Night on Earth, Ken Loach’s Riff-Raff, William Greaves’ Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One, Lars von Trier’s Zentropa, Aki Kaurismaki’s La Vie de Boheme and Baz Luhrmann’s influential Australian film Strictly Ballroom.

The Ian McPherson lecture was delivered by Donald Ritchie.

Opening Night Film: The Player (directed by Robert Altman)

Closing Night Film: The Swordsman of Double Flag Town (directed by He Ping)

Award Winners

Dendy Award for Australian Short Films (General):

Cat’s Cradle, directed by Cathy Vasseleu

Dendy Awards for Australian Short Films (Fiction):

Flitters, directed by Christopher Tuckfield

Dendy Awards for Australian Short Films (Documentary)

Maria, directed by Barbara Chobocky

Yoram Gross Animation Award:

Shelf Life, directed by Andrew Horne

Ethnic Affairs Commission (EAC) Award:

Maria, directed by Barbara Chobocky