48th Festival 2001

Fittingly, in the year 2001 a Stanley Kubrick documentary was screened at the festival, raising not only an amusing pun but also the importance of looking back at cinema. This year, perhaps more than most, had retrospective screenings that engaged with popular cinema of the past few decades, with the nostalgia for Satyajit Ray indulged with his masterful Apu trilogy, along with the films of Paul Schrader and select screenings of the Maysles brothers’ Gimme Shelter, Jim Sharman’s The Night, The Prowler, Harry O. Hoyt’s 1925 grand silent adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World and Ophül’s The Sorrow and the Pity.

In terms of contemporary cinema, the second year of the new millennium had a fantastic array of international cinema, including Julian Schnabel’s Before Night Falls, Park Chan-wook’s Joint Security Area, Edward Yang’s Yi Yi, Kenneth Lonergan’s You Can Count On Me and Kinji Fukasaku’s cult hit Battle Royale.

The Prix UIP, an award for the European film rated highest by the audience of the Contemporary World Cinema strand, was presented for the first time this year. Cathy Robinson also had her first year as Festival President in 2001.

The Ian McPherson lecture was delivered by Bob Connolly.

Opening Night Film: Lantana (directed by Ray Lawrence)

Closing Night Films: La Spagnola (directed by Steve Jacobs) and Everybody Famous! (directed by Dominique Deruddere)

Award Winners

Dendy Awards for Australian Short Films (General):

In Search of Mike, directed by Andrew Lancaster

Dendy Award for Australian Short Films (Fiction over 15 minutes):

Sparky D Comes to Town, directed by Maciek Wszelaki

Dendy Awards for Australian Short Films (Fiction under 15 minutes):

Bound, directed by Serhat Caradee

Dendy Award for Australian Short Films (Documentary):

The Secret Safari (directed by Tom Zubrycki)

Yoram Gross Animation Award:

Metal Army, directed by Antonio Artese

Community Relations Commission (CRC) Award:

The Last Pecheniuk, directed by Ness Alexandra

Rouben Mamoulian Award

Andrew Lancaster, director of In Search of Mike