54th Festival 2007

This year marked the first festival under Clare Stewart as Festival Director. Films screened included Susanne Bier’s After the Wedding, Sarah Polley’s Away From Her, Jonathan King’s Black Sheep, Guy Maddin’s Brand Upon the Brain!, John Carney’s Once, Satoshi Kon’s Paprika, Jeff Nichols’ Shotgun Stories, Anton Corbin’s Control and David Lynch’s Inland Empire.

A retrospective of the films of John Huston, including adaptations of Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon and Joyce’s The Dead, was held. There were revival and restoration screenings of the films of Norman McLaren, Sergei Loznitsa’s Blockade, Charles Bunrett’s Killer of Sheep and Gus van Sant’s debut feature Mala Noche.

Three films by Dutch filmmaker and festival guest Nanouki Leopold were shown. Screenings of contemporary Turkish and Brazilian cinema were also programmed. A series of films and forums on digital innovation in cinema included Animal Logic presenting a behind-the-scenes breakdown of their Academy Award-winning film Happy Feet.

The Ian McPherson lecture was delivered by Deepak Nayar.

Opening Night Film: La vie en rose (directed by Olivier Dahan)

Closing Night Film: Day Watch (directed by Timur Bekmambetov)

Award Winners

Dendy Award for Australian Short Films (Fiction):

Katoomba (directed by Leon Ford)

Dendy Award for Australian Short Films (Innovative):

Paper City Architects, directed by (Daniel Agdag)

Dendy Awards for Australian Short Films (Documentary):

2 Mums and a Dad (directed by Miranda Wills)

Yoram Gross Animation Award

Sweet and Sour, directed by Eddie White

Community Relations Commission (CRC) Award:

Checkpoint, directed by Ben Phelps

Rouben Mamoulian Award:

Belinda Mason, director of Growing Up and Going Home