55th Festival 2008

The SFF took a step forward on the world film festival stage this year with the introduction of the Official Competition, with the winning film to be awarded the Sydney Film Prize and a cash prize of $60,000 – the largest film award in Australia to this date. The inaugural Official Competition entrants were as follows: Mike Leigh’s Happy-Go-Lucky, Carlos Reygadas’ Silent Light, Antonello Grimaldi’s Quiet Chaos, Vincent Ward’s Rain of the Children, Steve McQueen’s Hunger, Matthew Newton’s Three Blind Mice, Guy Maddin’s My Winnipeg, Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Tokyo Sonata, Fernando Eimbcke’s Lake Tahoe, Kimberly Peirce’s Stop-Loss, Martin McDonagh’s In Bruges and Nash Edgerton’s The Square.

There was a special gala premiere of Kung Fu Panda, from Dreamworks Animation. There were also programs focusing on new Mexican and Chinese cinema, a silent-film presentation of A Page of Madness, a series of current American films concerning war and another three-film series, this time from Carlos Reygadas. A retrospective of films starring Deborah Kerr was also screened.

The Ian McPherson lecture was delivered by Bob Pisano.

Opening Night Film: Happy-Go-Lucky (dir. Mike Leigh)

Closing Night Film: Persepolis (dir. Vincent Paronnaud, Marjane Satrapi)

Award Winners

Sydney Film Prize:

Hunger, directed by Steve McQueen

Dendy Award for Australian Short Films (Fiction):

Ali and the Ball, directed by Alex Holmes

Dendy Award for Australian Short Films (Documentary):

Rare Chicken Rescue, directed by Randall Wood

Dendy Awards for Australian Short Films (Innovative):

Ephemeral, directed by Tony Radevski and Jongsu Oh

Yoram Gross Animation Award:

Mutt, directed by Glen Hunwick

Community Relations Commission (CRC) Award:

296 Smith Street, directed by John Evagora

Rouben Mamoulian Award

Sean Kruck, director of Summer Breaks