The Sydney Film Festival wrapped up a memorable two weeks of international and Australian films this weekend with the presentation of the Dendy Awards for Australian Short Film, the Urban Cinefile Audience Awards, as well as the FIPRESCI Award for Best Documentary. The awards were followed by the slick closing night film Thanks for Not Smoking, starring Aaron Eckhart as spin doctor Nick Naylor who works for the Academy of Tobacco Studies. Spiked with black humour (Nick dines every week with the ...
With this his second (and last) Festival, Artistic Director Lynden Barber has again shown an astute ability to mix the provocative with the seductive, the challenging with the entertaining, giving patrons a snapshot of the concerns and amusements of filmmakers from around the world. Andrew L. Urban samples the menu.In a world troubled by violence, defeated by poverty, racked by intolerance and engulfed in conflict, it’s appropriate that a major film festival such as Sydney’s should gather fi...
The vibrancy of a film festival can be measured by a willingness to juxtapose films that confound thematic linkage, offering surprises and revelations in an ocean of film from around the world: this year’s program, Lynden Barber’s second as Artistic Director, suggests he is more interested in challenging us than placating us. He wants us to ‘go deeper’. Andrew L. Urban previews the 53rd Sydney Film Festival (June 9 – 25, 2006).With over 120 feature length films and more than 60 shorts ...
DISCOVERIES AND WINDOWS TO WORLD CINEMA PLEASE PATRONSDiscoveries at this year’s Sydney Film Festival included the Urban Cinefile Audience Award winning low budget Australian drama, Blacktown and as a window on world cinema, the program boasted the likes of the award winning drama Brothers (Denmark) and the animated short Journey to Mars (Argentina), plus Kontroll (Hungary), Moolaade (Senegal), Life Is A Miracle (Serbia) and Howl’s Moving Castle (Japan, Closing Night Film). But there was st...
URBAN CINEFILE AUDIENCE AWARDS, SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL 2005AUDIENCES PICK STRONG CINEMA A stirring, low budget Australian love drama, Blacktown, and a powerful Danish family drama, Brothers, have won the Urban Cinefile Audience Awards for Best Feature in the Sidebar Program and World Cinema respectively, concluding a strong Sydney Film Festival, in which Mad Hot Ballroom from the US was the undisputed favourite of the docos, winning in both sections, after screening at both the State Theatre and a...
Sydney Film Festival launches new Audience Awards with Urban Cinefile52nd SFF, June 10 – 25, 2005: Sydney Film Festival President Cathy Robinson has welcomed the establishment of the Sydney Film Festival Urban Cinefile Audience Awards - a new awards program that will further enhance the profile of Australia’s premiere film event internationally. The Urban Cinefile Audience Awards comprises six categories across the two main Festival streams – World Cinema and the Sidebar Programs.“The Ur...
