GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE CELEBRATED IN WINNER’S ROSTER AT SYDNEY SCIENCE FICTION FILM FESTIVAL AWARDS NIGHT

Beniamino Cantena’s debut feature VERA DE VERDAD and hometown favourite Jonathan Adam’s charming short DAILY DRIVER have taken Best Film honours in their respective categories in The 2021 Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival, held Sunday at the Actors Centre Australia.

The films led an eclectic roster of winners selected from the 21 features and 78 short films made eligible as part of the festival's first ever foray into ‘hybrid programming’. The 4-day live event wrapped Sunday 14th, while the online program will run via the Xerb streaming platform until Thursday 25th.  

An Italian/Chilean co-production that comes to Sydney via festival placements in Torino, Trieste, Brussels and Chuncheon, Vera De Verdad tells a deeply moving story of soul transference and shared destiny and stars Marcelo Alonso and Maria Gastini, both nominated in their respective lead acting categories. (Pictured, right: Vera de Verdad director, Beniamino Cantena) 

The Best Film category is named in honour of the late production designer Ron Cobb, whose conceptual artistry is central to the iconic status of such works as Star Wars, Conan the Barbarian, Alien, Aliens, The Abyss, Total Recall and the TV series Firefly. Cobb married an Australian woman and lived in Sydney from the 1970s until his passing in September, 2020.    

Other feature film winners included Ben Tedesco, crowned Best Actor for his self-directed performance in the lockdown time-loop drama NO TOMORROW; Peruvian actress Haydeé Cáceres for her wordless but wondrous lead turn in Aldo Salvini’s MOON HEART; and, exciting multi-hyphenate Carlson Young for her unique vision as director of the festival’s Opening Night film, THE BLAZING WORLD (pictured, left).

Also in contention for Director and Actor trophies, Daily Driver took top short film honours but ceded other categories to U.K. filmmaker Ryan Andrews (Best Director for HIRAETH) and French leading man Denis Hubleur (Best Actor for CAUSA SUI). Melbourne-based Jessica Tanner earned Best Actress for her blistering turn as the shell-shocked victim of cyclical domestic abuse in Andrew Jaksch’s controversy-courting drama TODAY.

The Audience Award winners were Eddie Arya’s RISEN, an ambitious alien invasion epic that filmed in Sydney and Canada over a four year period, and Spanish effects master Jorge Corpi’s CGI short-film thrill-ride, ELLIPSIS.

The 2021 Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival ‘Virtual Festival Experience’ will continue until November 25 here: https://xerb.tv/channel/sydneysciencefictionfilmfestival/virtual-events

The full list of award nominees and winners are:              

BEST ACTOR in a SHORT FILM

• Ryan Shrime, ORBITAL CHRISTMAS
• (WINNER) Denis Hubleur, CAUSA SUI
• Eric Whitten, PRISONER #1616
• David Lee Huynh, SOLITARY
• Andrew Scott, COGNITION
• Callum McManis, DAILY DRIVER

BEST ACTRESS SHORT FILM

• Akiva Pacey, GIRL ON THE MOON
• Liz Cha, MARY’S ROOM
• (WINNER) Jessica Tanner, TODAY
• Olivia Ross, HIRAETH
• Irene Fernández, FAITH
• Lauren Grimson, MAYA

BEST ACTOR FEATURE FILM

• Marcelo Alonso, VERA DE VERDAD
• Tony Brockman, A GUIDE TO DATING AT THE END OF THE WORLD
• (WINNER) Ben Tedesco, NO TOMORROW
• Richard Rennie, CLAW
• Tom England, REPEAT
• Wang Ziyi, ANNULAR ECLIPSE

BEST ACTRESS FEATURE FILM

• Kerith Atkinson,  A GUIDE TO DATING AT THE END OF THE WORLD
• Chynna Walker, CLAW
• Carlson Young, THE BLAZING WORLD
• Lois Temel, LIGHTSHIPS
• (WINNER) Haydeé Cáceres, MOON HEART
• Marta Gastini, VERA DE VERDAD

BEST DIRECTOR SHORT FILM

• Camille Hollet-French, FREYA
• Jonathan Adams, DAILY DRIVER
• Carol Butrón, FAITH
• (WINNER) Ryan Andrews, HIRAETH
• Andrew Jaksch, TODAY
• Oliver Crawford, EVOLUTIONARY 

BEST DIRECTOR FEATURE FILM

• Kelsey Egan, GLASSHOUSE
• Aldo Salvini, MOON HEART
• Eddie Arya, RISEN
• Zhang Chi, ANNULAR ECLIPSE
• (WINNER) Carlson Young, THE BLAZING WORLD
• Beniamino Catena, VERA DE VERDAD 

BEST SHORT FILM

• MAYA
• (WINNER) DAILY DRIVER (Producers: Jonathan Adams, Andrew Boland)
• HIRAETH
• FREYA
• REMOTE VIEWING
• EINSTEIN TELESCOPE 

THE RON COBB AWARD - BEST FEATURE FILM

• (WINNER) VERA DE VERDAD
• MOON HEART
• RISEN
• ANNULAR ECLIPSE
• GLASSHOUSE
• THE BLAZING WORLD  

AUDIENCE AWARD

• Feature Film - RISEN (Producer: Eddie Arya)
• Short Film - ELLIPSIS (Producer: Jorge Corpi)

HORROR HONOURED AMONGST CANNES 2021 WINNERS LIST

The twisted psychology and skewed world view of the serial killer is central to two of the top award winners at the 2021 Festival de Cannes. Julia Ducornau’s Titane, a nightmarish study of a killer impregnated by a car, won the coveted Palme d’Or, with Caleb Landry’s portrayal of Australia’s worst mass murderer in Justin Kurzel’s Nitram earning the Best Actor trophy.

Photo credit: Valerie Hache / AFP

"There is so much beauty and emotion to be found in what cannot be pigeonholed,” said Ducornau, who exploded onto the horror scene in 2016 with her cannibal thriller, Raw. Her latest exploration of body-horror themes and aesthetics has stunned critics on the Croisette. “Thank you to the Jury for calling for more diversity in our film experiences and in our lives,” the French director said, upon receiving her award from actress Sharon Stone, “And thank you to the Jury for letting the monsters in.”

Caleb Landry was not quite so outspoken in accepting his award, presented to him by French actress Adèle Exarchopoulos. Citing nerves and a genuine fear he would have thrown-up if he had tried to speak, he gave no podium speech. (Pictured, right; credit - Christophe Simon / AFP)

Other major winners were Best Director Leos Carax, for the rock-opera romance Annette; Best Actress Renate Reinsve, for Joachim Trier’s stirring drama The Worst Person in the World; and, Best Screenplay recipient Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, for Drive My Car.  

It would appear that Jury members steadfastly refused to compromise their opinions with two tied awards announced - the Grand Prix was shared between Asghar Farhadi’s A Hero and Juho Kuosmanen’s Compartment No. 6, while Nadav Lapid Ahed’s Knee and Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Memoria tag-teamed the Jury Prize. (Pictured, left; Julia Ducorna and Sharon Stone; credit - Andreas Rentz / Getty Images)  

Wrapping up a vibrant 12-day event that succeeded in recapturing the starpower and spontaneity of great festivals of the past, competition jury head Spike Lee fluffed his duties but couldn’t spoil last night’s award ceremony. Lee inadvertently read out the Palme d’Or winner at the start of the evening and not the end, meaning Ducornau sat wriggling with glee in her seat for the duration of the event, waiting to collect her award.

Best Actress winner Renate Reinsvem, with Lee-Byung-Hun (credit - Andreas Rentz / Getty Images) 

The full list of 2021 Festival de Cannes winners:

COMPETITION
Palme d’Or: TITANE
Grand Prix — TIE: Asghar Farhadi, A HERO AND Juho Kuosmanen’s COMPARTMENT No. 6
Director: Leos Carax, ANNETTE
Actor: Caleb Landry Jones, NITRAM
Actress:  Renate Reinsve, THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD
Jury Prize — TIE: Nadav Lapid AHED'S KNEE and Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s MEMORIA
Screenplay: Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, DRIVE MY CAR

OTHER PRIZES
Camera d’Or: MURINA, Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović
Short Films Palme d’Or: ALL THE CROWS IN THE WORLD, Tang Yi
Short Films Special Mention: AUGUST SKY, Jasmin Tenucci
Golden Eye Documentary Prize: A NIGHT OF KNOWING NOTHING, Payal Kapadia
Ecumenical Jury Prize: DRIVE MY CAR, Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Queer Palm: THE DIVIDE, Catherine Corsini

UN CERTAIN REGARD
Un Certain Regard Award: UNCLENCHING THE FIST, Kira Kovalenko
Jury Prize: GREAT FREEDOM, Sebastian Meise
Prize for Ensemble Performance: BONNE MERE, Hafsia Herzi
Prize for Courage: LA CIVIL, Teodora Ana Mihai
Prize for Originality: LAMB, Valdimar Johannsson
Special Mention: PRAYERS FOR THE STOLEN, Tatiana Huezo

DIRECTORS’ FORTNIGHT
Europa Cinemas Label: A CHIARA, Jonas Carpignano
Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers Prize: MAGNETIC BEATS, Vincent Maël Cardona

CRITICS’ WEEK
Nespresso Grand Prize: FEATHERS, Omar El Zohairy
Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers Prize: Elie Grappe and Raphaëlle Desplechin, OLGA
GAN Foundation Award for Distribution: Elie Grappe and Raphaëlle Desplechin, ZERO FUCKS GIVEN
Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award: Sandra Melissa Torres, AMPARO

CINÉFONDATION
First Prize: THE SALAMANDER CHILD, Theo Degen
Second Prize: SALAMANDER, Yoon Daewoon
Third Prize — TIE:LOVE STORIES ON THE MOVE, Carina-Gabriela Dasoveanu and CANTAREIRA, Rodrigo Ribeyro

PREVIEW: 2021 FANTASTIC FILM FESTIVAL AUSTRALIA

The 2021 Fantastic Film Festival Australia (FFFA) promises a second round of extraordinary real-life horror stories, paradigm-shifting film realities and surrealistic studies of society’s fringe-dwellers inhabiting the 21-film strong roster. The new line-up of the world’s most daring works from filmmakers with innovative and unique perspectives will screen from April 16 to May 1, exclusively to the Lido Cinemas in Hawthorn, Victoria and the Ritz Cinema, Randwick in New South Wales.

“Genre cinema has an unmatched ability to conjure up a truth that is raw and gets under our skin,” said Fantastic Film Festival Artistic Director Hudson Sowada, via press release. “Having leaped into 2021 with a sense of hope, we should look to those on the fringes to take risks and help us question reality.” 

Hot off a Sundance premiere is the Opening Night film, Prisoners of the Ghostland, the some-would-say inevitable pairing of two cinematic renegades - Japanese auteur Sion Sono, cult-thespian Nicolas Cage (pictured, right), with enigmatic starlet Sofia Boutella (The Mummy; Climax) also in the mix. This giddy ‘acid-Western’, set in a fantastical fictional city that is half Westworld/half Tokyo Disney, follows Cage’s shotgun-toting outlaw on a rescue mission through a post-apocalyptic world.

Sono is one of several Asian genre filmmakers being celebrated with a program placement in the FFFA 2021 line-up. Korean writer-director Kim Yon-hoon’s neo-noir Beasts Clawing at Straws follows a group of cash-strapped people and a bag full of money, and Get the Hell Out (pictured, top) is a manic zombie movie about braindead politics from Taiwanese auteur I-Fan Wang.

Closing the Festival is the shocking and boundary-pushing Mother Schmuckers, from directors Lenny and Harpo Guit. Set on the lawless streets of late-night Brussels, this odyssey of the absurd conveys the existential angst of two dim-witted brothers whose quest to find their mother’s beloved dog leads them into a reality like no other.

Matters of the heart are explored in three deeply unconventional love stories. In Ben Hozie’s PVT Chat, a gambler becomes obsessed with his favourite cam girl (Uncut Gems’ Julia Fox; pictured, right), blurring the line between customer and client; a reclusive and deeply repressed man hatches the perfect plan to win the heart of his new tenant in Parish Malfitano’s Aussie-noir indie, Bloodshot Heart; and, the very real condition objectophilia is explored in Zoé Wittock’s Jumbo, the fable-like story of an amusement park worker (Portrait of a Lady on Fire’s Noémie Merlant) entering an erotic relationship with a merry-go-round.

Non-fiction films exploring the more fantastic elements of our world are also premiering at FFFA. The latest from the complex creativity of director Rodney Ascher (Room 237; The Nightmare) is A Glitch in the Matrix, a dissection of the 21st century’s greatest existential fear - are we living in a simulation?. And Miles Hargrove’s Miracle Fishing: Kidnapped Abroad chronicles the gruelling process of rescuing his father from a Colombian drug cartel holding him ransom for six million dollars.

A highlight of the festival will be a rare screening of Elem Klimov’s gruelling 1985 Russian war epic Come and See, presented as a 2K digital restoration. A crushing, ruthless depiction of the potential of human evil, Come and See (pictured, right) is an anti-war film reimagining the events of 1943, when the Nazis entered Belarus, as experienced through the eyes of a naïve boy. 

Special festival events including a carefully curated program of 16mm films from the 60s, 70s, and 80s in titled Analogue Orgy (Lido Cinemas only) and a staging of Dungeons & Dragons, in which fans can craft their own fantastic adventure with the help of Sydney and Melbourne’s most experienced Dungeon Masters.

FANTASTIC FILM FESTIVAL AUSTRALIA will run Friday, 16 April – Saturday, 1 May at the   Lido Cinemas, Hawthorn and Friday, 16 April – Friday, 30 April at the Ritz Cinema, Randwick. Ticket and session details can be found at the event’s Official Website.

PREVIEW: 2021 OCEAN FILM FESTIVAL

Fueled by the ongoing crusade for environmental respect and a passion for outdoor living, the Ocean Film Festival resurfaces in 2021 with arguably the finest collection of films in its 8 year history. Under Festival Director Jemima Robinson, the driven and focussed festival team annually compile a collection of shorts that capture the magnitude, fragility and spectacle of our planet’s waterways and the co-habitants that share in its life-giving qualities.

The Australian leg of the global film event launches February 24, appropriately on the north-eastern seaside mecca, The Gold Coast, before rolling out across the nation. The enthralling collection of ocean-themed short films will guide its loyal patrons through a free-diving expedition in the Coral Sea, a sailing adventure north to Alaska, exploration of remote Russian Islands and a surfing odyssey in Spain, to name a few of the 2021 highlights.

This year’s program includes:

RACE TO ALASKA: An annual race from Port Townsend, Washington up the Inside Passage to Ketchikan, Alaska, Race to Alaska chronicles the competition over a five year period. Highlights include the camaraderie of the racers, the ingenuity of the vessels and the hardships all must endure if they want to be the one to take home the $10,000 first place prize at the end (pictured, above).

FROM KURILS WITH LOVE: An expedition to the remote Kuril Islands (a volcanic archipelago between Hokkaido, Japan, and Kamchatka, Russia) thrillingly documents the islands’ supreme beauty. Dr. Vladimir Burkanov is the world’s expert on the Kuril Island’s and true warrior for the planet; this film takes you on an intimate journey of visual bliss, sea lion chaos and hope for a greater conservation effort (pictured, above).

CHANGING TIDES: Lucy Graham and Mathilde Gordon had never completed a multi-day kayaking journey before undertaking a 2042km journey down the coast of Alaska and Canada, raising awareness of marine plastic pollution. This film showcases a deep love and respect for adventure, the ocean and their friendship (pictured, above).

REBIRTH: Surfing isn’t just about the barrels and the airs, it’s about the art of riding waves and the foundations of learning, perseverance and struggle to get to where we want to be. Benoit, a surfer from the Basque country, fights for his love of riding waves after losing an arm, determined to adapt both physically and mentally (pictured, above).

MATADOR: When you combine a professional skim-boarder, a bunch of swell-chasers, underwater and aerial shots and a killer soundtrack and you've got the hair-raising, pulse-pounding, "gotta-see-it-to-believe-it" film that is Matador (pictured, above).

 

ME AND THE SEA: A short study into freediving – the breathwork, the technique, the adventure, the reward. As a novice freediver, Fransizka discovers a freedom deep below sea level she’d never before experienced (pictured, above).

VOICE ABOVE WATER: Wayan Nyo is a 90 year old fisherman whose livelihood is threatened due to the amount of plastic piling up in the ocean. In a change of pace, Wayan decides to use his fishing boat and net to pull rubbish from the water in the hopes of being able to fish again (pictured, above).

For all ticketing and session information regarding the 2021 OCEAN FILM FESTIVAL, visit the event’s Official Website.

OUR FIVE FAVOURITE SHORTS FROM NOHO CINEFEST 2020

Like many of the world’s leading film festivals, the 2020 North Hollywood ‘NoHo’ Cinefest was bumped from its home at the Laemmle NoHo 7 theaters in April when COVID-19 took hold. Determined not to let their cinephile fanbase down, the festival organisers have reworked the event into a virtual edition, offering 14 features and a whopping 102 shorts for holders of an All-Access pass (the festival season's best buy at US$39.00).

With three days left of NoHo CineFest, SCREEN-SPACE are offering a ‘starter plate’ of five superb short films for lovers of seriously fine cinema (and of the features, make time for Jacob Burn’s sci-fi shocker Shifter and Dan Asma’s bighearted doco Cinematographer…)

MALOU (Dir: Adi Wojaczek; Cast - Romina Küper, Veronica Ferres, Charles Rettinghaus, Matilda Herzog; Germany, 15 mins) From the Program: The young dancer Malou is irresistibly fighting for her dream of a career on the big stage. After years of struggle and rejection, she suddenly receives her once-in-a-lifetime chance - leading up to an unexpected reveal.
I’m watching this, why? Frankly, we saw the ending coming, but that in no way lessened the wrenching emotion of Adi Wojaczek’s beautifully rendered dance drama. In 15 short minutes, the wonderful Romina Küper (pictured, right) generates enough investment in the title character’s plight, the end of the film feels very much like the beginning of a wonderful story.

THE MARK OF THE BANSHEE (Dirs: Nicol Eilers; Cast - Chloë Caro, Maddy Rathbun, Pina Sbrocca, Melissa Wiehl; U.S.A., 14 mins ) From the Program: A single mother struggles to defend her pregnant teenage daughter from the ancestral curse of a Banshee who's come back to claim her.
I’m watching this, why? The contemporising of ages-old demonic lore by placing it in the context of a modern ‘teen pregnancy’ narrative (helped immeasurably by lead performers Chloë Caro and Maddy Rathbun). Oh, and it’s bloody scary! There’s a certain Raimi-esque quality to the screeching she-demon that conjures legit chills.  

WOMXN (Dirs: Tara Lynn Rye, Magen Ashley Young; Cast - Tara Lynn Rye, Nzinga Moore, Jenalyn Culhane; U.S.A., 4 mins) From the Program: Womxn is a powerful visual poem about sexual assault. 28 women of all different backgrounds gathered to perform the same text. Not only does this piece bring awareness to the staggering frequency of sexual assault against women, it explores why so many of us remain silent. Womxn illustrates how together we can begin to heal one another with our voices.
I’m watching this, why? It is as potent a declaration of unity and strength as you are likely to see on any 2020 screen, big or small. In stark black-&-white, directly to camera, the participants lay bare the pain and sorrow of sexual violence, but also the defiance and will to recover and fight it has stirred in them. A remarkable statement. 

ANACRONTE (Dirs: Raúl Koler, Emiliano Sette; Argentina | Mexico, 15 mins) From the Program: Anacronte and the Sorcerers of Evil, without any emotion and fulfilling their destiny, put to the test humanity's happiness in a struggle that, in short, has each of us as winners and losers.
I’m watching this, why? The passage of the human soul through a vast netherworld dictated by the random impact of fate is brought to stunning life in this animated masterpiece. Riffing on how our spirit can often overcome real world pain by unshakeable faith in one’s own will to survive, co-directors Raúl Koler and Emiliano Sette have crafted a vision of the afterlife as breathtakingly captivating as Vincent Ward’s similarly-themed 1998 feature, What Dreams May Come.  

MANHUNT (Dir: Jack Martin; Cast - Casey Lynn, Derek Russo, Stasha Surdyk; U.S.A., 9 mins) From the Program: In the middle of the night, a dangerous fugitive on the run seeks shelter just as an adventurous young girl breaks out of her bedroom. Their two worlds collide.
I’m watching this, why? Superb production values and visual style, the likes of which announce Jack Martin as a young director ready for feature-length genre work. But also a terrific lead performance by Casey Lynn, whose chemistry with tough guy Derek Russo and character arc through such stages as fear, compassion and understanding mark her as an actor to watch.

NOHO CINEFEST 2020 began its current season on December 4 and runs to December 12. To purchase tickets to all online sessions go to the Official Website.