Award-winners announced at Durban International Film Festival

The 33rd edition of the Durban International Film Festival, with principal funding from the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund,  this evening (Saturday, July 28) announced its award-winners, prior to the closing film. Winner of the Best Feature Film award, Love (Amour) was applauded by the International Jury as “unmissable”, and the film’s director Michael Haneke, as a “contemporary master with an astute understanding of his cinematic world”. The Best Feature Film award carries a cash prize of R50 000.

The international Jury which comprised Zimbabwean filmmaker and novelist Tsitsi Dangarembga, hot South African director Oliver Hermanus, producer and television presenter Kgomotso Matsunyane, and Canadian producer, director Peter Wintonick also awarded the Best First Feature Film prize ( R20 000) to Australian Julia Leigh for Sleeping Beauty (Australia).

Animation Film wins best SA prize

Receiving a cash prize of R30 000, the Best South African Feature Film was awarded to Adventures in Zambezia (South Africa), directed by Wayne Thornley. Of the large number of South African films screened this year, the jury’s unanimous voice lauded this film as one with “strong writing and direction, and beautiful animation infused with the spirit of the continent…” and one that “tells an African story from an African perspective while having clear global appeal”.

The Amnesty International Durban Human Rights Award, with a prize of € 2,500, went to Malika Zouhali-Worral and Katherine Fairfax Wright’s film Call Me Kuchu which focuses on attacks on gay  people in Uganda.

The full list of awards is: 

Best Film: Love (Amour) (France, Austria, Germany), directed by Michael Haneke

Best South African Feature Film: Adventures in Zambezia (South Africa), directed by Wayne Thornley

Best First Feature Film: Sleeping Beauty (Australia), directed by Julia Leigh

Best Director: Benh Zeitlin for Beasts Of The Southern Wild (USA)

Best Actress: Deanie Ip in A Simple Life (Tao Jie) (Hong Kong SAR China)

Best Actor: Joseph Wairimu in Nairobi Half Life (Kenya, Germany)

Best Cinematography: Gökhan Tiryaki for Once Upon A Time In Anatolia (Bir Zamanlar Anadolu’da) (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey)

Best Screenplay: Ercan Kesal, Ercan Ceylan and Nuri Bilge Ceylan for Once Upon A Time In Anatolia (Bir Zamanlar Anadolu’da) (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey)

Special Jury Mention Feature Film: Goodbye (Be Omid E Didar) (Iran), directed by Mohammad Rasoulof

Best Documentary: 5 Broken Cameras (Palestinian Territories, France, Israel, The Netherlands), directed by Guy Davidi

Best South African Documentary: The African Cypher (South Africa), directed by Bryan Little

Documentary Special Jury Mention: Calvet (Costa Rica, France, Nicaragua, United Kingdom, United States), directed by Dominic Allan

Best Short Film: The Bird Spider (La Migala) (Spain), directed by Jaime Dezcallar

Best South African Short Film: Doppelganger (South Africa), directed by Joshua Rous

Amnesty International Durban Human Rights Award: Call Me Kuchu (USA), directed by Malika Zouhali-Worral and Katherine Fairfax Wright

DIFF Wavescape Audience Choice Award: The Art of Flight (USA), directed by Curt Morgan

DIFF Documentary Audience Choice Award: Searching for Sugarman (Sweden, United Kingdom), directed by Malik Bendjellou

DIFF Feature Film Audience Choice Award: The Lady (France, United Kingdom), directed by Luc Besson

Sunday is the last day of screenings with film screenings at Suncoast Cinema, Ster Kinekor Musgrave, Cinema Nouveau Gateway, Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre (University of KwaZulu-Natal), Ekhaya Multi-Arts Centre (Kwa-Mashu), and the Blue Waters Hotel.

The 33rd Durban International Film Festival is organised by the Centre For Creative Arts (University of KwaZulu-Natal) with support by the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund (principal funder), National Film and Video Foundation, KwaZulu-Natal Department of Economic Development and Tourism, HIVOS, City of Durban, German Embassy in South Africa, Goethe Institut of South Africa, French Season in South Africa, and a range of other valued partners.