The 2018 Sydney Film Festival winners were announced at the Closing Night ceremony on Sun 17 June at the State Theatre.
The 65th Sydney Film Festival tonight awarded The Heiresses, the debut feature of Paraguayan filmmaker Marcelo Martinessi, the prestigious Sydney Film Prize, out of a selection of 12 Official Competition films.
All Sydney Film Festival Award winners are presented with the Festival’s signature mesmeric swirl award, designed and hand-made in Sydney by our partners Louise Olsen and Stephen Ormandy of Dinosaur Designs.
Congratulations to the winners of the Audience Awards – Features:
1. The Insult
2. Searching
3. Rafiki
4. An Elephant Sitting Still
5. Ága / Leave No Trace
Congratulations to the winners of the Audience Awards for Docuemntaries:
1. Backtrack Boys
2. Teach a Man to Fish
3. I Used to Be Normal: A Boyband Fangirl Story
4. Oyster
5. Jill Bilcock: Dancing the Invisible
Sydney Film Festival Official Competition
The Heiresses was the 2018 winner of the year's best international films competed for the $60,000 cash Sydney Film Prize, awarded by an industry jury to 2018's most 'audacious, cutting-edge and courageous' film.
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Lexus Australia Short Film Fellowship, Presented By Sydney Film Festival
In 2018, 20 emerging filmmakers competed for the largest cash fellowship for short film in Australia. An industry jury selects up to four filmmakers – the winning four Fellows receive a $50,000 grant to complete their project.
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Documentary Australia Foundation Award for Australian Documentary
Ghosthunter is the winner of the 2018 Documentary Australia Foundation Award. Up to 10 new Australian films competed for a $10,000 cash prize acknowledging excellence in documentary production, supported by the Documentary Australia Foundation.
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The Sydney-UNESCO City of Film Award
Warwick Thornton was awarded the Sydney-UNESCO City Award from Create NSW. He received a $10,000 cash prize for a trailblazing NSW-based screen practitioner whose work stands for innovation, imagination and high impact.
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Dendy Awards for Australian Short Films
In 2018, The Dendy Awards for Australian Short Films saw the $7000 cash prize for the Dendy Live Action Short Award going to Second Best, directed by Alyssa McClelland. Tom Noakes’ Nursery Rhymes took out the $7000 Rouben Mamoulian Award for Best Director, with Special Mention going to Alison James’ Judas Collar. The $5000 Yoram Gross Animation Award went to Andrew Goldsmith and Bradley Slabe’s Lost and Found , with Larissa Behrendt’s Barbara receiving a Special Mention.
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Event Cinemas Australian Short Screenplay Award
The Event Cinemas Australian Short Screenplay Award, a $5,000 prize for the best short screenwriting, was awarded to Indigenous screenwriter Tyson Mowarin of Undiscovered Country.