/previous editions/2023
/press release 2023
Sydney World Film Festival Award Winners Of Fourteenth Edition Announced:
Sydney, 5 June 2023 - Yesterday marked the closing night of another great and well-attended edition of the Sydney World Film Festival. We'd like to thank all of our guests for coming out and enjoying four evenings of independent international and local cinema, hosted by film industry veteran John Samaha. The official selection featured 42 wonderful independent films, carefully selected out of over fifteen hundred submissions from all over the world. (This year's new online section, the OFF ON Selection, remains available for streaming until 11 June, more info on the website: www.sydneyfilmfest.com)
We are pleased to share with you today the 2023 Sydney World Film Festival award winners, chosen by the jury panel:
Best Narrative Feature Film: A PERFECT DAY FOR CARIBOU (USA) BY JEFF RUTHERFORD. “An estranged father and son named Herman and Nate spend a perilous day together in the high desert looking for family and stumbling through their heartaches”
Best Narrative Short Film: DISUSED (SWEDEN) BY SUSANNE WALSTRÖM, ESTER HOLMÉN. “A young woman suffers a sudden loss. Isolated from the outside world in a barren desert landscape, she processes her experience to understand and accept her feelings.”
Best Documentary Feature Film: SILENT BEAUTY (USA) BY JASMIN MARA LÓPEZ. “A personal documentary that follows the director as she works to heal from child sexual abuse she endured at the hands of her grandfather almost thirty years ago. In the process of sharing her own trauma with her large family, Jasmin learns that generations of children in her family were victims of the same abuse. A film about confronting and accepting difficult truths while finding beauty in the process.”
Best Documentary Short Film: THE PLEASURE IN PAIN (UK) BY CURTIS BLAIR. “An arthouse documentary short following key figures of the London kink scene on an exploration into BDSM and the notorious fetish event Klub Verboten. The film touches upon themes of psychology, neurodiversity, trauma, LGBTQ+ rights and black representation.”
Best Animated Film: SECANT (USA) BY TIMOTHY DAVID ORME. “Animated music video for Lanier Sammons.”
Best Experimental Film: THE DREAM MACHINE (FRANCE) BY MICHAEL WILLIAM WEST. “A woman experiments with a Dream Machine, hoping to escape trouble. Within the light and dark of the machine, violent emotions awaken.”
Best Music Video: UTE (POLAND) BY MACIEJ PISAREK. “Desert, voices, mystery... Music video from a debut, independent album "Now The Grass Grows Through My Skin" by Anchey.”
Best Super Short Film: TO DO (UK) BY SAUL PANKHURST. “A reflection on the Self Improvement Industry, explored through the filmmaker’s attempts to participate in a guided pseudo-mindfulness exercise.”
Best Australian Film: AMISSA ANIMA (AUSTRALIA) BY TATIANA DOROSHENKO. “Four boys survive on the seedy night streets of St Kilda’s red-light district in Australia in the 1980’s (based on true events).”
Congratulations to all!
The Sydney World Film Festival team would also like to thank Palace Cinemas and Tarkovski Agency for their amazing continued support.
See you back next year!
/official selection 2023
Return (Germany) by Ghiath Al Mhitawi
The Call (USA) by Ryan Jafri
Pillars of Salt (Singapore) by Hilman Haris Hor
Amissa Anima (Australia) by Tatiana Doroshenko
No New Wave (Singapore) by Ziwei Yao
Demon de Laplace (USA) by Yuan Lingxi
Window (Sweden) by Sara Kadefors
I Love You Don't Leave Me (USA) by Alex Leombruno
To Do (UK) by Saul Pankhurst
Before the Earthquake (Sweden) by Gustav Hugo Olsson
There's a Bison on The Prairie (USA) by Morgan Miller
Being Harley (Australia) by Amahlia Day
Suburbia Blue (Australia) by Ben O'Sullivan
Where do we go from here (Italy) by Antonello Schioppa
Silent Beauty (USA) by Jasmin Mara López
Us (Portugal) by Nelson Fernandes
Heat Wave Hallucination (USA) by Jil Guyon
The Dream Machine (France) by Michael William West
Time Capsule (USA) by Lauren Loesberg
A Journey with a Hope (UK) by Amelie Truffert, Paul Drawbridge
Shinrin Yoku (Australia) by
Family entertainment (Sweden) by Johanna Ställberg
The Shell (Bosnia and Herzegovina) by Marko Lončarević
Generation (UK) by Riccardo Fusetti
The Pleasure in Pain (UK) by Curtis Blair
Just Listen to the Storm (France) by Hannah Papacek Harper
Ute (Poland) by Maciej Pisarek
Retardation (Sweden) by Nils Agdler
Batuan: Interactive (USA) by Robert Lemelson
101 Days of Lockdown (Australia) by Jelena Sinik
Moscow State Circus (USA) by Joshua Van Horn
Keratin (UK) by Charles Jimenez, Scarlett Wang, Catarina Dias Silva, Stella Rosenkvist, Isobel O Gorman
A Fugue (UK) by Charles Jimenez
Candle (UK) by Charles Jimenez
Holestepper (Peru) by Sergio Fernández Muñoz
Disused (Sweden) by Susanne Walström, Ester Holmén
LCAW - Heart Of Glass (Germany) by Nathan Ceddia
secant (Not Specified) by
The Extra's Journey (Taiwan) by Hsin-Yu WU
Bailey's Beads (USA) by Johnny Clyde
A Perfect Day for Caribou (USA) by Jeff Rutherford
Atmospheric Marginalia (USA) by Adam E. Stone