/press release 2023

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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).”

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Congratulations to all!

The Sydney World Film Festival team would also like to thank Palace Cinemas and Tarkovski Agency for their amazing continued support.

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See you back next year!