The 39th Durban International Film Festival
held its awards ceremony on Saturday (July 28, 2018) at Suncoast CineCentre on
as filmmakers and film-lovers gathered to watch the official closing film Rafiki, directed by Wanuri Kahiu.
A total of 17 awards were given out at the ceremony:
(“The
Reports on Sarah and Saleem” - Best Feature Film)
Best Feature Film: The Reports on Sarah and Saleem, directed by Muayad Alayan, and
produced by Muayad Alayan, Rami Alayan, Hans de Wolf, Hanneke Niens, Rebekka
Garrido, Rodrigo Iturralde, Georgina Gonzalez, and Alejandro Duran. The award
is accompanied by a cash prize of R50,000.
Best South African Feature Film: High Fantasy, directed by Jenna Bass and
produced by David Horler and Steven Markovitz. The film received a cash prize
of R25,000.
Best Documentary: New Moon, produced and directed by Philippa Ndisi-Hermann. The film
received a cash prize of R25,000.
(“Sisters
of the Wilderness” - Best South African Documentary)
Best South African Documentary: Sisters of the Wilderness, directed by
Karin Slater and produced by Ronit Shapiro. The award is accompanied by a cash
prize of R25,000.
Best Direction: Constantin Popescu for Pororoca
Best Cinematography: Liviu Marghidan for Pororoca
Best Screenplay: Jennifer Fox for The Tale
Best Actor: Bogdan Dumitrache for his role
as Tudor in Pororoca, directed by
Constantin Popescu
Best Actress: Maisa Abd Elhadi for her role
as Bisan in The Reports on Sarah and
Saleem
Best Editing: Anne Fabini, Alex Hall and
Gary Level for The Tale
Artistic Bravery: was won jointly by High Fantasy, directed by Jenna Bass and
Supa Modo directed by Likarion Wainaina.
Best South African Short Film: Stillborn, directed by Jahmil X T Qubeka
and produced by Huanxi Media Group, Xstream Pictures, and Yellowbone
Entertainment. The film received a cash prize of R20,000 sponsored by the
Gauteng Film Commission.
(“Aya”
- Best African Short Film)
Best African Short Film: Aya, directed by Moufida Fedhila and
produced by Appel d’Air Films. The film also received a cash prize of R20,000
sponsored by the Gauteng Film Commission.
Best Short Film: -The Patience of Water (La Paciencia Del Agua), directed by Guillem
Almirall. The film received a cash prize of R20,000 from the Gauteng Film
Commission.
Audience Choice Award: The State Against Mandela and the Others, directed by Nicolas
Champeaux and Gilles Porte, which received a cash prize of R25,000.
Amnesty International Durban Human Rights
Award: Silas, directed by Anjali
Nayar and Hawa Essuman and produced by Appian Way, Big World Cinema and Ink
& Pepper Productions.
Best Wavescape Film: Heavy Water, directed by Michael Oblowitz
DIFF has recently been included as a Documentary
Feature Qualifying Festival by the Academy of Motion Picture, Arts and
Sciences, which means that both the winners of the Best Documentary, New Moon and Best SA Documentary Sisters of the Wilderness, will now
automatically qualify for consideration for an Oscar nomination.
The Shorts jury included creative media
education and development specialist Alicia Price and Leon Van Der Merwe of the
Cape Town International Film Market and Festival. The fiction feature jurors
were SA Producer Bongiwe Selane, Nigerian actor Hakeem Kae Kazim and Nigerian
actress Nse Ikpe-Etim. The documentary film jury included South African
producer Uzanenkosi, Zimbabwean producer Nakai Matema, Nigerian filmmaker
Mahmood Ali-Balogun and Berlin-based freelance filmmaker, writer and curator,
Dorothee Wenner.
The festival closed on July 29,2018. DIFF
2018 is part of a month-long feast of film in Durban, including the BRICS Film
festival and industry programmes, the Durban FilmMart, Isiphethu, Talents
Durban, and the Nature Environment and Wildlife Film Congress.
For more information see
www.durbanfilmfest.co.za
Posts
