Inaugural MIFF award winners announced

The Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) announced the inaugural MIFF Awards recipients.

Chosen by a distinguished independent jury of industry figures presided over by Jury President, Shareena Clanton, the $140,000 Bright Horizons Award winner, supported by VicScreen, was Neptune Frost by Anisia Uzeyman and Saul Williams and the recipient of the $70,000 Blackmagic Design Australian Innovation Award was Jub Clerc for direction in Sweet As. The MIFF Audience Award Winner was Greenhouse by Joost directed by Bruce Permezel and Rhian Skirving.

Alongside Jury President, acclaimed stage and screen actor and director Shareena Clanton (Wentworth, Redfern Now), the jury comprised Emmy award-winning filmmaker and artist Lynette Wallworth, internationally acclaimed Australian cinematographer Adam Arkapaw (Animal Kingdom, True Detective) and Indonesian film director and screenwriter Mouly Surya (Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts). The jury gathered at Olinda Hall, the site of the very first Melbourne Film Festival event in 1952, to deliberate and determine the 2022 category winners.

Jury President Shareena Clanton shared the following comments on behalf of the jury:

On Neptune Frost:

“Neptune Frost was like nothing we have ever seen before. By disrupting the colonial gaze and connecting the rising influence of technology in all our lives, this film penetrates deeply into your heart and soul to say that you are not too far disconnected from me. It felt at once absolutely specific, and entirely global.”

On Jub Clerc:

“This film was more than just ‘sweet’. It crossed worlds and intersected certain realities – incredibly difficult to achieve, even for any accomplished filmmaker. We are so excited to see what happens next in this filmmaker’s journey, and hope that this award encourages their future filmmaking projects; that it not just inspires more Indigenous women to be central characters in their own stories, but helps show just how resilient and beautiful Indigenous women are.”

The newly introduced MIFF Awards, which include the Bright Horizons Competition and Award and the Blackmagic Design Australian Innovation Award, were launched as part of the 70th anniversary alongside the return of the MIFF Audience Award. As some of the richest film prizes in the world, the MIFF awards reinforce the festival’s place – and that of the Australian film sector – as a major influence within the international festival circuit.

The establishment of Bright Horizons represents a milestone in the festival’s storied history and a significant addition to screen culture in the state. The Bright Horizons Competition elevates bold Australian and international directorial voices and fresh filmmaking talent, with a specific focus on first and second-time features.

The announcement of the winners was made at MIFF’s Closing Night Gala at the Forum Theatre Melbourne. With 11 films selected for the Bright Horizons competition, many of the filmmakers were in attendance including international guests Charlotte Wells (Aftersun), Lola Quivoron and Antonia Buresi (Rodeo), Natalia López Gallardo (Robe of Gems), Martika Ramirez Escobar (Leonor Must Never Die) and Ariel Escalante Meza (Domingo and the Mist) and Australian directors Thomas M. Wright (The Stranger) and Alena Lodkina (Petrol, MIFF Premiere Fund)

Of the MIFF Bright Horizons Award announcement Minister for Creative Industries, Steve Dimopoulos, said: “Through this competition we’ve supported MIFF to become one of the leading film festivals in the world, showcasing Victoria as a global screen powerhouse with cutting-edge production facilities, iconic locations and world class creative talent.”

“Backing our premier film festival is part of our $191.5 million VICSCREEN strategy which supports local talent, businesses, productions and events to grow the industry, boost jobs in our creative workforce.”

“Congratulations to all the winners, nominees and participating filmmakers. This landmark competition is a fantastic way to wrap up two weeks of screen brilliance here in Melbourne.”

The Blackmagic Design Australian Innovation Award of $70,000 award recognises an Australian filmmaking talent for their work – be it as director, creative lead or cinematographer, or other key creative – within an Australian feature length film screening at the festival.

“Congratulations to Jub Clerc for winning the Blackmagic Design Australian Innovation Award. What an amazing film and everyone at Blackmagic Design feels honoured to be part of recognizing your creativity. Sweet As, as well as the other nominated films, represented the constant innovation we are seeing in the Australian filmmaking world and I can’t wait to see what next year’s nominees will bring,” said Grant Petty, CEO, Blackmagic Design.

Selected by MIFF festival-goers from amongst a program of over 250 features, the 2022 MIFF Audience Award winner was Greenhouse by Joost, a Melbourne made documentary with global sustainability at its heart, directed by Bruce Permezel and Rhian Skirving and supported by the MIFF Premiere Fund.

Of the awards and the 2022 festival, MIFF Artistic Director, Al Cossar, said: “MIFF’s Awards are about elevating distinctive, ambitious, bold new voices that deserve and demand a global stage. My congratulations to Neptune Frost’s Anisia Uzeyman and Saul Williams, and to Jub Clerc, for their incredible work and deserved recognition as our inaugural awards recipients.”

“We are vastly proud of the introduction of MIFF’s Bright Horizons Competition this year – a truly jaw dropping line up of emerging international and Australian filmmaking, featuring attendances from a worldwide collection of breakthrough filmmakers. We look forward to presenting more incredible cinema, and welcoming further incredible artists, as Bright Horizons and the MIFF Awards continue into the future,” continued Cossar.

Encore presentations of Bright Horizons Award winner, Neptune Frost, and the Blackmagic Design Australian Innovation Award winner Jub Clerc’s Sweet As (supported by the MIFF Premiere Fund) will be held at The Capitol on Sunday 21 August. Session details and tickets are available on miff.com.au.

Presented by Nicolas Feuillatte, the festival’s 70th Anniversary Closing Night Gala played host to the Australian premiere of Clean – the inspirational portrait of local ‘trauma cleaner’ Sandra Pankhurst. Premiering to acclaim at this year’s SXSW, Lachlan McLeod’s riveting documentary celebrates the compassion and resilience of its endearingly plain-spoken subject. The film screens again on Sunday 21 August at various locations.

Further encore sessions of festival favourites, My Old School and Anak, have also been announced for MIFF’s closing weekend. Final screenings continue throughout the day and evening on Sunday 21 August ahead of the festival’s last in-cinema event, a late-night showing of David Cronenberg’s first film in eight years, Crimes of the Future.

As the world’s longest film festival – clocking up 25 consecutive days – MIFF 2022 exploded across more Victorian cinema screens than ever before with a blockbuster 26 venues running simultaneously on one day of the schedule. This year, the festival also provided an expanded audience experience in cinema, with their first relaxed and sensory screenings catering to neurodiverse audiences and delivery of cry-baby sessions for new parents.

MIFF was once again proud to continue its vital work as the largest purveyor of Australian cinema in the world, with the 2022 event showcasing 107 Australian releases amidst an expansive international program totalling 371 features and shorts and represented by 71 languages.

Festival records were also smashed with 61 titles arriving from Cannes and a further record 11 MIFF Premiere Fund Films making their world premieres in recent weeks. Attendance was strong across MIFF venues, with MIFF members and the general public demonstrating their voracious appetite for the festival’s in-cinema programs and a shared love of cinema.

The 70th anniversary event was enlivened with the festival’s first XR-commission, Night Creatures, by long-term collaborators Isobel Knowles and Van Sowerwine whose playful new work celebrated the holy space that is a MIFF queue. Meanwhile the curated MIFF Signatures entertained audiences prior to screenings with three specially commissioned short films from Australian filmmakers Justin Kurzel (Nitram), Ivan Sen (Mystery Road) and Soda Jerk (Terror Nullius).

2022 also saw the launch of Melbourne on Film: Cinema That Defines Our City, a book of engaging essays paying tribute to the city’s unique cinematic past, including Monkey Grip, Ghosts… of the Civil Dead, The Castle and Mad Max. With writing from beloved Melbourne names, including Christos Tsiolkas, Sarah Krasnostein, John Safran, Osman Faruqi, Tristen Harwood and Judith Lucy, Melbourne on Film is available in bookstores and online.

Audiences around Australia continue to have the opportunity to catch some of the most talked-about films of the season through the festival’s streaming platform, MIFF Play. The platform offers access to six of the Bright Horizons competition features, various Melbourne on Film gems and other highly sought-after films including The Lost City of Melbourne, MIFF Premiere Fund titles Volcano Man, Franklin, Because We Have Each Other, The Endangered Generation and Under Cover, and the lauded documentary thriller, Navalny. Hosting 105 festival features and shorts, MIFF Play is available until 28 August.