Australian feature The Rocket has triumphed at the TriBeca Film Festival in New York, winning Best Narrative Feature, Audience Awards and Best Actor (awarded to ten-year-old Sitthiphon Disamoe).
Set in Laos, the film follows Ahlo (Disamoe) whose family are forced to leave their home due to the construction of a dam. Considered unlucky and blamed for the family’s misfortune, Ahlo tries to prove his worth by entering a rocket into the biggest and most dangerous competition of the year – the Rocket Festival.
The success of The Rocket at TriBeca comes after receiving similar acclaim at the Berlin Film Festival, where the film was awarded with the Crystal Bear for Best Feature (Generation Kplus program), Best First Feature (across all sections of the Festival) and the Amnesty International Film Prize.
Written and directed by Kim Mordaunt and produced by Sylvia Wilczynski, The Rocket will be released by Curious Distrubution in Australia later this year.