First-time director Ramata-Toulaye Sy has won the $140,000 Bright Horizons competition at this year’s Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) for romantic drama Banel & Adama.
The rural Senegalese love story, which premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, beat out a competitive field, including local titles Shayda and The Rooster to win the coveted prize, while Lila Avilés’ drama Totem received a special mention.
In a statement, the jury of Saul Williams, Anisia Uzeyman, Alexandre O Philippe, Anthony Chen, and Kamila Andin described Banel & Adama as a “mysterious and strong first film from a young filmmaker with bright horizons”.
“Here is a film that speaks directly to the times with a cinematic language and landscape that challenges and confronts while drawing you into its immense beauty,” they said.
It was one of six winners to share in a prize pool of $300,000 as the festival’s in-person portion reached its conclusion on Saturday evening.
Artist duo Soda Jerk received the second annual $70,000 Australian Innovation Award for their Berlin-selected pirated film sample composition Hello Dankness, which follows an American suburban neighbourhood through the years 2016 to 2021, reflecting on how society changed under Trump.
New to this year’s festival was the First Nations Film Creative Award, designed to supports First Nations talent and storytelling. Adrian Russell Wills and Gillian Moody, directors of Kindred, were selected from a pool of nominees by a film jury of renowned Australian First Nations creatives for the inaugural prize, which includes a $20,000 cash prize and $25,000 worth of financial services in collaboration with Kearney Group.
Thomas Charles Hyland’s This Is Going to Be Big, a high school-set documentary that follows a community as they prepare for their school’s time-travelling John Farnham-themed musical, was recognised in two categories, taking out the Audience Award and the Schools Youth Jury Award.
In congratulating this year’s winners, MIFF artistic director Al Cossar also paid tribute to the attendees for their support.
“MIFF 2023 has seen audiences rejoin the cinematic fray right across the city and all through country Victoria with a globe-spanning 18-day cinema program, extraordinary international attending artists, and amazing discoveries and rediscoveries from the world of cinema, seen first, and for some – only seen – at MIFF this year,” he said
“A huge congratulations to all of our amazing Award winners, and all of the film teams involved in this year’s festival.”
The festival continues into next week with the extended season of MIFF Play, which runs through until August 27.
The MIFF Award winners are as follows:
Bright Horizons Award presented by VicScreen
Banel & Adama directed by Ramata-Toulaye Sy
Bright Horizons Special Jury Mention
Tótem directed by Lila Avilés
Blackmagic Design Australian Innovation Award
Soda Jerk (Hello Dankness) – Directors
First Nations Film Creative Award in collaboration with Kearney Group
Adrian Russell Wills and Gillian Moody (Kindred) – Directors
MIFF Audience Award
This Is Going to Be Big directed by Thomas Charles Hyland
MIFF Schools Youth Jury Award
This Is Going to Be Big directed by Thomas Charles Hyland