British drama This is England ’86 and documentary A Common Purpose have scooped the audience awards at this year’s Sydney Film Festival.
This is England ’86 – which won the audience award for best fiction feature – marks director Shane Meadows' first foray into television and a return to the characters of his BAFTA-winning feature film This is England (2006).
This is England ’86 co-producer, Mark Herbert, said the award was an honour.
“I was with my brother having my last beer overlooking Bondi beach saying how great I thought the festival was when I got a message saying we had won the Audience prize for This Is England ‘86," Herbert said in a statement.
"I immediately called Shane, the director, who was so happy and proud to have won. For us the audience prize is a real honour so on behalf of myself, Shane and our incredible cast and crew we thank everyone who voted for us and came to see our films. We really feel honoured.”
A Common Purpose won the Sydney Film Festival audience award for best documentary. It tells the story of Andrea Durbach, a Sydney resident since 1989 and currently director of the Australian Human Rights Centre, who returns to South Africa to meet her clients from the landmark Upington trial about the murder of a black policeman.
A Common Purpose director-producer Mitzi Goldman said: “Wow, that's such a great feeling! Thank you audience. I can't wait to get it out to more audiences worldwide – thanks for being the first!”
The awards were sponsored by the Showtime Movie Channels and the awards were created by Dinosaur Designs.
The top five audience-polled films in each category were:
Feature Films
1st THIS IS ENGLAND ‘86
2nd KUNG FU PANDA 2
3rd AFRICA UNITED
4th TUCKER & DALE VS EVIL
5th EVEN THE RAIN
Documentaries
1st A COMMON PURPOSE
2nd I’M NOT DEAD YET
3rd LIFE IN MOVEMENT
4th SCARLET ROAD
5th SENNA
This is England ’86 co-producer, Mark Herbert.