2011 SFF Official Competition winner is...

Sunday, 19 June, 2011

Sydney Film Festival Jury President, Chen Kaige today announced A Separation as the winner of the 2011 Sydney Film Prize, sponsored by iShares.

The Sydney Film Prize is awarded to A Separation directed by Asghar Farhadi.

The films screening in competition are selected on the basis that they demonstrate 'emotional power and resonance; are cutting-edge, courageous; and go beyond the usual treatment of the subject matter'.

One of China's most prominent and influential directors, Chen Kaige (Jury President), ABC Radio National MovieTime's Julie Rigg, Australian director Sarah Watt, internationally respected actor Kerry Fox and British producer Mark Herbert were the members of the Jury for the $AUD60,000 2011 Sydney Official Competition Prize, sponsored by iShares.

'Over the past 12 days iShares has been proud to support the 2011 Sydney Film Festival as the Official Competition sponsor, supporting original, innovative and creative films' said Damien Frawley, CEO BlackRock Australia.

The 12 Official Competition films were:

  • Amador-Director: Fernando León de Aranoa - Australian Premiere
  • Attenberg-Director: Athina Rachel Tsangari - Australian Premiere
  • Cairo 678 -Director: Mohamed Diab - Australian Premiere
  • The Forgiveness of Blood -Director: Joshua Marston - Australian Premiere
  • The Future -Director: Miranda July - Australian Premiere
  • Norwegian Wood -Director: Tran Anh Hung - Australian Premiere
  • A Separation - Director: Asghar Farhadi - Australian Premiere
  • Sleeping Beauty -Director: Julia Leigh - Australian Premiere
  • Take Shelter-Director: Jeff Nichols- Australian Premiere
  • Target-Director: Alexander Zeldovich- Australian Premiere
  • Toomelah -Director: Ivan Sen- Australian Premiere
  • The Tree of Life-Director: Terrence Malick- Australian Premiere

Past winners of the Sydney Film Prize are:Hunger, directed by Steve McQueen (2008);Bronson, directed by Nicolas Winding Refn (2009); andHeartbeats, directed by Xavier Dolan (2010). Jury President alumni are Gillian Armstrong (2008), Rolf de Heer (2009) and Jan Chapman (2010)