Record-breaking year for SFF
With the Sydney Film Festival (SFF) over for another year, results from the 12-day program have shown the 59th festival was the most highly attended to date.
“This year, attendances at films and talks grew by 10 percent to 122,000,” SFF CEO Leigh Small said.
She revealed that almost 50 percent of sessions were more than 90 percent full.
This year the SFF enlisted director Rachel Perkins and producer Darren Dale as programming partners to jointly curate the Blackfella Films Indigenous program, featuring six films including the world premiere of Mabo.
“I don’t think anyone can deny the most poignant moment of the festival was the premiere of Mabo in the State Theatre,” NSW Arts Minister George Souris said on closing night.
“With a 10-minute ovation involving 2000 people and Bonita Mabo and Sam Lee in attendance, the screening will last forever.”
There was a total of 225 sessions held during the festival, including 157 films from 51 countries in 51 languages.
Winning films were announced on closing night and included Greek drama Alps, which took out the Official Competition, and Paul Gallasch’s Killing Anna, which won the Australian Documentary Prize. Canadian drama Monsieur Lazhar and documentary Japanese Salesman won the audience awards.
