Nader and Simin, A Separation, directed by Iran’s Asghar Farhadi, won the Best Feature Film Award at the 32nd Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) which closed on 31 July.
The film was lauded by the International Jury as a “masterpiece’ with “astonishing performances from the ensemble cast’. The Best Feature Film award carries a cash prize of R50 000.
Receiving a cash prize of R25 000, the Best South African Feature Film was awarded to Skoonheid (France/South Africa), directed by Oliver Hermanus. The jury commended the film as revealing a director on a “remarkable trajectory’, praising the film’s “subtlety, control and knowledge of film history’ and one which “tells a complex South African story with universal appeal’.
The Amnesty International Durban Human Rights Award, with a prize of € 2,500, went to Sobukwe, A Great Soul (South Africa), directed by Mickey Madoda Dube.
A R20 000 prize for Best First Feature Film was awarded to Matthew Gordon for The Dynamiter (USA).
The full list of awards are:
Best Film: Nader and Simin, A Separation (Iran), directed by Asghar Farhadi
Best South African Feature: Skoonheid (France/South Africa), directed by Oliver Hermanus
Best First Feature: The Dynamiter (USA), directed by Matthew Gordon
Best Director: Andrey Zvyagintsev for Elena (Russia)
Best Actress: Nadezhda Markina in Elena (Russia)
Best Actor: William Patrick Ruffin in The Dynamiter (USA)
Best Cinematography: Mikhail Krichman for Elena (Russia)
Best Screenplay: Asghar Farhadi for Nader and Simin, A Separation (Iran)
Special Mention Feature Film: Skoonheid (South Africa), directed by Oliver Hermanus
Special Mention South African Feature Film: Eldorado (South Africa), directed by Shaldon Ferris and Lorreal Ferris
Best Documentary: Position Among the Stars (Stand van de Sterren) (The Netherlands), directed by Leonard Retel Helmrich
Best South African Documentary: Dear Mandela (South Africa/USA), directed by Dara Kell and Christopher Nizza
Best Short Film: Dirty Laundry (South Africa), directed by Stephen Abbott
Best South African Short Film: Dirty Laundry (South Africa), directed by Stephen Abbott
Amnesty International Durban Human Rights Award: Sobukwe, A Great Soul (South Africa), directed by Mickey Madoda Dube
DIFF Wavescape Surf Film Festival Audience Award: A Deeper Shade Of Blue (Australia) directed by Jack McCoy
DIFF Documentary Audience Award: Fire in Babylon (United Kingdom), directed by Stevan Riley
DIFF Feature Film Audience Award: The First Grader (Kenya,United Kingdom,South Africa), directed by Justin Chadwick
The 32nd Durban International Film Festival was organised by the Centre For Creative Arts (University of KwaZulu-Natal) with support by the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund (principal funder), National Film and Video Foundation, KwaZulu-Natal Department of Economic Development and Tourism, HIVOS, City of Durban, German Embassy of South Africa, Goethe Institut of South Africa, Industrial Development Corporation, KwaZulu-Natal Department of Arts and Culture, and a range of other valued partners.
