Sydney Film Festival Jury President, Rolf de Heer tonight announced Bronson as the winner of the 2009 Sydney Film Prize at the State Theatre during the closing gala of the Festival.
“The film that has been selected by the jury of the Sydney Film Prize as best demonstrating the competition’s criteria of emotional power and resonance, audacity, cutting-edge, courage and going beyond the usual treatment of its subject matter is Bronson,” said Rolf de Heer, Jury President.
Bronson is directed by Nicholas Winding Refn, script by Nicholas Winding Refn and Brock Norman Brock, producers Rupert Preston and Danny Hansford.
Nicholas Winding Refn’s (The Pusher Trilogy, SFF 06) high-octane cabaret features Tom Hardy in a career-defining performance as Britain’s most notorious criminal ‘Charles Bronson’. Underscored by an explosive soundtrack and heightened use of visual and sound design, Refn and Brock Norman Brock’s audacious script delivers an uppercut to the jaw of the traditional biopic.
“In its second year the Official Competition has further elevated the profile of bold, risk-taking filmmaking and the festival is very grateful to the jury for their dynamism and care in determining the winner of the prize this year”, said Festival Director Clare Stewart tonight.
Jury President Rolf de Heer, German director Oliver Hirschbiegel, Canadian director/producer Ted Kotcheff, Australian actress Miranda Otto and Danish director Lone Scherfig were the members of the Jury for the $AUD60,000 2009 Sydney Film Prize.
“The Sydney Film Festival is an important pillar in the NSW cultural calendar, the 56th Festival this year has been a great opportunity for many of our leading film makers to participate and screen their films as well as providing audiences with the chance to see leading films from around the world”, said NSW Premier Nathan Rees. “I also want to take this opportunity to congratulate Bronson on winning the Sydney Film Prize.”
According to Hunter Hall Investment Management’s board member Jack Lowenstein, “This is Hunter Hall’s fourth year of association with the Sydney Film Festival and the second year we have funded the Sydney Film Prize.
This prize is about audacious, cutting edge and courageous filmmaking and we are delighted to share in this vision as we feel there is significant shared territory between how these filmmakers approach their subject and how we apply these values at Hunter Hall to the global sharemarket.”
The 12 Official Competition films are:
World premieres: Rachel Ward’s Beautiful Kate and Khoa Do’s Missing Water.
International premiere: Tsai Ming-liang’s Face (Visages)
Australian premieres: Ken Loach’s Looking for Eric, Sebastián Silvia’s The Maid (La Nana), Steve Jacobs’ Disgrace, Peter Brosens and Jessica Hope’s Antiplano, Nicholas Winding Refn’s Bronson, Gustave de Kervern and Benoit Delépine’s Louise-Michel, Alexey German Jr’s Paper Soldier (Bumazhnyy Soldat), Henry Selick’s Coraline, and Steven Soderbergh’s The Girlfriend Experience.
.
