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Universal Language by Canadian filmmaker Matthew Rankin won the Bright Horizons Award at the 72nd Melbourne International Film Festival, where animation Flow by Latvia’s Gints Zilbalodis picked up a special jury prize.

The top prize came with a cash award of $95,000 and was awarded at a ceremony on Saturday (August 24).

Scroll down for full list of feature film winners

Australian films Voice, directed by Krunal Padhiar and Semara Jose, and Left Write Hook, directed by Shannon Owen, shared the Miff Audience Award.

Jaydon Martin won the $47,500 Australian Innovation Award for his direction on Flathead, which has yet to sign...

The Melbourne International Film Festival (Miff) recently concluded its 2024 presentation, recognizing outstanding filmmaking achievements from global cinema. This year’s festival, held from August 8-25, featured 280 movies from different nations and welcomed over 130 artists and guests. The event highlighted innovative stories and emerging talent through competitive awards.

The festival’s top prize, the Bright Horizons Award presented by VicScreen, went to Canadian comedy “Universal Language.” Set in Winnipeg, the movie creatively combines themes from multiple Iranian classics into a unique narrative. The jury praised the film for sharing a culturally specific story that audiences worldwide can relate to. Latvian director Gints Zibalodis received the Bright Horizons Special Jury Award for his animated ecological tale “Flow,” which the jurors said leaves a lasting impact through its graceful message of empathy and universality.

The Blackmagic Design Australian Innovation Award honored Australian filmmaker Jaydon Martin for directing “Flathead.” This black-and-white docu-fiction hybrid, premiered...

The Melbourne International Film Festival (Miff) unveiled its 2024 Award winners Saturday evening local time, including Matthew Rankin, director of Universal Language, which won the flagship Bright Horizons Award, presented by VicScreen with a prize of $140,000Ausd.

The Canadian surreal comedy-drama is described as being set “somewhere between Tehran and Winnipeg,” and blends three seemingly unrelated stories. Rankin co-stars as well as directs.

Complete list of winners below

The Miff jury presented over $250,000Aud in prize money across a suite of five categories. Of the awards and this year’s blockbuster festival season, Miff Artistic Director, Al Cossar said: “It’s been such a thrill to see the enthusiasm and outright cinematic maximalism with which Melbourne audiences have taken to the Miff program this year – across over 280 films, we’ve seen audiences celebrate incredible new Australian filmmaking with us, discover the year’s cinematic highlights, explore unseen corners of the history of film,...

Winners of the 2024 Tiger Award and Vpro Big Screen Award announced.

International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) announces the 2024 winners from its two feature competitions: the Tiger Competition and the Big Screen Competition. The prizes were handed out during the IFFR Awards Ceremony on Friday 2 February, along with the Fipresci, Netpac and Youth Jury awards.

Tiger Competition

IFFR's trademark Tiger Competition celebrates the innovative and adventurous spirit of up-and-coming filmmakers. From the 14 titles presented in the 2024 edition, the jury granted three prizes: the Tiger Award, worth €40,000, and two Special Jury Awards, worth €10,000 each.

Rei (Japan) by Tanaka Toshihiko wins the Tiger Award 2024.

The jury stated: “The jury decided to give the Tiger Award to a burgeoning film director who chose to develop his debut film in a loose and unbounded environment. His strength relies on a collaborative environment centred on the actors, an attention to the power of recitation – and, perhaps most importantly,...

Toshihiko Tanaka’s Rei won the top prize at the 2024 International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), taking home the €40,000 Tiger award at tonight’s closing ceremony (February 2).

The Japanese actor’s three-hour directorial debut explores human connection through a thirtysomething woman who embarks on a journey through the mountains and meets a deaf photographer. Tanaka also stars and produced the film which used mostly non-professionals and students in the cast and crew.

The jury, which included former IFFR director Marco Müller, said of the film: “[Tanaka’s] strength relies on a collaborative environment centred on the actors, an attention to the power of recitation – and,...

Tanaka Toshihiko’s “Rei” was awarded the Tiger Award, the top prize of the International Film Festival Rotterdam, on Friday. Toshihiko’s feature debut chronicles a woman in her early 30s employed in a corporate job in Tokyo who meets a deaf landscape photographer living deep in the mountains of Hokkaido.

Toshihiko worked with a cast and crew of mostly-non professionals and students and not only directed “Rei,” but also produced, edited and acted in the film. He takes home a prize worth €40,000 given by a jury comprised of “Sweet Dreams” director Ena Sendijarević, producer and historian Marco Müller, “Ebola Syndrome” director and screenwriter Herman Yau, pioneering “Bless Their Little Hearts” filmmaker Billy Woodberry and producer Nadia Turincev.

The jury called Toshihiko a “burgeoning film director who chose to develop his debut film in a loose and unbounded environment,” and whose strength lies in “a collaborative environment centered on the actors.

Japanese actor and director Toshihiko Tanaka’s human relationships drama Rei and Iranian filmmaker Oktay Baraheni’s tale of identity and society The Old Bachelor have won the top awards at the International Film Festival Rotterdam.

Rei won the €40,000 Tiger Award in the main Competition.

The drama revolves around a woman in her early thirties in a company job in Tokyo who is struggling to understand the value of her life until she meets a deaf landscape photographer living deep in the mountains of Hokkaido.

“The jury decided to give the Tiger Award to a burgeoning film director who chose to develop his debut film in a loose and unbounded environment,” said the jury consisting of Marco Müller, Ena Sendijarević, Nadia Turincev, Billy Woodberry and Herman Yau.

The two Special Jury Awards, worth €10,000 each, went to Indian director Midhun Murali’s Kiss Wagon, a political drama shot with a shadow play technique,...

Days And Nights In Bundaberg: Jaydon Martin’s Docu-Fiction Journey Leaves Outsiders Adrift

Falling under an atmospheric shadow of loss and regret, Flathead, the directorial debut from Jaydon Martin, offers a pure vibes journey through Australia’s Bundaberg community. This docu-fiction hybrid leans experimental as it eschews a traditional narrative in pursuit of uncovering “ecstatic truths” about its subjects and their working class milieu. However, its hyperfocus on regional specificity with little background information may make this a film that resonates more deeply with locals than with those abroad.

Seventy-seven year old actor and gadabout Cass Cumerford serves as the film’s wandering spirit.…...

M. Raihan Halim’s “La Luna” will close the 53rd edition of International Film Festival Rotterdam, which has also revealed the lineup of its Tiger competition section, a platform for up-and-coming filmmakers, and Big Screen Competition, a program for more established talent.

“La Luna,” which has its European premiere at the festival, is a comedy about a conservative Malaysian village shaken by the arrival of a lingerie store.

Among the Tiger competition films is British director Justin Anderson’s “Swimming Home,” starring Mackenzie Davis, Christopher Abbott and Ariane Labed. Adapted from Deborah Levy’s novel, it centers on Joe and Isabel, whose marriage is dying when Kitti, a naked stranger found floating in the pool at their holiday villa, is invited to stay. Kitti collects and eats poisonous plants, and Nina their teenage daughter is enthralled by her. The film, which is being sold by Bankside Films, is described as...

International Film Festival Rotterdam has revealed its lineup for the Tiger, Big Screen and Tiger Short competitions. The festival runs from January 25-February 4. Scroll down for the full lists.

Head South by Jonathan Ogilvie will open the proceedings with M. Raihan Halim’s comedy La Luna on closing duties. The Tiger Competition jury will be comprised of Marco Müller, Ena Sendijarević, Nadia Turincev, Herman Yau and Billy Woodberry.

Also confirmed are the first names for the Talks lineup including Marco Bellocchio, Anne Fontaine, Alexander Kluge and Rachel Maclean.

Festival director Vanja Kaludjercic said today, “For over half a century, IFFR has stood as a haven for diverse voices – a convergence where artists share perspectives. Our program celebrates the resilience and creativity of global filmmakers, a testament to cinema’s power to transcend borders. From Indian to Japanese epics, a Kazakh thriller, Finnish Freudian reinterpretations, Dominican sci-fi and underground Iranian cinema,...

Head South.International Film Festival Rotterdam have announced the lineup for their 53rd edition, which will take place between January 25 to February 4. Opening FILMHead South (Jonathan Ogilvie)The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire.Tiger COMPETITIONThe Ballad of Suzanne Césaire (Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich)Flathead (Jaydon Martin)Grey Bees (Dmytro Moiseiev)Kiss Wagon (Midhun Murali)Me, Maryam, the Children and 26 Others (Farshad Hashemi)MosesLa Parra (Alberto Gracia)Praia Formosa (Julia De Simone)Rei (Tanaka Toshihiko)Reise der Schatten (Yves Netzhammer)She Fell to Earth (Susie Au)sr (Lea Hartlaub)Swimming Home (Justin Anderson)Under a Blue Sun (Daniel Mann)Milk Teeth.Big Screen COMPETITIONAire: Just Breathe (Leticia Tonos Paniagua)Children of War and Peace (Ville Suhonen)Confidenza (Daniele Luchetti)Eternal (Ulaa Salim)Milk Teeth (Sophia Bösch)The Old Bachelor (Oktay Baraheni)Portrait of a Certain Orient (Marcelo Gomes)Seven Seas Seven Hills (Ram)Steppenwolf (Adilkhan Yerzhanov)TenementThe Worst Man in London (Rodrigo Areias...

‘Swimming Home’ is directed by Justin Anderson and stars Mackenzie Davies, Christopher Abbott and Ariane Labed.

The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) has unveiled the Tiger and Big Screen programmes for the 3rd edition, taking place January 25 – February 4, 2024 in the Netherlands.

Justin Anderson’s Swimming Home, starring Mackenzie Davies, Christopher Abbott and Ariane Labed, is among the titles world premiering in the Tiger Competition.

Scroll down for full line-up

The drama is adapted from Deborah Levy’s novel about a woman who implores the help of a naked stranger found floating in her pool. It is produced by Emily Morgan’s UK outfit Quiddity Films,...