Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) announced the inaugural MIFF Awards recipients with Neptune Frost by Anisia Uzeyman and Saul Williams winning the $140,000 Bright Horizons Award winner and the Blackmagic Design Australian Innovation Award went to Jub Clerc for direction in Sweet As. The MIFF Audience Award Winner was Greenhouse by Joost directed by Bruce Permezel and Rhian Skirving.
Jury President, stage and screen actor and director Shareena Clanton shared the following comments on behalf of the jury:
On Neptune Frost: “Neptune Frost was like nothing we have ever seen before. By disrupting the colonial gaze and connecting the rising influence of technology in all our lives, this film penetrates deeply into your heart and soul to say that you are not too far disconnected from me. It felt at once absolutely specific, and entirely global.”
On Jub Clerc: “This film was more than just ‘sweet’. It crossed worlds and intersected certain realities – incredibly difficult to achieve, even for any accomplished filmmaker. We are so excited to see what happens next in this filmmaker’s journey, and hope that this award encourages their future filmmaking projects; that it not just inspires more Indigenous women to be central characters in their own stories, but helps show just how resilient and beautiful Indigenous women are.”
Selected by MIFF festival-goers from over 250 features, the 2022 MIFF Audience Award winner was Greenhouse by Joost, a Melbourne made documentary with global sustainability at its heart, directed by Bruce Permezel and Rhian Skirving and supported by the MIFF Premiere Fund.
The festival’s 70th Anniversary Closing Night Gala played host to the Australian premiere of Clean – the inspirational portrait of local ‘trauma cleaner’ Sandra Pankhurst. Premiering at this year’s SXSW, Lachlan McLeod’s riveting documentary celebrates the compassion and resilience of its endearingly plain-spoken subject.
2022 MIFF AWARD WINNERS
Bright Horizons Award presented by VicScreen
Neptune Frost
Blackmagic Design Australian Innovation Award
Jub Clerc for Sweet As
MIFF Audience Award
Greenhouse by Joost by Bruce Permezel and Rhian Skirving