As the 13th London Australian Film Festival wrapped up on Sunday with a Gala Screening of Ten Canoes, the winners of the audience award for best feature and documentary were announced.
Some 2,000 of the 6,700 festival-goers voted for their favourites in a year which saw the attendance record broken.
And the winners are:
Best Feature: Candy, directed by Neil Armfield starring Abbie Cornish and Heath Ledger. In the title role, Abbie Cornish delivers what our reviewer describes as a "beautiful, painful and utterly absorbing performance" as a young artist whose lust for life takes her to the edge of sanity, whilst Heath Ledger breathes a sweet and tender optimism into Dan, a sometime-poet lost in love with Candy. In heroin they find a path to limitless pleasure but as addiction takes hold, their lives spiral downwards.
Best Documentary: Kanyini, directed by Melanie Hogan and Bob Randall (Australia 2006, 53 min) Bob Randall, the film’s writer and narrator attended the festival screening of Kanyini with supporter Rolf Harris. Bob Randall is a member of the Yankunytjatjara people and one of the listed traditional owners of Uluru the greatest monolith in the world, where he lives in Central Australia. Based on Randall's own personal journey and the wisdom he learnt from the old people living in the bush, Randall tells the tale of why Indigenous people are now struggling in a modern world and what needs to be done for Indigenous people to move forward.
Festival director Robert Rider said: "It is hugely satisfying to see the festival go from strength to strength, year-on-year.
"We screened more than 60 films in the feature, documentary and short categories and nearly every performance sold-out. "This festival at the Barbican is the largest annual showcase in the world dedicated to Australian film, and I’m delighted that we can platform and hopefully provide a launching pad for these works in this important market." Selected titles from the festival will tour the UK during July and August.
