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Treeless Mountain Takes Out Top Prize In Adelaide
The Adelaide Film Festival announces Natuzzi prize winner
Director So-yong Kim was announced as the winner of the Natuzzi International Award for Best Feature Film on the closing night of the 2009 BigPond® Adelaide Film Festival. For her film, Treeless Mountain, Kim won a cash prize of $25,000, beating out 12 competitors for the award, which is the first of its kind in Australia.
The seven-person jury, comprised of key figures in the international film and art scene, was led by Jury President Laurence Kardish, Senior Curator of the Department of Film at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The jury was looking for a distinctive voice, brave storytelling, creative risk-taking, and most importantly, a film that truly engaged and transported the viewer.
When announcing the jury's decision, Kardish said, "After viewing and discussing several strong films in the international competition, the Natuzzi jury awards Treeless Mountain by So-yong Kim for its integrity, intensity and humanity. Set in Korea today, this memorable tale of childhood and adaptation could happen anywhere. Rich in its observation of the tensions and humour of everyday life, Treeless Mountain is distinguished also by its performances, particularly, the two young girls who play sisters. The film transports and rewards the viewer."
The 11-day festival featured 22 world premieres, 62 Australian premieres and 143 films from 49 different countries. Attendance across the main screening program has grown by 30 percent from 2007 and 18 percent of the sessions were sold out.
My Year Without Sex, Sarah Watt's hugely popular follow-up to Look Both Ways, which was produced with the assistance of the Adelaide Film Festival Investment Fund, opened the festival and Stephan Elliot's new feature, Easy Virtue, a period romantic comedy starring Colin Firth, Kristin Scott Thomas and Jessica Biel closed the program. These strong films, directed by Australian directors, served as the perfect bookends to a festival containing a variety of new Australian films.