Following 12 days of over 150 sold-out sessions, packed cinemas and record-breaking box office, the 72nd Sydney Film Festival tonight awarded the prestigious Sydney Film Prize to acclaimed Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi for his reimagined Iranian thriller, It Was Just an Accident.
The winner of the $60,000 cash prize for ‘audacious, cutting-edge and courageous’ film was selected by a prestigious international jury headed by acclaimed Australian director, writer and producer Justin Kurzel.
The announcement was made at the State Theatre ahead of the Australian Premiere screening of Michael Angelo Covino’s comedy Splitsville, capping off the highest selling Festival in Sydney Film Festival’s history.
One of the most celebrated figures in contemporary world cinema, Panahi has spent the past three decades creating boundary-pushing films about the lived realities of people in Iran, since 2010 made in defiance of restrictions and censorship by the Iranian government. As well as screening It Was Just an Accident in competition, the 72nd Sydney Film Festival also featured a retrospective of all 10 of Panahi’s feature films.
In a rare and significant appearance, Panahi was in Sydney to accept the award in person.
As part of Sydney Film Festival’s prestigious awards program, Australian filmmaker Shalom Almond was awarded the Documentary Australia Award’s $20,000 cash prize for Songs Inside, a moving portrait of women prisoners who find healing through a unique music program.
The 2025 recipient of the $40,000 Sustainable Future Award, the largest environmental film prize in the world, is Australian filmmaker Jordan Giusti for Floodland a deeply resonant portrait of a flood-affected community in Lismore, Australia’s most disaster-prone postcode.
The recipient of the largest cash prize for First Nations filmmaking, the $35,000 First Nations Award proudly supported by Truant Pictures, is Canadian filmmaker Lisa Jackson for Wilfred Buck, which explores the life and teachings of charismatic Cree educator and “star man” Wilfred Buck.
Five short film prizes were awarded for The Dendy Awards for Australian Short Films. The $7,000 Dendy Live Action Short Award was awarded to Faceless, directed by Fraser Pemberton and William Jaka. The $7,000 Yoram Gross Animation Award was awarded to The Fling, directed by Jemma Cotter. The $7,000 Rouben Mamoulian Award for Best Director was presented to Rory Pearson, director of Mates.
The AFTRS Craft Award for Best Practitioner (a $7,000 cash prize) went to Josh Peters, music and sound designer of Faceless. The Event Cinemas Rising Talent Award for Screenwriting, with a cash prize of $7,000 was awarded to Rory Pearson and Marcus Aldred-Traynor, the co-writers of Mates.
The $10,000 Sydney-UNESCO City of Film Award, bestowed by Screen NSW to a trail-blazing NSW-based screen practitioner, went to the Big Bang Sound Design team Wayne Pashley and Libby Villa.
Sydney Film Festival CEO Frances Wallace said, “This year has been extraordinary. The 2025 Sydney Film Festival is the highest selling Festival in the Festival’s history, welcoming over 150,000 attendees – an 11% increase on last year. Across 12 days, we screened 242 films, hosted 448 screenings and events, and saw over 150 sessions sell out. We’re so grateful to the audiences, filmmakers, patrons, partners and supporters who made this year such a success.”
Minister for the Arts John Graham said, “It’s amazing that after 72 years, the Sydney Film Festival is stronger than ever. It’s a tribute to the organisers and the tens of thousands of film fans who’ve turned out. This Festival, its fans and its filmmakers have once again created an absolute highlight in Sydney’s events calendar.”
Sydney Lord Mayor, Clover Moore AO said, “As the curtain falls on another unforgettable Sydney Film Festival, we look back on and celebrate the bold storytelling, diverse voices and shared cinematic journeys that lit up our screens and sparked our imaginations. Congratulations to all this year’s filmmakers, cast and crew, especially the award winners whose exceptional work moved, challenged, and inspired audiences. I look forward to our continued partnership with the Sydney Film Festival and all that it brings to our fine city.”
Earlier in the day, the Minns Labor Government announced it is investing $100 million in a capital fund to begin the hunt for the location of a second film studio for Sydney. The capital fund is part of a $380 million package in the 2025-26 Budget to support the world-leading NSW Screen and Digital Games sector.
NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey said, “The screen and digital games sector generates $1.2 billion into our state economy and supports over 13,500 jobs.”
“By supporting the sector, we are acting to attract investment, stimulate job creation and boost economic growth.”
“The $100 million capital fund secures the future for the NSW screen sector, continuing the Minns Labor Government’s plan to build a better NSW.”
THE SYDNEY FILM PRIZE
On awarding the Sydney Film Prize to Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident, the Jury said in a joint statement:
“It has been an honour and a privilege to watch cinema for the past 10 days. To be amongst audiences who love and guard this powerful expression, are champions for experiences which are transforming and transcendent.”
“To Nashen and the Sydney Film Festival team thank you for inviting us to be part of what has been an enormously successful festival.”
“We want to acknowledge the powerful and assured first time films within competition. There were many and we were astonished by their confidence, authenticity and swagger. This new wave of international filmmakers are pushing the boundaries and connecting to cinema in original ways. It is their perspective which moved us and opened our hearts to stories which felt deeply personal and true. There was a push towards testing the form, taking real risk to find new ways to challenge cinema.”
“In these times of great conflict and uncertainty it is more important than ever that filmmakers are given the freedom to express what they see around them. The films we watched led with empathy, compassion and kindness. The directors trusted that their stories would make us feel first, connect to a personal point of view, they were political but human first.”
“The winner of the Sydney Film Festival for 2025 embodied all these qualities, a courageous film with a deep soul and a powerful sense of forgiveness. It has outstanding performances and an understated authority which is brimming with truth.”
“We the Jury would like to award the film It Was Just an Accident by Jafar Panahi.”
The Festival Jury was comprised of acclaimed Australian director, writer and producer Justin Kurzel as Jury President, joined by Director of the Marrakech International Film Festival and producer Melita Toscan du Plantier, Aotearoa New Zealand director and actor Rachel House, Hong Kong-based producer and distributor Winnie Tsang, and Kamilaroi writer and actor Thomas Weatherall.
Previous winners include: There’s Still Tomorrow (2024), The Mother of All Lies (2023), Close (2022), There Is No Evil (2021), Parasite (2019), The Heiresses (2018), On Body and Soul (2017), Aquarius (2016), Arabian Nights (2015), Two Days, One Night (2014), Only God Forgives (2013), Alps (2012), A Separation (2011), Heartbeats (2010), Bronson (2009), and Hunger (2008).
The competition is endorsed by FIAPF, the regulating body for international film festivals, and is judged by a jury of five international and Australian filmmakers and industry professionals.
The 12 films in Competition for the 2025 Sydney Film Prize are listed HERE
THE DOCUMENTARY AUSTRALIA AWARD
The $20,000 Documentary Australia Award, proudly supported by Documentary Australia was awarded to Shalom Almond for Songs Inside. The Jury comprising director Paul Clarke, producer Camilla Mazzaferro and director Visakesa Chandrasekaram, said in a joint statement:
“The winner of the SFF Best Documentary is Songs Inside – a portrayal of how, even in the most unlikely of circumstances, music can unexpectedly lift the hope and the lives of people. The film was so intimate and rewarding, we cared so much for its incarcerated characters, it completely touched our hearts.”
Previous winners: Welcome to Babel (2024), Marungka Tjalatjunu (Dipped in Black) (2023); Keep Stepping (2022); I’m Wanita (2021); Descent (2020); She Who Must Be Obeyed Loved (2019); Ghosthunter (2018); The Pink House (2017); In the Shadow of the Hill (2016); Only the Dead (2015); 35 Letters (2014); Buckskin (2013); Killing Anna (2012); Life in Movement (2011); and The Snowman (2010). In 2009 the inaugural prize was shared between Contact and A Good Man, and each film received a $10,000 cash prize.
The 12 finalists for the 2025 Documentary Australia Award are listed HERE.
FIRST NATIONS AWARD PROUDLY SUPPORTED BY TRUANT PICTURES
The First Nations Award, proudly supported by Truant Pictures, is the world’s largest cash prize in global Indigenous filmmaking, rewarding $35,000 to the winning First Nations filmmaker.
The winner of the First Nations Award is Canadian filmmaker Lisa Jackson’s hybrid doc Wilfred Buck, which explores the life and teachings of Cree educator Wilfred Buck – a “star man” – whose luminous worldview blends Indigenous science, memory, and resilience.
The Jury comprising of Australian actor and playwright Jub Clerc, producer Mitchell Stanley and Indian director Nishtha Jain, said in a joint statement:
“The jury has selected a film that exemplifies Indigenous wisdom and excellence through the life of Cree elder and educator Wilfred Buck. The jury commends filmmaker Lisa Jackson’s craft in telling the story that seamlessly weaves the past and present, archives with, documentary and recreations, to tell a story about healing generational trauma through wisdom and knowledge of the stars. A mesmerising and insightful film filled with poetry, and quiet humour that warms our hearts while transporting us to another realm of possibilities and experience.”
The 11 films shortlisted for the 2025 First Nations Award are listed HERE.
SUSTAINABLE FUTURE AWARD
The 2025 recipient of the $40,000 Sustainable Future Award, the world’s largest environmental film prize, was presented to the documentary Floodland directed by Australian filmmaker Jordan Giusti.
The Award is presented to a film that explores the social, economic, political, and environmental consequences of climate change and highlights the urgent need for action to mitigate its effects.
Focussing on several residents, Floodland is a deeply moving story of love and loss set in the northern NSW town of Lismore, Australia’s most flooded postcode and site of the nation’s most costly climate disaster
The Jury was comprised of SFF Board Member Amanda Maple-Brown, director Karl Malakunas and Dr Jennifer Matthews said in a joint statement:
“Gripping, compelling, personal and informative. Floodland takes the audience on a journey filled with beauty, plot twists and heartbreak as it follows lifelong mates battling floods, bureaucracy and the generational legacy of white settlers’ decisions in a once-idyllic part of Australia that has rapidly become a climate crisis ground zero.”
The eight films shortlisted for the 2025 Sustainable Future Award are listed HERE.
DENDY AWARDS FOR AUSTRALIAN SHORT FILMS
A jury composed of Australian filmmaker Sophie Somerville, Artistic Director of Hawaii International Film Festival Anderson Lee and director Ismail Khan judged the Festival’s short film awards.
The Dendy Awards for Australian Short Films were awarded to Faceless, directed by Fraser Pemberton and William Jaka (Best Live Action Short), The Fling, directed by Jemma Cotter (Yoram Gross Animation Award), Rory Pearson, director of Mates (Rouben Mamoulian Award for Best Australian Director), Josh Peters, music and sound designer of Faceless (AFTRS Craft Award for Best Practitioner), and Rory Pearson and Marcus Aldred-Traynor, the co-writers of Mates (Event Cinemas
Rising Talent Award).
The Jury provided the following statements for each prize:
The Dendy Live Action Short
Winner: Faceless
“For its narrative fearlessness, strong point of view, and water to sky motifs, Faceless confronts the white, urban spaces of contemporary Australia”
The Yoram Gross Animation Award for Best Australian Animation.
Winner: The Fling.
“An ingenious ode to a John Carpenter classic, with innovative craftsmanship that combines real actors with stop motion animation.”
The Rouben Mamoulian Award for Best Australian Director.
Winner: Rory Pearson for Mates
“Mates features raw performances and a convincing body transformation that portrays with great empathy the vulnerabilities and traumas of its protagonists.”
AFTRS Craft Award for Best Practitioner.
Winner: Josh Peters, music and sound designer of Faceless
“The sound design is the invisible glue that brings all the elements together; deliberate and nuanced and expertly crafted, becoming the spine of a truly cinematic experience.”
The Event Cinemas Rising Talent Award.
Winner: Rory Pearson, Marcus Aldred-Traynor – Mates
“The story for Mates has a surprising rawness to it and walks a fine line between comedy and pathos, capturing the fragility of Australian male friendships.”
The competition for the Australian Short Films was established by the Festival in 1970. Winners of the Best Live Action Short Film Award and the Yoram Gross Animation Award (sponsored by Sandra and Guy Gross in memory of the late Yoram Gross) are Academy Award-eligible, opening new pathways for many Australian filmmakers.
The 10 films shortlisted for the Dendy Awards for Australian Short Films are listed HERE.
THE UNESCO SYDNEY CITY OF FILM AWARD
The $10,000 Sydney-UNESCO City of Film Award, bestowed by Screen NSW to a trail-blazing NSW-based screen practitioner, went to the Big Bang Sound Design team Wayne Pashley and Libby Villa.
Photo by Tim Levy
