BBFF2022 AWARD WINNERS

After two years of uncertainty and challenge for filmmakers and film-lovers, it was a delight and a privilege to expose our BBFF Audiences to the exceptional  range, imaginative scope and execution of the submitted films for BBFF2022.

Every film in our 2022 Selection was chosen for its uniqueness, relevance and/or excellence but the following winning films are those that took home awards.

BEST FILM, BEST BYRON FILM & BEST DOCUMENTARY

The Road to Patagonia

 The World Premiere and two encores of this hybrid film played to packed houses at the 2022 Byron Bay International Film Festival, and the experience left audiences rapt. Byron man Matty Hannon incorporated 16 years of on-the-road shooting into the foundation of his debut feature film, then took off on the ultimate road trip, down the whole west coast of the Americas.  His humility and humanity, triumphs and torments, combined with stunning cinematography and a compelling and intimate storyline made for a film that could be watched again and again.  Its multi-layered nature, embracing dark nights of the soul, romance, adversity and adventure, surf/discovery, ecological awareness and multicultural sensitivity, reflected a long-standing and admirable ethos typical of Byron Shire, while offering insights into the ‘other worlds’ of ethnic communities and a dramatic and intimate love story. The film was a “remarkable achievement”, according to Skippon-Volke, “from a young man whose ambition and commitment to filmmaking shone brightly throughout.”

A Special Mention goes to Dosed 2: The Trip of a Lifetime in the Best Documentary Category.

BEST DRAMATIC FEATURE

Faithbreaker (Wiarotom)

Another debut feature standout, this time from Festival returnee Piotr Zlotorowicz.  “Faithbreaker not only offered an original, mysterious and morally insightful story, it also conveyed how an inventive culture can mature and thrive as it emerges from the impoverishment of a repressive totalitarianism. Piotr won BBFF 2015’s Best Short Film Award, and this more ambitious work is testimony to a considerable talent, someone whose work keeps evolving,” Skippon-Volke said.

BEST SURF FILM

Waterman

 A fascinating documentary for surfers and waterpeople of all ages, Waterman is also much more than a surf film. It the history of an island race and the personal story of a great athlete and noble human being, Duke Paoa Kahanamoku, as well as documenting the racism at the heart of American exceptionalism. “Educational, emotional, and inspiring, it is given added heft by the narration of Jason Momoa, and provides a model example for our young sportspeople.”

BEST MUSIC DOCUMENTARY

Patou: In Black and White

 Whose day would not be improved by listening to (and watching) Pat Powell (Patou) perform? The singer’s singer with the velvet voice and a gift across a handful of genres quickly wins over audience members with his effortless talent. Patou’s history as a loverman – and doting daddy – only adds to his charm and the infectious appeal of this documentary. The subtitle reveals another aspect of Patou’s story – as a Jamaican immigrant facing racism in a Little England (and Little Australia) – and speaks to the expressive power of filmmaker Fiona Cochrane’s aesthetic choice.

BEST MUSIC VIDEO

Consensual

 Jeff Hilliard – Consensual  is a laugh out loud take on a type that the Byron Bay community is only too familiar with – the guru-lecher: hirsute, tattooed, bedangled with ‘authentic’ ethnic jewellery and spouting every spiritual platitude, all with the not-so-hidden agenda of luring sun-kissed, slim-bodied seeker-baes onto this whiffy mattress. The film’s targets may be soft but the animation is as clever and witty as the song, with a little psychedelia and a lot of girl power thrown in. Win-win!

BEST SHORT FILM

Murder Tongue

A bleak study in brown of ethnic hatred set in Karachi, Pakistan in the early 90s. The title refers to the Urdu dialect as spoken by Indian migrants who for a period were killed in their thousands, including by police. The nocturnal setting, a crying baby and a father’s fears, coupled with the ubiquitous sense of dread generated by a corrupt and abusive State work together to craft a moving snapshot of powerlessness. A late, poignant detail makes the viewing almost unbearably sad, and forever memorable. The theme of extra-judicial, racist killings is also a potent reminder of such crimes being carried out in the West, including Australia.

YOUNG AUSTRALIAN FILMMAKER

Match Point

Indian-Australian 22-year-old Alisha Mehra takes a bold first step in her mission to redefine Australian Cinema with a well-realised tale of multiculturalism that is essentially simple but has profound ramifications. It contains both conflict and pathos while carrying a lesson encouraging us to understand the hidden struggles “new” Australians face, to appreciate our common humanity, and to let kindness prevail. “The common bond that finally unites the sporting rivals provides a powerful lesson for our times,” said Skippon-Volke.

BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM

Concertina

 Atmospheric, elemental and mysterious, this gem from Mexico makes use of heightened sounds, close-ups and dramatic jungle settings to conjure up something of the quality of the dreams that the two protagonists share with each other. The magic realism provides an effective means of addressing the everyday realities of family, work and environment, the realities revealed by the subconscious.

ANIMATION

Absence

This brilliant, visceral look at the failure of modern society to protect the have-nots utilises a grotesque aesthetic to reflect the insanity of much of contemporary life.  Essentially wordless and anonymous, each rapidly changing scene reveals another horribly recognisable truth about suffering, indifference and exploitation. It is a minor masterpiece.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY & THE ROB STEWART BEST ENVIRONMENTAL FILM

Two Kinds of Water

 There are two kinds of water: one sweet and palatable, the other salty and bitter. Both run through the lives of the Guet Ndar fishing community in northern Senegal, where the ocean’s bounty sustains them but whose menfolk put their lives at risk every time they venture out to sea, leaving wives living with a level of fear until their return. But the viability of this age-old communal form of living is under threat from newer forces that are equally beyond the fishermen’s control: climate change and exploitation by large foreign fishing trawlers.

This compassionate snapshot by British Foreign Correspondent of the Year, Dan McDougall is a textbook example of excellence in journalism, bringing a hidden corner of the world closer. But it goes beyond mere reportage, relying upon gorgeous, slow-motion photography, much of it drone footage, to create a lyrical portrait of one family whose challenges exemplify those of the entire community. Its poetic and visual beauty goes some way to soften the grim message, but the reality of an uncertain future shines through clearly in the couple’s separate narrative strands.

BEST 6-DoF XR EXPERIENCE

Gravity VR

Gravity VR takes place in a surreal world with no ground, everything that exists is forever falling. Houses, clothes, cars, ruins of a civilization. Everything just falls.

Osorio and Benedito are two old brothers living in a surprising normality. As they have been born and raised in this infinite fall, they´ve never been able to feel it. There ́s no adrenaline in their lives, just a lonely and slow routine.

Things start changing when Osorio finds a mysterious dot below them that grows bigger everyday.

BEST 3-DoF XR EXPERIENCE

Recoding Entropia

A metallic tetrahedron floats through a milky abyss. All is calm – until this geometric form suddenly deconstructs, atomizing into billions of fragments. What was once a negative space is now dense with chaos. All that was rational and understood has come undone.

This is the beginning of a journey: one of creative destruction where everything solid melts into air, then condenses once more. It’s the hypnotic allegory of the eternal return, a spiritual journey where life and death are infinitely interchangeable.

Through purely abstract forms and movement, Recoding Entropia questions the spectator’s place in the universe, offering an immersive journey into the mysteries of extinction and rebirth.

BEST SCREENPLAY

Fantabuland

 The screenplay that our judge felt stood out from a very strong field was for Fabuland from Western Australian filmmaker Pamela Van Amstel. It was “excellent”, said Contest Director Alex Mankiewicz.  Pamela’s feature-length drama about

a mouthy expat Londoner living in his own ‘Little England’ in Australia is “in the Guy Ritchie vein, but with heart and a broader, more human story to tell”, Alex said, as well as being “eminently makeable and marketable.”