Jafar Panahi’s “It Was Just an Accident”, a reimagined Iranian thriller, was named the winner of the Sydney Film Prize at the end of the Sydney Film Festival (June 4-15).
A jury headed by Justin Kurzel called the film about the lived realities of people in Iran “audacious, cutting-edge and courageous”. The prize, valued at $60,000, is one of the richest awarded at any film festival.
The announcement came at the State Theatre ahead of the Australian premiere of Michael Angelo Covino’s comedy “Splitsville,” capping off the highest-selling festival in Sydney Film Festival history.
Alongside “It Was Just an Accident” screening in competition, the Festival also featured a retrospective of all 10 of Panahi’s feature films. In a rare appearance, Panahi was in Sydney to accept the award in person.
The $20,000 Documentary Australia Award went to local filmmaker Shalom Almond for “Songs Inside,” a moving portrait of women prisoners healing through a unique music program.
The $35,000 First Nations Award, the largest cash prize for Indigenous filmmaking, was awarded to 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 handed out as part of The Dendy Awards for Australian Short Films:
- The $7,000 Dendy Live Action Short Award went to “Faceless,” directed by Fraser Pemberton and William Jaka.
- The $7,000 Yoram Gross Animation Award was won by “The Fling,” directed by Jemma Cotter.
- Rory Pearson took home the $7,000 Rouben Mamoulian Award for Best Director for “Mates.”
- The AFTRS Craft Award for Best Practitioner ($7,000) went to Josh Peters, music and sound designer on “Faceless.”
- The Event Cinemas Rising Talent Award for Screenwriting ($7,000) was awarded to Rory Pearson and Marcus Aldred-Traynor, co-writers of “Mates.”
The $10,000 Sydney-UNESCO City of Film Award, presented by Screen NSW to a trailblazing NSW-based screen practitioner, went to 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.”