South Africa's film festival goes Cannes way, picks Haneke's Love as Best picture

Yesterday, the Jury of the 33rd Durban International Film Festival (DIFF), South Africa, could not get out of the shadow of Cannes 2012 as German-born Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke’s Love (Amour) of France, Austria, Germany origin was announced the Best Film. The same film had picked top award at the last Cannes Film Festival in France.  

The Best Film award of DIFF carries a cash prize of R50 000.

Michael Haneke

The full list of awards:

Best Film: Love (Amour), directed by Michael Haneke;

Best South African Feature Film: Adventures in Zambezia (South Africa), directed by Wayne Thornley;

Best First Feature Film: Sleeping Beauty (Australia), directed by Julia Leigh;

Best Director: Benh Zeitlin for Beasts Of The Southern Wild (USA);

Best Actress: Deanie Ip in A Simple Life (Tao Jie) (Hong Kong SAR China);

Best Actor: Joseph Wairimu in Nairobi Half Life (Kenya, Germany);

Best Cinematography: Gökhan Tiryaki for Once Upon A Time In Anatolia (Bir Zamanlar Anadolu’da) (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey);

Best Screenplay: Ercan Kesal, Ercan Ceylan and Nuri Bilge Ceylan for Once Upon A Time In Anatolia (Bir Zamanlar Anadolu’da) (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey);

Special Jury Mention Feature Film: Goodbye (Be Omid E Didar) (Iran), directed by Mohammad Rasoulof;

Best Documentary: 5 Broken Cameras (Palestinian Territories, France, Israel, The Netherlands), directed by Guy Davidi;

Best South African Documentary: The African Cypher (South Africa), directed by Bryan Little;

Documentary Special Jury Mention: Calvet (Costa Rica, France, Nicaragua, United Kingdom, United States), directed by Dominic Allan;

Best Short Film: The Bird Spider (La Migala) (Spain), directed by Jaime Dezcallar;

Best South African Short Film: Doppelganger (South Africa), directed by Joshua Rous;

Amnesty International Durban Human Rights Award: Call Me Kuchu (USA), directed by Malika Zouhali-Worral and Katherine Fairfax Wright;

DIFF Wavescape Audience Choice Award: The Art of Flight (USA), directed by Curt Morgan;

DIFF Documentary Audience Choice Award: Searching for Sugarman (Sweden, United Kingdom), directed by Malik Bendjellou;

DIFF Feature Film Audience Choice Award: The Lady (France, United Kingdom), directed by Luc Besson.

DIFF is organised by the Centre For Creative Arts (University of KwaZulu-Natal) with major support from the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund.  Other supporters inlude National Film and Video Foundation, KwaZulu-Natal Department of Economic Development and Tourism, HIVOS, City of Durban, German Embassy in South Africa, Goethe Institut of South Africa and French Season in South Africa.