Andrey Zvyagintsev claimed the Sydney Movie Prize on Sunday evening for “Minotaur,” his thriller set in opposition to the backdrop of latest Russia, because the 73rd Sydney Film Festival wrapped its 12-day run on the State Theatre with what organizers described because the highest-selling pageant within the occasion’s historical past.
The AUD$60,000 ($42,200) prize – awarded for work deemed “audacious, cutting-edge and courageous” – was decided by a world jury led by Brazilian director Kleber Mendonça Filho, joined by Hungarian filmmaker Ildikó Enyedi, Singaporean director Boo Junfeng, Australian cinematographer Ari Wegner and Australian First Nations producer-director Sally Riley.
“Minotaur” had beforehand gained the Grand Prix at Cannes earlier this 12 months. Accepting the Sydney prize in individual – his first go to to Australia in additional than a decade – Zvyagintsev addressed the ceremony with remarks that underscored the movie’s stakes for audiences inside Russia. “I would like to thank the jury for this decision, because this film means a lot to people who are struggling at the moment in Russia,” he stated. “The Russian language is struggling. This film is very important to them.”
Of their joint assertion, the jury described “Minotaur” as a piece that tackles the abuse of energy in a register that felt “strongly Hitchcockian, strongly cinematic” – a chronicle of latest Russia that they stated addressed a topic that, sadly, by no means goes out of fashion.
Zvyagintsev had additionally participated in a Masterclass through the pageant forward of his win.
The announcement preceded the Australian premiere of James Grey’s thriller “Paper Tiger,” the closing-night screening. Pageant CEO Frances Wallace stated attendance had grown a projected 10% year-on-year to an estimated 170,000 – up from 157,000 in 2025 – with Youth Cross gross sales rising greater than 30%.
“SFF73 was such a buzz from opening to closing and again for the second year in a row, making history by becoming the highest selling box office in the festival’s 73 years,” Wallace stated.
Among the many different awards offered on the ceremony, the AUD$40,000 ($28,100) Sustainable Future Award – billed because the world’s largest environmental movie prize – went to “Sukundimi Walks Before Me,” a documentary directed by Mataslia Freshwater and Lachlan McLeod that follows an Indigenous PNG neighborhood’s battle to guard the Sepik River from mining. The AUD$35,000 ($24,600) First Nations Award, supported by Truant Footage, went to Banchi Hanuse for “Ceremony,” a hybrid documentary tracing reminiscence and colonialism by way of Nuxalk lands. Vee Shi obtained the AUD$20,000 ($14,100) Documentary Australia Award for “Time and Tide,” a hybrid docu-drama about multigenerational household pressures, whereas writer-director Fadia Abboud took the AUD$10,000 ($7,000) Sydney-UNESCO Metropolis of Movie Award, offered by Display NSW.
On the Dendy Awards for Australian Brief Movies, held the earlier night, Siena Mayutu Wumarri Stubbs gained the AUD$7,000 ($4,900) Dendy Dwell Motion Brief Award for “Maŋutji (Catching Eyes).” The AUD$7,000 ($4,900) Yoram Gross Animation Award and the AUD$7,000 ($4,900) Occasion Cinemas Rising Expertise Award for Screenwriting went to Judith Pungarta Inkamala, Marjorie ‘Nunga’ Williams and Nelson Armstrong for “Our Choir Has Always Been Travelling.” Cristabel Sved obtained the AUD$7,000 ($4,900) Rouben Mamoulian Award for Finest Director for “Date 3,” and the AUD$7,000 ($4,900) AFTRS Craft Award for Finest Practitioner went to manufacturing designers Angelina Kovacs and Sophie Ravant for “Flesh Fruit.”
“It has been a terrific edition of Sydney Film Festival and such a delight to see cinemas full every day and all around the city,” pageant director Nashen Moodley stated. “We welcomed over 100 filmmakers from around the world who presented their films to very enthusiastic and engaged audiences. It really feels that cinema as a collective experience is thriving. Congratulations to all the winners of awards and all filmmakers with films at the festival and our thanks to the juries who made the difficult choices.”
The Sydney Movie Prize competitors is endorsed by FIAPF. Earlier winners embody “It Was Just an Accident” (2025) and “There’s Still Tomorrow” (2024).
WINNERS
Sydney Movie Prize — AUD$60,000 ($42,200)
“Minotaur,” dir. Andrey Zvyagintsev
Sustainable Future Award — AUD$40,000 ($28,100)
“Sukundimi Walks Before Me,” dir. Mataslia Freshwater and Lachlan McLeod
First Nations Award (supported by Truant Footage) — AUD$35,000 ($24,600)
“Ceremony,” dir. Banchi Hanuse
Documentary Australia Award — AUD$20,000 ($14,100)
“Time and Tide,” dir. Vee Shi
Sydney-UNESCO Metropolis of Movie Award — AUD$10,000 ($7,000)
Fadia Abboud (author/director)
Dendy Dwell Motion Brief Award — AUD $7,000 ($4,900)
“Maŋutji (Catching Eyes),” dir. Siena Mayutu Wumarri Stubbs
Yoram Gross Animation Award — AUD$7,000 ($4,900)
“Our Choir Has Always Been Travelling,” dir. Judith Pungarta Inkamala, Marjorie ‘Nunga’ Williams and Nelson Armstrong
Rouben Mamoulian Award for Finest Australian Director — AUD$7,000 ($4,900)
Cristabel Sved, “Date 3”
AFTRS Craft Award for Finest Practitioner — AUD$7,000 ($4,900)
Angelina Kovacs and Sophie Ravant, manufacturing designers, “Flesh Fruit”
Occasion Cinemas Rising Expertise Award for Screenwriting — AUD$7,000 ($4,900)
Judith Pungarta Inkamala, Marjorie ‘Nunga’ Williams and Nelson Armstrong, “Our Choir Has Always Been Travelling”
