JIN directed by Reha Erdem
Turkish film JIN and the documentary BLUSH OF FRUIT won top film honors at the 2013 Adelaide Film Festival which took place October 10 to 20, 2013 in Adelaide, Australia. JIN, directed and written by Reha Erdem is the winner of the Foxtel Movies International Award for Best Feature Film and BLUSH OF FRUIT, directed by Jakeb Anhvu, is the winner of the festival’s first ever Documentary Award.
in JIN, a 17-year-old girl deserts the Kurdish guerrillas in the mountains and tries to make her way through the forest to her grandmother’s house. It’s a simple enough story that plays on the Little Red Riding Hood fairy tale, but it sets the framework for a film of extraordinary visual richness. As she moves through the intense green landscapes, she is in constantly in contact with animals who share her condition as solitary, threatened and magnificent figures—and there is no shortage of big bad wolves in the world, though they are exclusively human. Man makes war not simply on himself, but also on nature.
Blush of Fruit directed by Reha Erdem
BLUSH OF FRUIT, is described as a fly on the wall documentary about a man’s quest and the mothers who care for the abused, orphaned children of Nha–Trang, Vietnam. Tong Phuoc Phuc has won fame and fortune by opposing abortion in the name of Christianity and accumulating lucrative donations for taking in unwanted babies and pregnant girls in Vietnam. The girls are used as carers though the children are routinely treated with neglect and cruelty.
2013 Audience Award Winners
Most Popular Feature – CHARLIE’S COUNTRY, directed by Rolf de Heer
CHARLIE’S COUNTRY, directed by Rolf de Heer
After glowing reviews at the Festival from such publications as The Guardian, Screen Daily, Fairfax and ABC Radio, audiences agreed. Starring David Gulpilil, Charlie’s Country tells the story of an Aboriginal man living in a remote community who takes off, to live the old way, but in doing so sets off a chain of events in his life that has him return to his community chastened, and somewhat the wiser.
Most Popular Short – THE GALLANT CAPTAIN, directed by Graeme Base and Katrina Mathers
Screened as part of the Festival’s family session, The Gallant Captain is the animated film debut of renowned children’s book illustrator and author Graeme Base. Adapted from Base’s hugely popular picture book The Legend of the Golden Snail, The Gallant Captain is a child’s pirate fantasy that celebrates the power of the imagination.
Most Popular Documentary – ONCE MY MOTHER, directed by Sophia Turkiewicz
ONCE MY MOTHER, directed by Sophia Turkiewicz
This is the story of two women: Turkiewicz, an award-winning Australian filmmaker, and her mother Helen. It is a story of survival and forgiveness, and finally a deeply affecting love story. In her old age her daughter leads her through a rediscovery of the epic journey of her life, from Poland to a wartime Siberian gulag, and through Uzbekistan, Persia and a refugee camp in Africa before she comes to rest in Adelaide. Turkiewicz traces her own life in parallel with her mother’s in an effort to make peace with their troubled relationship.
Audience Award Top 10′s:
FEATURE:
1. Charlie’s Country
2. Beatriz’s War
3. 52 Tuesdays
4. Like Father, Like Son
5. Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa
6. Short Term 12
7. The Past
8. Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?
9. Omar
10. Broken Circle Breakdown
DOCUMENTARY
1. Once My Mother
2. Tender
3. All This Mayhem
4. Bradley Wiggins: A Year in Yellow
5. Fire in the Blood
6. This Ain”t No Mouse Music!
7. Muscle Shoals
8. Battle of the Sexes
9. Blackfish
10. A World Not Ours
SHORT
1. The Gallant Captain
2. Welcome to Iron Knob
3. I Want To Dance Better At Parties
4. Bonny Doon
5. Oh Willy