GOLDEN GAZELLE AWARD
| OFFICIAL SELECTION | AWARDS & JURIES | ACADEMIC PROGRAM |
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2019 FESTIVAL JURY
FEATURES & SHORTS JURY
Susan Prior works extensively in film, television and theatre. She received an AACTA Award for David Michod’s film, The Rover. Other films include: Jasper Jones, Animal Kingdom, Book Week, Rising Wolf, Aim High in Creation, Not Suitable for Children, A Cold Summer (co-writer) Idiot Box. She starred in the Oscar-nominated short The Saviour, and Jennifer Kent’s Monster. On television: The Gloaming, Les Norton, Glitch, Riot, Safe Harbour, Top of the Lake, Rake, Puberty Blues (AACTA Award nomination). She has written articles for Inside Film magazine as well.
Robert Mackenzie is an Australian supervising sound editor who has been enriching the film world with his creative soundscapes for over twenty-five years. He body of work includes Animal Kingdom (2010), The Hunter (2011), Lore (2012), Felony (2013), The Grandmaster (2013), The Rover (2014), Deadline Gallipoli (2015), Partisan (2015), Lion (2016), and critically acclaimed war-drama film Hacksaw Ridge (2017), for which he received two Academy Award nominations at the 89th Academy Awards, Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing. Most recently Rob has completed work on The Nightingale and Mystify, Judy & Punch, Top End Wedding, and in addition to David Michôd’s medieval epic, The King.
Rachel Ward is an actress, screenwriter and film and television director. She is known for The Thorn Birds (1983), Sharky’s Machine (1981) and Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid (1982). She garnered nomination for ‘New Star of the Year’ award at the Golden Globe for playing Dominoe in the film ‘Sharky’s Machine’. Her portrayal of Meggie Cleary in the television miniseries ‘The Thorn Birds’ fetched her a second Golden Globe nomination, afterwhich Rachel Ward featured in several screen productions and feature films. She won several directors awards for ‘The Big House’. Her directorial works also include the film ‘Martha’s New Coat’ and ‘Beautiful Kate’.
Bonnie Elliott is an award-winning cinematographer who works across drama, documentary and video art. Bonnie’s work has screened at major international festivals, including Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Toronto, Tribeca, Rotterdam, Sydney & Melbourne. She has received recognition from the Australian Cinematographer’s Society on numerous occasions. Bonnie shot her debut feature film in Iran. MY TEHRAN FOR SALE, directed by Granaz Moussavi, premiered at the 2009 Adelaide Film Festival, and screened at international film festivals including Toronto, Pusan and Rotterdam.
Mojean Aria is an Australian actor, writer and director who won the 2017 Heath Ledger Scholarship award. He attended the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) at the age of fourteen. In 2004 he won a scholarship to The McDonald College High School of Performing Arts. In 2005 he landed a lead role in the feature film Cross Life directed by Claire McCarthy, which premiered at the Sydney Film Festival. He later relocated to Los Angeles. His work has been screened at; Cannes Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival and more.
DOCUMENTARY JURY
Mitzi Goldman is a Producer of Good Pitch² Australia and currently CEO of the Documentary Australia Foundation, bringing philanthropists and filmmakers together to create social change. Mitzi has written, produced, edited and directed award-winning international documentaries for over 25 years. From 2002–2008 Mitzi was Co-Head of Documentary at AFTRS. Her production company, Looking Glass Pictures Pty Ltd, specialises in social impact documentary. Mitzi holds a BA from University of Sydney and a Phd in Cultural Studies.
Stefan Moore is a producer/director and executive producer of documentaries in the USA, Britain and Australia. His documentaries have received four Emmys and numerous other awards. In the US, he was co-director of TVG Productions in New York, a series producer at WNET and a producer for the prime time CBS News magazine program 48 HOURS. In the UK Stefan worked as a series producer at the BBC, and in Australia he was an Executive Producer for Film Australia and the ABC where he commissioned a slate of critically acclaimed films and series.
Megan McMurchy is an independent film and television producer with more than 50 hours of television credits. Most recently she executive-produced the two-part documentary Horror Movie: A Low Budget Nightmare for ABC TV. She co-produced feature documentary Tyke Elephant Outlaw (BBC, Netflix) and produced the web series I Luv U But. Her award-winning documentaries include Sadness, Mr Patterns, Mystique of the Pearl, For Love or Money, and the series Fine Line and Hybrid Life. She also produced the feature films Footy Legends, Talk and Breathing Under Water.
Tom Zubrycki is a filmmaker and producer whose award winning documentaries have earned an international reputation for their truthfulness, realism and humanity. For the last 40 years, his work has mapped Australia’s changing social and political landscape. He has written and directed 15 documentaries, most of them feature-length, and produced another 22 with mostly early career filmmakers. He also has been actively involved in a number of industry organisations including the Australian Directors Guild and OZDOX, the Australian Documentary Forum.
The Golden Gazelle Award is inspired by an ancient Persian winged-gazelle, dated back to Achaemenes Empire around 4th century BC, signifying vitality and intuition in artistic practice. The festival jury will look at the films in competition and will present the Golden Gazelle Award for:
- BEST FEATURE FILM
- BEST SHORT FILM
- BEST DOCUMENTARY
PREVIOUS JURIES
2018 Festival Jury
The festival jury, Ester Harding, Fereydoun Mehrabi, Andrea Demetriades and David White announced the winners of the 2018 GOLDEN GAZELLE AWARD for Best Feature and Best Short Film during the closing night ceremony.
2017 Festival Jury
At the Closing Night of the 6th Persian Film Festival the Jury members Rosemary Blight, Ben Ferris, Jen Peedom, Osamah Sami and Rebecca Barry announced the winners of the 2017 GOLDEN GAZELLE AWARD for Best Feature and Best Short Film.
2016 Festival Jury
5th Persian International Film Festival Jury members Sue Murray, Martin Brown, Helen Panckhurst and Ray Argall announced the winners of the 2016 GOLDEN GAZELLE AWARD for Best Feature and Best Short Film.
- In the Feature category the jury awarded THE SALESMAN by Asghar Farhadi while giving an honorary mention to A VERY ORDINARY CITIZEN by Majid Barzegar.
- In the Short Film category the jury awarded 500 OUNCES OF GOLD by Shahrzad Dadgar while giving an honorary mention to OPEN WINDOW by Afshin Rezaei.
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