The 27 th Durban International Film Festival Award Night took place at NuMetro Cinecentre on Saturday 24 June, honouring 18 of the best films in the festival and the people who invest their creative capacities into the filmmaking process.
The main awards were in the form of bronze mythical sea-creatures handmade by innovative Durban artist Andries Botha, set against bead and embroidery citations created by the Zamukuziphilisa Community Project in Umlazi.
Fantastic Asian films were some of the highlights at this year's festival and they almost cleaned up at the awards.

Best Film: Full Or Empty (Iran). Directed by Abolfazl Jalili. The film is a complex and ironic metaphor for the universality of the struggle of a young teacher trying to survive and find his place in society.

Best South African Feature Film: Conversations on a Sunday Afternoon. Directed by Khalo Matabane. A genuinely revolutionary on many levels, including a remarkable consideration for both style and content. It tackles many compelling and pertinent issues in a manner that is never judgemental and which broadens our experience of being human. Conversations charts a new way forward for South African film, and indeed film in general, showing that you make a magnificent film with global resonance for very little money.

Best First Feature Film: The Peter Pan Formula (Korea). Directed by Cho Chang-ho . For his creativity and assurance in dealing with a complex, courageous and challenging subject.

Best Direction: Zhang Lu for Grain In Ear (China/Korea) for his seemingly minimalist approach which nevertheless provides the means to portray a profound human tragedy.

Best Actress: Liu Lianji in Grain In Ear (China/Korea). Her performance is an example of how to convey deep emotion and inner feelings with a deceptive screen stillness.

Best Actor: On Ju-wan in The Peter Pan Formula (Korea). For his sensitive portrayal of deep and conflicting emotions of adolescence.

Best Cinematography: Channa Deshapriya for The Forsaken Land (Sri Lanka/France). Deshapriya's cinematography provides a gentle and sensitive harmony with the director's vision of a desolate and menacing landscape.

Best Screenplay: Jafar Panahi and Shadmehr Rastin for Offside (Iran). For their use of a very popular event to capture deep and important issues in his society, which have universal resonances.

Special Jury Prize: Hidden (France/Austria/Germany/Italy). Directed by Michael Haneke. In recognition of the excellence of all aspects of the film and its acute analysis of European denial of colonialism.

Special Mention First Feature Film: Pavee Lackeen (Ireland), by Perry Ogden. The Jury would like to make a special mention of Perry Ogden's debut film Pavee Lackeen for its compassionate representation of people living in the margins.

Audience Choice : Sarafina (South Africa), directed by Darrell James Roodt

Best Documentary : Workingman's Death (Austria), directed by Michael Glawogger. Workingman's Death is a superb meditation on the world of work; every frame a searing execution of social reality, philosophy and art. From Ukrainian coal-pickers to Indonesian sulphur-miners, every moment is both raw and sensitive, concentrating beauty and pain. Its message is such that Adam Smith, Karl Marx, and Franz Fanon will be sitting up in their graves.

Special Mention Documentary : Murderball (USA), directed by Dana Adam Shapiro and Henry-Alex Rubin. Murderball combines the best of competitive excitement and unsentimental compassion in a brilliantly executed portrait of dedicated, driven quadriplegic rugby players and a coach. It's a fast-paced emotional roller-coaster, packed with unexpected action and deep empathy.

Best South African Documentary: Angola - Saudades From The One Who Loves You, directed by Richard Pakleppa. It is a brilliantly executed, beautifully filmed and all-encompassing portrait of Angola as it emerges from decades of war. From the very political rapper and the street-kids, to the models and the modestly heroic woman fish-seller, this film is both a careful guide through Angola 's medley of contradictions and a celebration of its peace.

Special Mention South African Documentary : Beauty and the Beasts, directed by Greg Streak. It is a supremely intelligent investigation of Durban 's appalling industrial pollution problems, deserving special commendation for its dogged and mildly humorous dedication, excellent continuity, and especially for the fact that it was executed with a tiny, tiny budget.

Best Short Film: O Grand Bazaar (Mozambique). Directed by Licino Azevedo. This award recognizes the work of a prolific filmmaker in a country ranked amongst the poorest in the world, and in particular the attention to detail, craftsmanship, use of symbolism and a completely novel children's perspective.

Best South African Short Film: Ongeriewe, directed by Robin Kleinsmidt. This gritty and insightful film focuses on highly topical issues, uses authentic language of the Cape Flats, and is so direct it has the impact of a documentary.

Monash University Best Newcomer Award (Short Films): Christopher Wessels for innovative cinematography in Ongeriewe

Amnesty International Durban Human Rights Award: My Country, My Country (USA). Directed by Laura Poitras it brings into sharp focus questions of democracy in the face of the daily dangers and difficulties experienced by Iraqi citizens as they live in an occupied country and have to choose whether or not to participate in the January 2005 elections.
Danie Jacobs