2019 Nominees & Winners

The 2019 Byron Bay Film Festival has 14 awards for excellence across the following categories:

  • Dramatic Feature

  • Documentary

  • Short Film

  • Surf Film

  • Byron Film – our Locals Award

  • Animation

  • Experimental Film

  • Cinematography

  • Young Australian Filmmaker of the Year

  • Screenplay

  • Cinematic VR Experience

  • Best Interactive VR Experience

  • Music Documentary

  • The Rob Stewart Environmental Film Award

Young Australian Filmmaker of The Year Finalists

  • David Szasz

  • Luca Blades

  • Abbie Pobjoy

  • Julia Dawsom

  • Claudia Bailey

  • Tom Parolin

  • Jake Mannix

  • Victoria Thompson

  • Julian Cullen

  • Olivia Altavilla

Winner - Claudia Bailey 

Byron Bay International Screenplay Finalists

  • Tim Schildberger: Alone Together

  • RC Arthur: Sailor

  • Anderson Boyd: The Lease of Nature

  • DJ McPherson: His Name is Jeremiah

  • Gabrielle Gozo: Thunder Roars, Get Indoors

  • John Pisano-Thomsen: The Politics of Love and Dance

  • David Hearne: The Case of the Notorious Roboticist

  • Joanne Bellew: Mojo

  • Philip Sedgwick: Rejected by Rumor

  • James Mayon: Fear Sum

  • Joanne Bellew: Rudy’s Christmas Revenge

  • Taylor Bennett: Carry On

  • Joe D’Arcy: 1966

  • Neil Mansfield: The Wood for the Trees

  • Lachlan Marks: The Dead Ends

1st Place - James Mayson - Fear Sum

2nd Place - Anderson Boyd - The Lease of Nature

3rd Place - John Pisano-Thomsen - The Politics of Love and Dance 

Best Byron Film

Our award for locally created films, all nominees are Northern Rivers filmmakers

Winner - Manus 

Best Animation

All Animated Films are nominees

Winner - Hurlevent 

Best Cinematic VR Experience

All 360 Experiences are nominees

Winner - THE LEAP - Inside Architect Dorte Mandrup's Mind 

Best Interactive VR Experience

All Interactive VR Experiences are nominees

Winner - The Holy City

Honourable Mention - Gloomy Eyes Part 2 

Best Music Video Nominees

All Music Video Finalists are nominees

Winner - Pub Talk 

Best Cinematography Nominees

  • Kofi and Lartey

  • Out Deh - The Youth of Jamaica

  • A Son of Man

  • Rear View Mirror

  • Rising Water

Winner - Kofi and Lartey 

Rob Stewart Environmental Film Award Nominees

  • An Island in the Continent

  • Guardian

  • Kifaru

  • Kofi and Lartey

  • Reclamation: The Rise at Standing Rock

Winner - Kifaru 

Best Experimental Film Nominees

  • Blue Beard

  • Continuum 01 - South in Self Exile

  • Mystique Sequence

  • Rising Water

  • Snapshots

  • The Year is 2020

Winner - Continuum 01 - South in Self Exile 

Best Music Documentary Nominees

  • Out Deh - The Youth of Jamaica

  • Live Baby Live

  • Eliades Ochoa - From Cuba to The World

Winner - Out Deh - The Youth of Jamaica 

Best Surf Film Nominees

  • Beyond The Noise

  • Nordurland

  • Out deh - The Youth of Jamaica

  • Pacifico

  • She is the Ocean

Winner - She is the Ocean 

Best Short Film Nominees

  • An Act of Love

  • Elders

  • May Day

  • Oslo

  • Nero

  • Snapshots

Winner - Nero 

Best Documentary Nominees

  • Dosed

  • In My Blood It Runs

  • Kifaru

  • Why Can't I Be Me Around You

  • Out Deh - The Youth of Jamaica

Winner - In My Blood It Runs 

Best Dramatic Feature Nominees

  • Alice

  • A Son of Man

  • Measure For Measure

  • The Cave

  • This World Won't Break

Winner - Alice 

Best Film Nominees

  • Alice

  • In My Blood It Runs

  • Kifaru

  • Out Deh - The Youth of Jamaica

  • The Cave

Winner - In My Blood It Runs