The winner of Sydney Film Festival’s prestigious Sydney Film Prize, now in its sixth year, was revealed in Sydney today.

Out of a selection of 12 films in SFF’s Official Competition, the Sydney Film Prize was awarded to Only God Forgives, directed by Nicolas Winding Refn. The $60,000 prize, Australia’s richest cash award for film, is awarded in recognition of courageous, audacious and cutting-edge film. This is the second time Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn has won the Sydney Prize, previously winning it in 2009 with the British prison thriller Bronson.

Starring Ryan Gosling, Kristin Scott Thomas and Vithaya Pansringarm, Only God Forgives is a brutal and stylish story of betrayal, rage and redemption set in the Thai underworld.

In attendance at the harbour-side announcement were Festival Director Nashen Moodley; Official Competition Jury President Hugo Weaving; Official Competition filmmakers Christine Cynn, Kim Mordaunt, Sylvia Wilczynski, Pauline Phoumindr, Sittiphon Disamoe, Lungnam Kaosinam, Alice Keohavong and Boonsri Yindi; and jury members Paolo Bertolin, Anand Gandhi, Pia Marais and Kath Shelper.

“After 10 days of captivating and diverse film viewing and passionate conversations, the jury arrived at a majority decision. In the true spirit of the Competition criteria, we award a visually mesmerizing and disturbing film, which polarised our opinions. The winner of the Sydney Film Prize is Only God Forgives,” said the Official Competition jury, headed by Hugo Weaving.

“I am very honoured and extremely excited to have received this honourable award from a country that in my opinion has one of the great film histories of the world,” said Nicolas Winding Refn.

Nicolas Winding Refn was born in Denmark in 1970. His edgy, stylish and frequently violent films have garnered critical acclaim, a passionate worldwide following and increasing mainstream success. At the age of 24 he wrote and directed his debut feature Pusher (1996, SFF 2006), which became a cult phenomenon. Bleeder (1999), Pusher II and Pusher Trilogy (2005) and Valhalla Rising (2009) continued this success, premiering at major festivals and finding steadily larger audiences. In 2009 his film Bronson, a prison thriller starring Tom Hardy, won the second Sydney Film Prize. His 2011 action thriller Drive, starring Ryan Gosling, was a huge international hit.

The Sydney Film Prize will be presented at SFF’s Closing Night Gala at the State Theatre on Sunday 16 June from 8pm.

This year’s Official Competition included: The Act of Killing, the acclaimed study of the Sumatran genocides from documentarian Joshua Oppenheimer; Borgman, the malevolent and wickedly funny film from Dutch director Alex van Warmerdam; The Broken Circle Breakdown, from Belgium’s Felix van Groeningen and winner of the Audience Prize at the Berlinale; Child’s Pose, the riveting Romanian drama from Călin Peter Netzer and winner of the Golden Bear at the Berlinale; For Those in Peril, the auspicious feature debut of Scottish director Paul Wright; Grigris, a drama from Chad and the latest from SFF 2012 juror Mahamat-Saleh Haroun; Monsoon Shootout, the atmospheric debut feature from Indian director Amit Kumar; Oh Boy, the debut feature of Jan Ole Gerster and winner of Best Film and Best Director at the German Film Awards; Only God Forgives, from director Nicolas Winding Refn, who won the Sydney Film Prize in 2009 with Bronson; The Rocket, the heartwarming coming-of-age tale set in Laos from Australian director Kim Mordaunt, and winner of both the Best First Feature award at the Berlinale and Best Narrative Feature at Tribeca; Stories We Tell, the deeply personal film by Sarah Polley; and Wadjda, from Saudi Arabia’s first female film director Haifaa Al Mansour (film credits below).  

The SFF Official Competition was established in 2008 and is endorsed by Fédération Internationale des Associations de Producteurs de Films (the regulating organisation for international film festivals). Twelve feature films are selected for Official Competition on the basis that they demonstrate ‘emotional power and resonance; are audacious, cutting-edge, courageous; and go beyond the usual treatment of the subject matter’.

The jury, consisting of five international and Australian filmmakers and industry professionals, awards a cash prize of $60,000, which is presented at SFF's Closing Night ceremony on Sunday 16 June, 2013. This year’s jury comprised Hugo Weaving as Jury President, award-winning filmmakers Anand Gandhi (India) and Pia Marais (Sweden/Germany), film critic and curator Paolo Bertolin (Italy) and Australian producer Kath Shelper.

The selection of films in Competition for the Sydney Film Prize were:

• The Act of Killing (Australian Premiere) | Denmark-Norway-UK | Director: Joshua Oppenheimer | Co-directors: Christine Cynn, Anonymous
• Borgman (Australian Premiere) | Netherlands| Director: Alex van Warmerdam | Cast: Jan Bijvoet, Hadewich Minis, Jeroen Perceval
• The Broken Circle Breakdown (Australian Premiere) | Belgium, Netherlands | Director: Felix van Groeningen | Cast: Veerle Baetens, Johan Heldenbergh, Nell Cattrysse
• Child’s Pose (Australian Premiere) | Romania | Director: Călin Peter Netzer | Cast: Luminita Gheorghiu, Bogdan Dumitrache, Nataşa Raab
• For Those in Peril (Australian Premiere) | UK | Director: Paul Wright | Cast: Kate Dickie, Michael Smiley, Nichola Burley
• Grigris (Australian Premiere) | France| Director: Mahamat-Saleh Haroun | Cast: Souléymane Démé, Anaïs Monory, Cyril Guei
• Monsoon Shootout (Australian Premiere) | India | Director: Amit Kumar | Cast: Neeraj Kabi, Vijay Verma, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Tannishtha Chatterjee
• Oh Boy (Australian Premiere) | German| Director: Jan Ole Gerster | Cast: Tom Schilling, Friederike Kempter, Marc Hosemann           
• Only God Forgives (Australian Premiere) |France, Denmark| Director: Nicolas Winding Refn | Cast: Ryan Gosling, Kristin Scott Thomas, Yayaying Rhatha Phongam
• The Rocket (Australian Premiere)| Australia | Director: Kim Mordaunt | Cast: Sitthiphon Disamoe, Loungnam Kaosainam, Thep Po-ngam
• Stories We Tell (Australian Premiere) | Canada | Director: Sarah Polley
  Wadjda (Australian Premiere) | Saudi Arabia-Germany |Director: Haifaa Al Mansour| Cast: Reem Abdullah, Waad Mohammed, Abdullrahman Al Gohani

Each Jury Member and the winner of the Sydney Film Prize for 2013 will receive an exquisite timepiece from our generous watch partner Philip Stein.

Sydney Film Festival celebrates its 60th anniversary this 5-16 June bringing a packed program of screenings and special events to even more venues across Sydney. For tickets and full up-to-date program information please visit www.sff.org.au.