Hunger wins at Sydney

Hunger won the Sydney Film Festival´s first international competition last night. The Director, Steve McQueen, added the prize to an impressive list of awards that includes the famous Turner prize as a video artist in 1999 and the Camera d´Or for best first-time director at the Cannes Film Festival last month.

A jury headed by the Australian director Gillian Armstrong chose Hunger as winner of the 12-film competition that has run at the festival over the past 12 days. The film´s producer, Laura Hastings-Smith, accepted the trophy, which is affectionately dubbed the Blue Pavlova.

Armstrong said the jury´s decision was unanimous: "Hunger was selected for its controlled clarity of vision, its extraordinary detail and bravery, the dedication of its cast and the power and resonance of its humanity," she said.