Ayaan, the ADG Award-winning short film of AFTRS graduate, writer, director and Academy Award-nominated screen composer, Alies Sluiter (Master of Arts: Film, Television and Digital Media Screen Composition, 2005) has claimed five major prizes at the South Australian Screen Awards (SASA).
The film’s sweep includes the Grand Jury Prize, Best Drama and Best Screenplay awards, as well as the prizes for Best Male Performance for Trevor Jamieson and Best Female Performance for Babetida Sadjo.
Associate produced by AFTRS alum and current Senior Lecturer in Documentary Alejandra Canales (Master of Arts Honours: Film, Television and Digital Media Documentary, 2005;) and edited by fellow graduate Tania Nehme (AFTRS Certificate, 1990), Ayaan tells the story of an escaped asylum seeker and her baby, who encounter an Aboriginal man on a rural Australian beach, and must decide whether to trust him or attempt the 400km journey to the nearest city, on foot and alone.
The film made its debut at Sydney Film Festival in 2020 and has since earned Sluiter the Best Direction of a Student Film at the Australian Directors’ Guild Awards and screened at Adelaide Film Festival, where it won the short film audience award.
Also recognised at this year’s awards was alum Benjamin Speed (Graduate Diploma: Film and Television – Screen Composition, 2008), who together with Leigh Marsh received the award for Best Music Composition for their work on Zane Roach’s 37 Things.
The annual SASA ceremony recognises outstanding talent in emerging South Australian storytellers and craft professionals. This year, the event was held virtually for the first time in 22 years with a virtual reception on 4 December 2020, recognising storytellers across 21 screen craft and genre categories. See the full list of winners here.
ALUMNI WINNERS AT THE 2020 SOUTH AUSTRALIA SCREEN AWARDS
GRAND JURY PRIZE
Ayaan
Producers: Meng Xiong & Elspeth Trautwein, Writer/Director: Alies Sluiter
BEST DRAMA
Ayaan
Producers: Meng Xiong & Elspeth Trautwein, Writer/Director: Alies Sluiter
BEST SCREENPLAY
Alies Sluiter (Master of Arts: Film, Television and Digital Media Screen Composition, 2005) – Ayaan
BEST MALE PERFORMANCE
Trevor Jamieson – Ayaan
BEST FEMALE PERFORMANCE
Babetida Sadjo – Ayaan
BEST MUSIC COMPOSITION
Leigh Marsh and Benjamin Speed (Graduate Diploma: Film and Television – Screen Composition, 2008) – 37 Things
