Joy wins big prize at 2018 London Film Festival

Joy and Girl were among the big winners at the London Film Festival awards night on Saturday (20Oct18).
Austrian-Iranian director Sudabeh Mortezai claimed the award for Best Film for her movie Joy, while director Lukas Dhont’s Girl was named the winner of the Sutherland Award for First Feature.
Mortezai is on a roll after winning the first ever Hearst Film Award for Best Female Direction and the 2018 Europa Cinemas Label at the 75th Venice International Film Festival.
Raving about the LFF’s big winner, festival official competition president Lenny Abrahamson said: “Joy is a provocative and unique film offering a devastating portrait of human resilience in the most inhuman of environments. A raw, fresh view on sex trafficking with a sharp feminist perspective sewn in throughout.
“Director Sudabeh Mortezai successfully immerses us in the women’s lives with her documentarist approach, exploring the traps of abuse and extortion without ever becoming exploitative itself. A vital beautifully made film that my fellow jurors and I urge you to watch.”
There were also big wins for Roberto Minervini, who landed the Grierson Award in Documentary Competition for What You Gonna Do When the World’s on Fire, and Charlie Lyne, who picked up the Short Film Award for Lasting Marks., while the official competition jury also gave a Special Commendation to Birds of Paradise, directed by Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra.