Overview
As 2025's Sydney Film Festival announced at its closing-night gala, if you caught Jafar Panahi's It Was Just an Accident at this year's fest, then you saw the latest winner of the Sydney Film Prize. If you sat down to Songs Inside, Floodland and Wilfred Buck, you also watched 2025's recipients of the event's Documentary Australia Award, Sustainable Future Award and First Nations Award. There's more accolades where they came from, too — this time decided not by juries, but by festivalgoers.
If you voted in SFF's 2025 Audience Awards at the fest's highest-selling year in its history, then you had a hand in selecting the picks for Australian feature, Australian documentary, international feature and international documentary — plus their runners up. Over 23,000 votes were received across the four fields, with the winners showcasing the breadth of flicks on offer at this year's festival.
Aussie animation Lesbian Space Princess — which features The Pitt's Shabana Azeez among its voice cast — added the Best Australian Narrative Feature Audience Award to its growing haul, after collecting the Teddy Award at this year's Berlin International Film Festival. Its counterpart in the international field: All That's Left of You, about a Palestinian family in the occupied West Bank.
In the documentary categories The Raftsmen and Prime Minister took out the top prizes, the first for chronicling an effort to cross the Pacific Ocean in 1973 and the second for a portrait of Jacinda Ardern.
"These four films are powerful examples of the fantastically diverse kinds of storytelling that move, inspire and connect with audiences," said Sydney Film Festival Director Nashen Moodley.
"Leela Varghese and Emma Hough Hobbs' Lesbian Space Princess is a singular achievement in animated cinema. This wildly imaginative feature is hilarious, heartfelt and unapologetically out there — and our audiences adored it."
"The Raftsmen is a gripping and meditative exploration of adventure and human endurance. Chadden Hunter's evocative storytelling, blending archival 16mm footage with survivor testimony, brings to life one of the great oceanic journeys in modern history."
"Cherien Dabis' All That's Left of You is sweeping in scope and deeply personal in its portrayal of love, loss and legacy. Tracing seven decades of Palestinian history through one family's experience, it is an emotionally resonant and beautifully crafted film that left Sydney audiences spellbound," Moodley continued.
"Finally, Prime Minister offers a rare and deeply human look behind the scenes of political leadership. With unprecedented access, this nuanced portrait of Jacinda Ardern captures a leader navigating major global and national crises with empathy and resolve — clearly something that resonated with audiences in these times."
Dark comedy Birthright, Sundance Audience Award-winner DJ Ahmet, the World Porridge Making Championship-focused The Golden Spurtle and Sundance Documentary Grand Jury Prize recipient Cutting Through Rocks all claimed the runner-up spots.
Sydney Film Festival Audience Award Winners
Australian Feature
Winner: Lesbian Space Princess
Runner up: Birthright
Australian Documentary
Winner: The Raftsmen
Runner up: The Golden Spurtle
International Feature
Winner: All That's Left of You
Runner up: DJ Ahmet
International Documentary
Winner: Prime Minister
Runner up: Cutting Through Rocks
Sydney Film Festival 2025 ran from Wednesday, June 4–Sunday, June 15 at various cinemas and venues around Sydney. The fest is screening via Sydney Film Festival's 2025 Back By Popular Demand bonus screenings at Dendy Newtown, Palace Cinemas Norton Street and Ritz Cinemas Randwick until Friday, June 20. For more information and tickets, head to the festival's website.