Lukas Dhont’s ‘Close’ wins best film prize at Sydney Festival, Farooki wraps up jury duty

Belgian film director Lukas Dhont's "Close" which bagged the Grand Prix in Cannes last month, has won the top prize at the Sydney Film Festival, on Sunday evening. 

Internationally acclaimed writer-director Mostafa Sarwar Farooki was the member of the jury board which selected the best film at the festival. 

The winner has been awarded AUD$60,000 (TK38, 74,564.93), reports Variety. 

Other than Farooki, the jury led by Australian actor David Wenham, also includes Berlin Golden Bear winner Semih Kaplanoglu (Turkey), and the executive director of the Kawakita Memorial Film Institute in Tokyo, Yuka Sakano (Japan).

After wrapping up his duty as jury member, Mostafa Sarwar Farooqi shared some of the snippets from the festival. 
"All good things come to an end. Although I am very happy to go back to my daughter and wife, I will miss my co-jurors, Sydney audiences, my nephew, Sydney sky, and walk on the street," Farooqi captioned the post. 
"As for the jury decision, we finally went with 'Close' by Lucas Dhont. There were some really good competition entries. At the end, the jury unanimously went with Close," he added.
Farooki signed off saying. "See you next year, Sydney!"

The 2022 Sydney Film Festival, which ran from 8-19 June, featured over 200 films from over 60 countries.