Aaron Carrol, Tania Verbeeck and Peter Tautua have won the top prizes in the three categories of the inaugural Sony Film Festival for Australian and New Zealand film-makers.


Winners of the 2021 Sony Film Festival, ‘Dearest Madeline’ by Peter Tautua, ‘While the Cat’s Away…’ by Aaron Carroll and ‘Women Take on Nepal’ by Tania Verbeeck. (Source: Sony.)

The winning entries were chosen from more than 130 entries by judges, Peter James, ACS, ASC (Non-fiction category), Sony Music Australia (music category) and internationally renowned director Will Gluck (Fiction category). Winner of the Music Video category, Dearest Madeline  by Peter Tautua uses a song written by music artist Pika Ocho, and tells the story of his mother, Sina, a migrant from Samoa who settled in Auckland, New Zealand, to start a new life for her two sons and husband. Aaron Carroll won the Fiction category with While the Cat’s Away…, a story of a woman’s attempt to fill in time while waiting for her lover to come home. The Non-fiction category was won by Tania Verbeeck, whose film Women Take on Nepal covers the journey of three young, strong, resilient women who have fought the odds of being a female in Nepal through their determination to empower other Nepalese women through trekking in the Himalayas which is frowned upon by the Nepalese trekking community.

The winning entries and runners-up in the competition can be viewed here.

Members of the public are invited to vote for their favourite film from each category. Three lucky voters will have the opportunity to WIN a pair of Sony Noise Cancelling Headphones (RRP Value $619.95) and help award The People’s Choice Award to three films. For more information, click here.