What would happen when a group of teenagers collides with 2000-year-old ruins? That is the premise of La Gradiva, the French film that has won the Melbourne International Film Festival’s top gong, the Bright Horizons Award.
Director Marine Atlan and her creative team win $140,000, one of the richest film prizes around the world. She also co-wrote the film, with Anne Brouillet.
Set mainly in Naples, La Gravida follows a group of high school students as they discover Pompeii – and themselves.
“I wanted to explore what happens when you become aware that you belong to a span of time far greater than your own lifetime,” Atlan says, speaking from Paris on the eve of the announcement.
It is her first feature, as she emerges from her role as a cinematographer to take the reins. “The most difficult thing was allowing myself to occupy the position of filmmaker and to feel legitimate in doing so.”
The winner was announced at Saturday night’s MIFF Awards ceremony.
Dario Russo took out the Blackmagic Design best Australian director award for the absurdist black comedy The Fox. He pockets $50,000 in cash, plus a fully kitted URSA Cine 12K $27,500 camera.
Currently in New South Wales at a writers workshop, Russo was not able to attend the ceremony. The Fox stars Jai Courtney with voiceovers by Olivia Colman and Sam Neill.
Other nominees for the directors awards were Harvey Zielinski for Sweet Milk Lake, Hyun Lee for French Girls and Maddelin McKenna for Mad Rush.
Arrernte and Luritja director, writer, and producer Talia Liddle took out the Uncle Jack Charles Award, worth $20,000, for her direction of short film Protest on the Dance Floor. As the name suggests, it explores how Indigenous people in Melbourne use music – and dance floors – to create spaces of sovereignty, connection and liberation.
Sad Girls, directed by Fernanda Tovar, won the MIFF Schools Youth Jury Award, worth $10,000. Special mention went to Phenomena, directed by Josef Gatti. The MIFF audience award will be announced next week, after votes have been tallied.
This year’s MIFF judges included president Sophie Hyde, along with Desiree Akhavan, Courtney Eaton, Noora Niasari, Joe Swanberg and Tan Si En.
La Gradiva won the prestigious Cannes Critics’ Week Grand Prize and is also a likely contender for Best Foreign Film at the Oscars.
Atlan says she puts a lot of herself into making films: “Trying to unfold the opacity of the world, of reality, through images and sounds remains one of the most essential experiences for me.”
Her experience as a cinematographer informs how she directs. “Operating the camera and framing are important to my relationship with actors,” she says. “Sometimes being behind the camera gives me a more direct way of working with and directing them.”
Thought it’s hard to nominate just one element of filmmaking that appeals, Atlan says she loves its collective nature, “that moment when an entire crew is completely alert and focused on the same purpose for the duration of a single shot”.
Real-life and filmmaking partners Eleanor Wilson and Alex Huston Fischer, whose film Wicker – starring Olivia Colman and Alexander Skarsgard – opened this year’s festival, were also shortlisted for the Bright Horizons Award. Speaking on Friday, they said they didn’t expect quite this explosion of interest.
“We knew that he was a beautiful creation and we were excited to share him but it has definitely taken on a life of its own now,” Wilson says with a laugh when asked about the proliferation of memes posted to social media about the Skarsgard’s wickerman.
Remarkably, all of her short films were rejected by MIFF, so she’s thrilled to be here and to be nominated.
“When we were writing it, we were thinking about specific characters and their very specific journeys,” says Wilson. “But if you step back and look at it the context of the state of dating now, it does feel strangely prescient.”
BRIGHT HORIZONS AWARD 2026 SHORTLIST
Big Girls Don’t Cry – Paloma SchneidemanBlue Heron – Sophy RomvariElephants in the Fog – Abinash Bikram ShahGoodbye, Cruel World –Félix de GivryJosephine – Beth de AraújoLa Gradiva – Marine AtlanSweet Milk Lake – Harvey ZielinskiThe Friend’s House Is Here – Hossein Keshavarz and Maryam AtaeiWicker – Eleanor Wilson and Alex Huston FischerYesterday the Eye Didn’t Sleep – Rakan Mayasi