London Film Festival: Sex trafficking drama 'Joy' named best film in competition
Jury president Lenny Abrahamson called the film 'a provocative and unique film'
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Your support makes all the difference.Joy, a drama that tackles the vicious cycle of sex trafficking in modern Europe, has been named this year's best film in competition at the BFI London Film Festival.
Directed by Sudabeh Mortezai, the story follows a young Nigerian woman who must work the streets to pay off debts to an exploiter, all while supporting a family in Nigeria.
Jury president and Room director Lenny Abrahamson called the film “a provocative and unique film offering a devastating portrait of human resilience in the most inhuman of environments.”
The official competition jury also gave a special commendation to Birds Of Passage, directed by Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra.
Girl, directed by Lukas Dhont, won the Sutherland award in the first feature competition. The film has been selected as the Belgian entry for the best foreign language film at the Oscars and tells the story of a transgender teenager who dreams of becoming a ballet dancer.
What You Gonna Do When The World's On Fire, a documentary by Roberto Minervini that follows a Louisiana community during the summer of 2017, in the aftermath of a string of police shootings of black men, won the Grierson Award in the documentary competition.
Meanwhile Lasting Marks, a short documentary by Charlie Lyne about 16 men put on trial for sadomasochism in the 1980s won the short film award.
Tricia Tuttle, artistic director of the festival, said: “The 2018 LFF Awards nominations demonstrate the vibrancy of global filmmaking and I'm delighted for the winning filmmakers who have triumphed at the 62nd BFI London Film Festival.
“After much jury deliberation, our wonderful juries have selected four extraordinary films which encourage dialogue and understanding around issues of race, class, gender and sexuality.
“I applaud Sudabeh, Lukas, Roberto and Charlie for their boldly distinctive work and hope that our awards can help focus even more attention from UK and global audiences on their truly deserving films.
“For the first time, we've also placed audiences at the very heart of the awards celebration and I'm thrilled to be presenting the winners to packed houses of adventurous filmgoers.”
Additional reporting by agencies.
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