The animated documentary feature ETERNAL SPRING (長春) earned nominations in three major categories when the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival announced its annual award finalists Thursday as the festival officially got underway.
The film is among four nominees each in the following categories: Supreme Award (the festival’s top jury prize), Audience Choice, and Best Director.
The film was also proving to be a hit with audiences Down Under. With two days remaining before ETERNAL SPRING (長春)‘s second screening at Melbourne’s Cinema Nova, tickets were already sold out. The film had a special advance screening on Wednesday, and tickets were also scooped up ahead of that show. The festival’s website was temporarily unavailable due to the demand.
ETERNAL SPRING (長春) uses animation to explore a dramatic hijacking of the state TV airwaves by adherents of the persecuted Falun Gong spiritual group in China. It features comic illustrator Daxiong, who has drawn for Justice League and Star Wars franchises but was forced to flee his home in the aftermath of the TV airwaves heist.
“The response to the film in Australia has been fantastic,” said director Jason Loftus, who’s in town to participate in Q&As following each screening. “While tickets to screen ETERNAL SPRING at the Melbourne doc fest are sold out, we hope to be able to share this documentary with more Australians soon.”
The festival also features an online component running concurrently and that is restricted to Australia. For more information, visit mdff.org.au.
Read more: news in Neos Kosmos about ETERNAL SPRING (長春)’s screenings at the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival.
ETERNAL SPRING (長春) has earned a dozen festival honours since its premiere at Thessaloniki in March, split evenly between audience prizes and jury recognition. Among the awards was a double-win in May at Hot Docs in Toronto where the film claimed both major audience prizes.