Afda honours film 'Delville Wood' wins at Loerie Awards

"Ever since we finished this film back in November 2021, we have been thinking of where we can continue to send our message. The Loeries was always one of our top priorities. We had always felt that the true success of the film would be judged at the Loeries by some of the finest in the South African film industry. To have been selected, nominated and subsequently win silver is a massive achievement for the entire crew. Having attended 12 festivals and received 12 nominations, including four awards, we all feel as though the win at the Loeries is undoubtedly our greatest achievement thus far.

"With the Loeries ticked off, we have a list of other festivals and awards that we hope we can tick off in the last part of 2022. Our next stop is the Meta Film Festival in the UAE.

"Until then, we thank everyone for the continued support that has allowed our film to reach heights that we initially thought would be impossible. Our goal for the reminder of the year is to continue to see our film grow, and hopefully add a few more wins in the process," says Mitchell Weidemann, producer of Delville Wood.

"From day one of their honours year, the cast and crew of Delville Wood were convinced – this is their graduation research project. Against all our reasoning as experienced staff with them, they pulled it off – a WW1 – epic drama set in the trenches in France in the last days of one of the biggest human tragedies of the previous century.

"Their passion. Their grit. Their engagement with a topic close to their hearts drove them to actually do it. And how they did it!

"A deeply personal and character-driven film, inscribing the names of the unnamed soldier into our hearts. This is a well-deserved recognition for the direction our industry is moving to in the future," says Afda Johannesburg head of Postgraduate Studies, Francois Smit.

The Loeries were first held in 1978 as a mechanism to support and grow television advertising. Since then, the Loeries have become recognised as the most prestigious award in our region and have expanded to encompass all areas of brand communication including television, radio and print, communication design (including brand identity, architecture and interior design, package and publication design, motion graphic design), direct marketing, PR communication, non-broadcast video, live events, sponsorship, digital communication and integrated campaigns.