[Press Release from the desk of NSW Minister Assisting the Premier on the Arts, Virginia Judge MP]
NSW Minister Assisting the Premier on the Arts, Virginia Judge today congratulated the State’s 2008 AFI Award winners, including The Black Balloon, winner of six AFI Awards including Best Film (Tristam Miall) and Best Direction (Elissa Down) Awards.
Developed through the NSW Aurora script program, The Black Balloon also won awards for Best Original Screenplay (Elissa Down and Jimmy The Exploder), Best Editing (Veronika Jenet), Best Supporting Actor (Luke Ford) and Best Supporting Actress (Toni Collette).
“The Rees Government is immensely proud of the success of the NSW screen industries in producing film and television programs acclaimed by audiences and critics alike,” Ms Judge said.
“Congratulations to all NSW winners of AFI Awards and, in particular, those projects supported through various investment programs administered by the NSW Film and Television Office (FTO).”
The Black Balloon is one of several films and television programs produced with financial assistance from the NSW Government through the FTO to win AFI Awards.
Gemma Jackson won the AFI Award for Best Production Design for Death Defying Acts and Danielle Catanzariti won the Young Actor Award for her performance in Hey Hey It’s Esther Blueburger.
In the television award categories, Government-supported productions to receive Awards were East West 101 for Best Telefeature, Mini Series or Short Run Series (Steve Knapman and Kris Wyld) and Blue Water High for Best Children’s Television Drama (Noel Price and Dennis Kiely).
In the non-feature categories, the documentary A Northern Town won the AFI Award for Best Cinematography