[Press Release by Kerry O’Brien Publicity]
The L’Oréal Paris AFI Awards celebrated 50 years of pride and passion on December 6 in a magnificent ceremony at Melbourne’s Princess Theatre. Over 1,500 members of the film and television industry attended the lavish black tie event, which was hosted by Stephen Curry and broadcast on the Nine Network.
The Black Balloon, which was nominated in 11 AFI Award categories, received the prestigious L’Oréal Paris AFI Award for Best Film. The film’s director and co-writer Elissa Down took home the AFI Award for Best Direction and the Macquarie AFI Award for Best Original Screenplay. The Black Balloon continued its AFI Award success with the AFI Award for Best Supporting Actress going to Toni Collette and the AFI Award for Best Supporting Actor going to Luke Ford for his portrayal of the film’s central figure, autistic boy Charlie Mollison.
Unfinished Sky also had cause for celebration with its two lead performers William McInnes and Monic Hendrickx taking home the AFI Award for Best Lead Actor and the AFI Award for Best Lead Actress. The film also received the Macquarie AFI Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.
A reverent audience witnessed the AFI International Award for Best Actor being posthumously awarded to Heath Ledger for his role in The Dark Knight. The AFI International Award for Best Actress went to Cate Blanchett for her work in Elizabeth: The Golden Age.
Channel Nine hit series Underbelly topped the AFI Television Award prize pool, winning six of the eight categories it was nominated in. Underbelly took home Best Television Drama Series, Best Direction in Television, Best Lead Actor in a Drama Series (Gyton Grantley), Best Lead Actress in a Drama Series (Kat Stewart), Best Guest or Supporting Actor in a Television Drama (Damian Walshe-Howling) and Best Guest or Supporting Actress in a Television Drama (Madeleine West).
Chris Lilley was honoured with the Byron Kennedy Award, which is presented for outstanding creative enterprise within the film or television industry. The Byron Kennedy Award is given to an individual, usually early in their career, whose quality of work embodies the qualities of Byron Kennedy: innovation, vision and the relentless pursuit of excellence. Chris Lilley was further honoured with two AFI Awards for his acclaimed ABC television series Summer Heights High – one for Best Television Comedy and one for Best Performance in a Television Comedy.
The AFI Award for Best Screenplay in Television went to Santo Cilauro, Tom Gleisner & Rob Sitch for the ABC series The Hollowmen, while the AFI Award for Best Telefeature, Mini Series or Short Run Series was awarded to the SBS show East West 101.
The L’Oréal Paris AFI Young Actor Award went to 16 year old South Australian Danielle Catanzariti. for playing the title role in the feature film Hey Hey It’s Esther Blueburger. In the non-feature film category, Craig Griffin and Michael Lynch’s Not Quite Hollywood won the AFI Award for Best Documentary. A new initiative for the 50th anniversary is the AFI Documentary Trailblazer, supported by the AFI Endowment Fund, which will see Mark Hartley, Director of Not Quite Hollywood, travel to Cannes in 2009 as Australia’s delegate at MIPDOC/MIPTV.
Australia’s Favourite Film was revealed on the night, as voted for by the Australian public in an on-line poll in the lead up to the awards. The Castle was announced as the Favourite Australian Film, with The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Muriel’s Wedding, Lantana and Gallipoli making up the rest of the Top Five Favourite Australian Films. All of these films are honoured in a series of collectable postage stamps which were released by Australia Post early in November.
The News Limited Readers’ Choice Award was also voted for by the Australian public in an online and SMS poll by readers of the Herald Sun, Daily Telegraph, Sunday Mail, Courier Mail and Adelaide Advertiser and resulted in man of the moment, Hugh Jackman being voted Australia’s Favourite Film Star.
The full list of L’Oréal Paris 2008 AFI Awards winners presented with awards last night are:
AFI International Award for Best Actor
Heath Ledger. The Dark Knight
AFI International Award for Best Actress
Cate Blanchett. Elizabeth: The Golden Age
L’Oréal Paris AFI Young Actor Award
Danielle Catanzariti. Hey Hey It’s Esther Blueburger
Byron Kennedy Award
Chris Lilley
Australia’s Favourite Film
The Castle
News Limited Readers’ Choice Award
Hugh Jackman
AFI Award for Best Television Comedy Series
Summer Heights High. Chris Lilley & Laura Waters. ABC
AFI Award for Best Television Drama Series
Underbelly. Greg Haddrick & Brenda Pam. Nine Network
AFI Award for Best Telefeature, Mini Series or Short Run Series
East West 101. Steve Knapman & Kris Wyld. SBS
AFI Award for Best Direction in Television
Underbelly (Episode 7, Wise Monkeys) Peter Andrikidis. Nine Network
AFI Award for Best Screenplay in Television
The Hollowmen (Episode 1, Fat Chance) Santo Cilauro, Tom Gleisner & Rob Sitch. ABC
AFI Award for Best Lead Actor in a Television Drama
Gyton Grantley. Underbelly. Nine Network
AFI Award for Best Lead Actress in a Television Drama
Kat Stewart. Underbelly. Nine Network
AFI Award for Best Guest or Supporting Actor in a Television Drama
Damian Walshe-Howling. Underbelly (Episode 7, Wise Monkeys) Nine Network
AFI Award for Best Guest or Supporting Actress in a Television Drama
Madeleine West. Underbelly (Episode 7, Wise Monkeys) Nine Network
AFI Award for Best Performance in a Television Comedy
Chris Lilley. Summer Heights High. ABC
AFI Award for Best Documentary
Not Quite Hollywood. Craig Griffin & Michael Lynch
L’Oréal Paris AFI Award for Best Film
The Black Balloon. Tristram Miall
AFI Award for Best Direction
The Black Balloon. Elissa Down
Macquarie AFI Award for Best Original Screenplay
The Black Balloon. Elissa Down & Jimmy The Exploder
Macquarie AFI Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
Unfinished Sky. Peter Duncan
AFI Award for Best Lead Actor
William McInnes. Unfinished Sky
AFI Award for Best Lead Actress
Monic Hendrickx. Unfinished Sky
AFI Award for Best Supporting Actor
Luke Ford. The Black Balloon
AFI Award for Best Supporting Actress
Toni Collette. The Black Balloon
The full list of L’Oréal Paris 2008 AFI Industry Awards presented by Digital Pictures winners:
AFI International Award for Excellence in Filmmaking
Peter James ACS, ASC
AFI Visual Effects Award
H2O – Just Add Water (Series 2). Barry Lanfranchi. Network Ten
AFI Raymond Longford Award
Dione Gilmour
AFI Award for Best Children’s Television Drama
Blue Water High (Series 3). Noel Price & Dennis Kiely. ABC
AFI Award for Best Light Entertainment Television Series
ENOUGH ROPE with Andrew Denton. Andrew Denton & Anita Jacoby. ABC
AFI Award for Outstanding Achievement in Television Screen Craft
Steve Evans. Editing – Underbelly. Nine Network
AFI Award for Best Cinematography
Unfinished Sky. Robert Humphreys ACS
AFI Award for Best Editing
The Black Balloon. Veronika Jenet ASE
AFI Award for Best Sound
Unfinished Sky. Andrew Plain, Annie Breslin & Will Ward
AFI Award for Best Original Music Score
Unfinished Sky. Antony Partos
AFI Award for Best Production Design
Death Defying Acts. Gemma Jackson
AFI Award for Best Costume Design
The Tender Hook. Cappi Ireland
AFI Award for Best Direction in a Documentary
The Oasis. Ian Darling & Sascha Ettinger Epstein
AFI Award for Best Cinematography in a Documentary
A Northern Town. Andrew Commis & Rachel Landers
AFI Award for Best Editing in a Documentary
The Oasis. Sally Fryer
AFI Award for Best Sound in a Documentary
Rare Chicken Rescue. Brett Aplin, Greg Docwra, John Willsteed & David White
AFI Award for Best Short Animation
Dog With Electric Collar. Steve Baker & Damon Escott
AFI Award for Best Short Fiction Film
Jerrycan. Stuart Parkyn & Julius Avery
AFI Award for Best Screenplay in a Short Film
The Ground Beneath. Rene Hernandez
AFI Award for Outstanding Achievement in Short Film Screen Craft
Xanthe Highfield. Production Design – fOUR