The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) has unveiled the first round of its revamped awards at a Sydney luncheon.
Presenters at the event, which was hosted by actor Sigrid Thornton, included actors such as Radha Mitchell, Rebecca Gibney and Susie Porter, as well as directors Bruce Beresford, Fred Schepisi and Adam Elliot.
Australian cinematographer Donald McAlpine ACS ASC picked up the AACTA's highest accolade, the Raymond Longford Award, while filmmaker Ivan Sen received the Byron Kennedy Award, which recognises innovation and the pursuit of excellence.
Sen, whose latest film Toomelah screened at last year's Cannes Film Festival, was chosen for “his unique artistic vision and for showing, by his resourceful multidisciplinary filmmaking, that telling stories on screen is in reach of all who have something consequential to say”.
Meanwhile, production designer Herbert Pinter was awarded the AACTA Award for Outstanding Achievement In Television for his work on Tim Winton’s cloudstreet.
ABC programs dominated the TV awards with Chris Lilley recognised for Angry Boys (Best Performance in a Television Comedy), Laid winning Best Television Comedy Series, and My Place, Series 2 recognised as the Best Children’s Television Series.
Among the Australian feature film award winners were The Eye of the Storm, The Hunter and Snowtown, which each received two craft awards. Meanwhile, Legend Of The Guardians: The Owls Of Ga’Hoole was awarded Best Visual Effects.
The highest grossing Australian film at the box office in 2011, Red Dog, was awarded the AFI Members’ Choice Award.
Crowd-pleasing feature documentary Mrs Carey’s Concert led the documentary awards with awards for Best Feature Length Documentary and Best Direction in a Documentary. Other documentary winners included Jandamarra's War, SAS – The Search for Warriors, murundak – songs of freedom, Out of the Ashes, Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure.
The Palace, an Australian/Cypriot co-production, won Best Short Fiction Film and Best Screenplay in a Short Film, while Nullarbor picked up the Best Short Animation award.
Nominees were also announced for the new AACTA International Awards via a live cross to actor Jacki Weaver at the G’Day USA Black Tie Gala in Los Angeles.
The AACTA Awards are run by the Australian Film Institute and replace the AFI Awards, which were first launched in 1958.
The NSW government is spending $1.7 million a year on the AFIs – almost one-third of the $6.26 million in production financing it invested (via Screen NSW) across 41 film and TV projects in 2009-10.
“Today’s awards are the first of our two awards events and highlight the exceptional work of our craftspeople," AFI | AACTA chief executive, Damian Trewhella, said in a statement.
"We encourage all Australians to support our local screen industry by watching the Samsung AACTA Awards ceremony in two weeks’ time to see which films and television productions are awarded our nation’s best.”
The remaining AACTA Awards will be announced at the AACTA Awards ceremony at the Sydney Opera House on January 31, which will be broadcast on the Nine Network.
Contact this reporter at bswift@www.if.com.au or on Twitter at @bcswift.
Samsung AACTA Awards Luncheon Winners
AACTA RAYMOND LONGFORD AWARD
• Don McAlpine
BYRON KENNEDY AWARD
• Ivan Sen
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
• Legend Of The Guardians: The Owls Of Ga'Hoole. Grant Freckelton.
TELEVISION
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST TELEVISION COMEDY SERIES
• Laid. Liz Watts. ABC1
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST PERFORMANCE IN A TELEVISION COMEDY
• Chris Lilley. Angry Boys. ABC1
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST CHILDREN'S TELEVISION SERIES
• My Place, Series 2. Penny Chapman. ABC3
AACTA AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN TELEVISION SCREEN CRAFT
• Herbert Pinter – Production Design. Cloudstreet. FOXTEL – Showcase
SHORT FILM
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST SHORT ANIMATION
• Nullarbor. Alister Lockhart, Patrick Sarell, Katrina Mathers, Merrin Jensen, Daryl Munton.
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST SHORT FICTION FILM
• The Palace. Kate Croser, Anthony Maras, Andros Achilleos.
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST SCREENPLAY IN A SHORT FILM
• The Palace. Anthony Maras.
DOCUMENTARY
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST FEATURE LENGTH DOCUMENTARY
• Mrs Carey's Concert. Bob Connolly, Helen Panckhurst, Sophie Raymond. ABC1
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY UNDER ONE HOUR
• Jandamarra's War. Andrew Ogilvie, Andrea Quesnelle, Eileen Torres. ABC1
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY SERIES
• SAS – The Search for Warriors. Julia Redwood, Ed Punchard. SBS
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST DIRECTION IN A DOCUMENTARY
• Mrs Carey's Concert. Bob Connolly, Sophie Raymond. ABC1
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY IN A DOCUMENTARY
• Out Of The Ashes. David Parer ACS. ABC1
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST EDITING IN A DOCUMENTARY
• Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure. Bryan Mason.
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST SOUND IN A DOCUMENTARY
• murundak – songs of freedom. Emma Bortignon, Michael Letho, Peter Smith, Christopher O'Young, Simon Walbrook. SBS
FEATURE FILM
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
• The Hunter. Robert Humphreys ACS.
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST EDITING
• Snowtown. Veronika Jenet ASE.
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST SOUND
• Snowtown. Frank Lipson MPSE, Andrew McGrath, Des Kenneally, Michael Carden, John Simpson,
Erin McKimm.
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC SCORE
• The Hunter. Matteo Zingales, Michael Lira, Andrew Lancaster.
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
• The Eye Of The Storm. Melinda Doring.
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST COSTUME DESIGN
• The Eye Of The Storm. Terry Ryan.
AFI MEMBERS' CHOICE AWARD
• Red Dog. Nelson Woss, Julie Ryan.
AACTA INTERNATIONAL AWARDS NOMINEES
AACTA INTERNATIONAL AWARD FOR BEST SCREENPLAY
• The Artist. Michel Hazanavicius
• The Descendants. Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash
• The Ides Of March. George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon
• Margin Call J.C. Chandor
• Melancholia. Lars von Trier
• Midnight In Paris. Woody Allen
• Moneyball. Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin, Stan Chervin
• We Need To Talk About Kevin. Lynne Ramsay, Rory Kinnear
AACTA INTERNATIONAL AWARD FOR BEST DIRECTION
• The Artist. Michel Hazanavicius
• Drive. Nicolas Winding Refn
• Hugo. Martin Scorsese
• Margin Call. J.C. Chandor
• Melancholia. Lars von Trier
• Midnight In Paris. Woody Allen
• The Tree Of Life. Terrence Malick
• We Need To Talk About Kevin. Lynne Ramsay
AACTA INTERNATIONAL AWARD FOR BEST ACTOR
• George Clooney. The Descendants
• Leonardo DiCaprio. J. Edgar
• Jean Dujardin. The Artist
• Michael Fassbender. Shame
• Ryan Gosling. The Ides Of March
• Brad Pitt. Moneyball
AACTA INTERNATIONAL AWARD FOR BEST ACTRESS
• Glenn Close. Albert Nobbs
• Kirsten Dunst. Melancholia
• Meryl Streep. The Iron Lady
• Tilda Swinton. We Need To Talk About Kevin
• Mia Wasikowska. Jane Eyre
• Michelle Williams. My Week With Marilyn
AACTA INTERNATIONAL AWARD FOR BEST FILM
• The Artist
• The Descendants
• Hugo
• The Ides Of March
• Margin Call
• Melancholia
• Midnight In Paris
• Moneyball
• The Tree Of Life
• We Need To Talk About Kevin