Matt Saville, Tony Krawitz and Jeffrey Walker won two awards each at the Australian Directors Guild Awards on Friday evening.
Saville won for the episode of The Slap that focused on Harry and for Cloudstreet in the drama series and mini-series categories respectively; Krawitz’s The Tall Man was voted best film in the feature documentary category and he was also chosen as the Finders Award recipient; and Jeffrey Walker was presented with both the inaugural Esben Storm Award for children’s TV for series three of H2O: Just Add Water and the award for TV comedy for Angry Boys.
Mrs Carey’s Concert, directed by Bob Connolly and Sophie Raymond, was the joint winner of the documentary feature category, and Walker shared his comedy award with Stuart MacDonald and the show’s on-screen star, Chris Lilley.
One of the most touching moments of the night was when the audience realised that the young nine-year-old actor who featured often in Storm’s tribute reel was Walker, who said the late director had been one of his mentors. The award was presented by Storm’s widow Lisa Meagher.
The awards were held at Sydney’s Maritime Museum and also celebrated the ADG’s 30th Anniversary.
The other winners were: Julia Leigh for Sleeping Beauty (features); Ivan O’Mahoney for Go Back to Where You Came From (documentary series); Phoebe Hart for Orchids: My Intersex Adventure (stand-alone documentary); Emma Freeman for Hawke (telemovie); Geoffrey Nottage for episode 5215 of Home & Away (drama serial); both Ken Connor and Kathy Chambers for RocKwiz – On the Road and Mark Adamson for Dancing with the Stars (reality/light entertainment); Damien Toogood for Sydney Dogs and Cats Home (TVC); Steve Rogers for Jack Ladder Cold Feet (music video); Dario Russo for Danger 5: The Diamond Girls (original online project); Ashlee Page for The Kiss (short film); and Epiphany Morgan for The Room (student film).
The Cecil Holmes Award for outstanding contribution to the ADG was presented to Stephen Wallace after a very amusing speech by South Australian Film Corporation chief executive Richard Harris, who described Wallace at one stage as looking more like an unmade bed than someone who could make an impact.
Armstrong, Wallace, James Ricketston and Chris Noonan were presented as the people who established the ADG in answer to concerns over UK director Claude Whatham directing the 1981 Australian film Hoodwink.
This led O’Mahoney, when collecting his award for Go Back To Where You Came From, to make some amusing comments about “not being from these parts” — but having a NSW drivers’ licence and a citizenship application in the works.
The whole evening was reminiscent of a good-natured comedy routine, in part because it was hosted by Craig Reucassel and Chris Taylor from The Chaser.
Krawitz winning the Finders Award, given in partnership with the Directors Guild of America, means that The Tall Man will screen in LA to key industry figures, including distributors. Only the directors of ADG feature entries without US distribution are eligible for this screening.
Before presenting the award to Krawtiz, Kriv Stenders described it as “the best award he’d ever won” – when in LA with Boxing Day he met producer Nelson Woss, which lead to him directing Red Dog.