After tying for best film with The Water Diviner at the AACTA Awards, Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook has won the major prizes at the Australian Film Critics Association annual film and writing awards.
The horror movie took the awards for best film, director, lead actress Essie Davis and supporting actor Noah Wiseman.
Emulating his AACTA Award, David Gulpilil was named best actor for Charlie’s Country. Sarah Snook (who was recognised as best actress for Predestination at the AACTAs) was the surprise winner for best supporting actress for These Final Hours.
Gulpilil and Rolf de Heer collected the original screenplay award and Charlie’s Country’s Ian Jones was feted as best DoP. Gulpilil received his best actor statue on Friday evening from Aaron Pedersen (last year's AFCA best actor winner for Mystery Road) during the BlakNite event at Treasury Gardens. He dedicated the award to “the spirit of the country and his family.”
Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel was judged best English-language international film and the Dardenne brothers’ Two Days, One Night the best foreign-language international film.
The documentary prize went to Jodorowsky's Dune, directed by Frank Pavich, which explores Chilean-French director Alejandro Jodorowsky's unsuccessful attempt to adapt and film Frank Herbert's 1965 science fiction novel Dune in the mid-1970s.
Hosted by comedian Tegan Higgenbotham, the awards were handed out on Saturday night at ACMI in Melbourne's Federation Square.
THE 2015 AFCA FILM AWARD WINNERS
(Nominations and winners are generated through a two-stage voting process involving all AFCA members.)
BEST FILM
• The Babadook – WINNER
• Charlie’s Country
• Predestination
• The Infinite Man
• Tracks
BEST DIRECTOR
• Jennifer Kent – The Babadook – WINNER
• Rolf De Heer – Charlie's Country
• Sophie Hyde – 52 Tuesdays
• David Michod – The Rover
• Michael & Peter Spierig – Predestination
BEST ACTRESS
• Essie Davis – The Babadook – WINNER
• Tilda Cobham-Hervey – 52 Tuesdays
• Angourie Rice – These Final Hours
• Sarah Snook – Predestination
• Mia Wasikowska – Tracks
BEST ACTOR
• David Gulpilil – Charlie's Country – WINNER
• Don Hany – Healing
• Guy Pearce – The Rover
• Nathan Phillips – These Final Hours
• Angus Sampson – The Mule
BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
• Sarah Snook – These Final Hours – WINNER
• Noni Hazlehurst – The Mule
• Erin James – The Little Death
• Gillian Jones – The Rover
• Susan Prior – The Rover
BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
• Noah Wiseman – The Babadook – WINNER
• Jai Courtney – Felony
• Alex Dimitriades – The Infinite Man
• Robert Pattinson – The Rover
• Hugo Weaving – The Mule
BEST SCREENPLAY
• Rolf De Heer & David Gulpilil – Charlie's Country – WINNER
• Matthew Cormack – 52 Tuesdays
• Jennifer Kent – The Babadook
• Michael & Peter Spierig – Predestination
• Hugh Sullivan – The Infinite Man
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
• Ian Jones – Charlie's Country – WINNER
• Natasha Braier – The Rover
• Radek Ludczuk – The Babadook
• Ben Nott – Predestination
• Mandy Walker – Tracks
BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM (FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
• Two Days, One Night – WINNER
• Ida
• The Great Beauty
• Wadjda
• Winter Sleep
BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM (ENGLISH LANGUAGE)
• The Grand Budapest Hotel – WINNER
• Boyhood
• Inside Llewyn Davis
• Nightcrawler
• Under The Skin
BEST DOCUMENTARY (local or international)
• Jodorowsky's Dune – WINNER
• 20000 Days On Earth
• All This Mayhem
• Finding Vivian Maier
• The Missing Picture
The Australian Film Critics Association annually award prizes to the best Australian film criticism across four categories.
1. Ivan Hutchinson Award for writing on Australian cinema. ($500)
2. Award for writing on non-Australian cinema. ($500)
3. Award for a review of an individual Australian film. ($200)
4. Award for a review of an individual non-Australian film. ($200)
This year entries were judged by:
Phillipa Hawker – Film Critic/Arts Writer, The Age & Fairfax Media
Michael Bodey – Film Editor/Media Journalist, The Australian
Alan Finney – Chair of the Australian Film Institute (AFI) / AACTA
Kristian Connelly – General Manager, Cinema Nova
Ivan Hutchinson Award for Writing on Australian Cinema.
Thomas Caldwell
“Anger and Banality in Ghosts… of the Civil Dead”
Award for Writing on non-Australian cinema.
Jake Moody
"Time Enough at Last: The Long History of the Long Film"
Award for Best Review of an individual Australian film.
Alexandra Donald
Review of “The Babadook”
Award for Best Review of an Individual non-Australian film.
Richard S. He
Review of “Boyhood”