The L’Oréal Paris 2007 AFI Awards were held in Melbourne last week. Over 1,000 stars and industry attended the lavish black tie event, which was hosted by film icon and AFI supporter Geoffrey Rush.
The awards, televised on the Nine Network, featured a plethora of A-list film and television guest presenters such as AFI Ambassador Cate Blanchett, Eric Bana, Anthony La Paglia, Gia Carides, Joan Chen, Alan Dale, Vince Colosimo, Rebecca Gibney and more.
The broadcast ratings released show that the audience peaked at 841,000 viewers during the Red Carpet Arrivals coverage, which was presented by Sophie Monk, Richard Wilkins and Livinia Nixon, a marked increase from last year.
The overall figures were an excellent result for the L’Oréal Paris 2007 AFI Awards as they head into their 50th Anniversary celebrations next year.
AFI Awards host Geoffrey Rush commented on the success of the Awards this morning: ‘As I said on the night – the great wheel of the industry keeps rolling forward. We showcased a very creative year, and what’s happening out there is astonishing. We might well be in the middle of a golden age without realising it.’
The L’Oréal Paris 2007 AFI Awards has seen a resurgence since 2004 and the television ratings, which have steadily increased each year since then, prove that Australian audience’s passionately support the achievements of our local film and television industry.
AFI CEO James Hewison commented that ‘these last two nights have been not only a celebration of the robust state of the film and TV communities, serving to acknowledge and award our wonderful practioners of course, but continues the upward trajectory of the L’Oréal Paris AFI Awards over these last 3 years. It’s been a remarkable expedition with now a exceptional and consolidated team at the helm. Bring on the AFI’s 50th Anniversary next year and be there with us!’
AFI Awards Executive Producer Paul Dainty said: ‘Anyone who watched the L’Oréal Paris 2007 AFI Awards would have no doubt that it is a first class event with tremendous appeal across a broad demographic. We started this journey in 2005 and always said it will be a steady rebuilding of the AFI brand over 5 years. There is no question we are making major progress in both consolidating the passionate core audience while also introducing Australian content to a brand new audience. To pull over 800,000 viewers on a Thursday night in December is fantastic when you consider the ARIAs got just over 1 million viewers on a Sunday night in October. Planning is already underway for next year’s 50th AFI Awards, and we hope very much that Nine will help us continue to rebuild the AFI brand by putting us in a prime time spot in November.’
Plans are already in progress for the 2008 AFI Awards, which will celebrate the Awards’ 50th Anniversary.
[release from Kerry O’Brien Publicity / Mango Communications]