Kim Mordaunt, Rowan Woods and Rachel Perkins were among the winners in the Australian Directors Guild awards presented in Sydney at the Powerhouse Museum on Friday night.
Mordaunt took the ADG award for best direction in a feature film for his debut film The Rocket. The best direction in a telemovie gong went to Woods for The Broken Shore. Perkins won the prize for best direction in a TV drama series for Redfern Now series 2, episode 2, Starting Over.
The ADG Awards celebrate the outstanding work of Australian screen directors in the past year in 16 categories including film, television, multiplatform, music and advertising.
“The winners include some of the industry’s most experienced directors such as Ray Lawrence, Rowan Woods, Geoffrey Nottage and Rachel Perkins, but also reflect the incredible new talent rising through the ranks who are working across the various screen platforms,” said ADG executive director Kingston Anderson.
The feature documentary award was presented to Sophia Turkiewicz for Once my Mother, which will be released theatrically in Australia in July.
Khoa Do won the award for best direction in a TV miniseries for Better Man and Geoffrey Nottage was named best director of a TV drama serial for episode 5713 of Home and Away.
Daniel Nettheim received the Esben Storm Award for best direction in a children’s TV program for Dance Academy series 3 episode 12, A Perfect Storm.
Best direction in a documentary series went to Nick Robinson for Kakadu, episode 4. Best direction in a documentary stand alone was won by Corrie Chen for Suicide and Me.
Matthew Saville received the gong for best direction in a TV comedy for Please Like Me episode 3 – Portuguese Custard Tarts.
Best direction in a short film went to Julietta Boscolo for Sam’s Gold. Best direction in a cross platform project was won by Michela Ledwidge for ACO Virtual. Best direction in an online project was Sonny Vrebac for Hunter N Hornet (Appisode – Sunbathing).
Ray Lawrence nabbed the award for best direction in a TV commercial for the NSW Teachers Federation’s First Day. Best direction in a music video was won by David Barker for Nightingale Floor and Melissa Anastasi received best direction in a student film for By This River.
The 2014 recipient of the Finders Award was Catriona McKenzie for Satellite Boy. The ADG, in partnership with the Directors Guild of America Finders series, selects one Australian feature which is yet to secure US distribution and is an entry in the 2014 ADG awards to screen in Los Angeles and New York to key industry figures including distributors.
As announced earlier this week the inaugural ADG award for innovation was bestowed on multi-platform content specialists Hoodlum.