[Press Release by the ADG]
The Australian Directors Guild is proud to announce the winners of the 2008 ADG Awards. They provide the highest accolade to outstanding Australian directing talent and are judged by their peers.
This year, the Awards were hosted by Leah Purcell and Paul McDermott on Saturday 27th September and held at Leighton Hall in the University of New South Wales, Kensington Campus. They were held in conjunction with the ADG 2008 Conference, In Good Company: Creative Collaborations, which took place in Sydney at the new AFTRS building in Moore Park over the weekend (25-28 Sept).
One of the highlights of the evening was Gillian Armstrong’s moving speech about the career of her long time collaborator Mark Turnbull, who received the Outstanding Achievement Award – First Assistant Director. Also in attendance to support Mark Turnbull being honoured were many friends and filmmakers including Marian Macgowan, Jane Campion and Jan Chapman. Other special awards went to Australian luminaries Bruce Petty (Outstanding Achievement Award) as well as Tom Zubrycki (Cecil Holmes Award) and Kate Woods (Michael Carson Award).
2008 ADG AWARD WINNERS
2008 Best Direction in a Feature Film
Elissa Down, The Black Balloon
2008 Best Direction in a TV Drama Series – Periodical
Peter Andrikidis, East West 101 – Episode 1: The Enemy
2008 Best Direction in a TV Drama Series – Ongoing
Ian Gilmour, All Saints – Episode 435: Blind Faith
2008 Best Direction in a TV Comedy Series
Stuart McDonald, Summer Heights High
2008 Best Direction in a Documentary – Feature
Tom Murray, In My Father’s Country
2008 Best Direction in a Documentary – Stand Alone: Under 60 Minutes
Natasha Gadd, Anatomy- Muscle
2008 Best Direction in a Documentary – Series
Brian McKenzie, Love’s Harvest
2008 Best Direction in an Animated Film
Dennis Tupicoff, Chainsaw
2008 Best Direction in a Short Film
Julius Avery, Jerrycan
2008 Best Direction in a Short Film – Student
John Evagora, 296 Smith Street
2008 Best Direction in a Television Commercial – Performance
Sean Meehan, The Race (McDonalds)
2008 Best Direction in a Television Commercial – Visual Narrative
Paul Middleditch, Brewtopia (Pure Blonde)
Sidebar Pitching Competition
Tony Findlay, Mob Wars
2008 GRASS (Get Real About Sustainable Screens) Award for a director who recognises environmental sustainability on and off screen (*New Award)
Ben Lawrence, What One Person Can Do (Earth Hour 2008)