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ADG Award wins for Shannon Murphy, Thomas Wilson-White, Christiaan van Vuuren

Shannon Murphy.

Shannon Murphy was the big winner at today’s Australian Directors’ Guild (ADG) Awards, recognised for both her feature debut Babyteeth and for her work on Killing Eve.

Murphy won both Best Direction in a Feature Film (Budget $1M+) for the former, and Best Direction in a TV or SVOD Drama Series for the later, recognising her work on the third season’s fifth episode.

It caps off a long successful run for Babyteeth, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2019, where star Toby Wallace won the Venice Film Festival Marcello Mastroianni Award for best young actor. Released theatrically last year, the film won nine AACTA Awards, including Best Film and Best Director for Murphy.

Greta Lee Jackson and Nina Oyama hosted the ADG Award ceremony in Sydney today, with an accompanying live stream for those unable to attend. The mood in the room was jovial, with the guild also celebrating its 40th year and a week of policy wins.

Among the afternoons other honourees was up-and-comer Thomas Wilson-White, awarded Best Direction in a Feature Film (Budget under $1M) for his debut The Greenhouse, and Christiaan van Vuuren, who took home Best Direction in a Movie Made for TV or SVOD Award for the film A Sunburnt Christmas.

Fresh from winning a Rose d’Or award earlier this week, Wayne Blair and Nel Minchin were recognised with Best Direction in a Documentary Feature for Firestarter: The Story of Bangarra.

Other doco winners included Laurence Billiet, winner of Best Direction in a TV or SVOD Documentary Series Episode or Documentary One-Off (TV one-hour) for Freeman and Jaina Kalifa and Amelia Paxman, co-directors of Lost Contact, who won the ADG Award for Best Direction in a Documentary Short Subject (Under 45 mins).

Further television winners included Claire McCathy, recognised with Best Direction in a TV or SVOD Miniseries Episode for The Luminaries and Max Miller, winning Best Direction in a TV or SVOD Comedy Program for Aunty Donna’s Big Ol’ House of Fun.

Bluey has also earned yet another prize via Richard Jeffrey, who snared Best Direction in a Children’s TV or SVOD Drama Program Episode for his work on the Sleepytime episode.

David Gould took home Best Direction in a TV or SVOD Drama Serial episode yet again, for Home and Away episode 7591.

A special 1ST AD Award was presented posthumously to ‘JC’ John Clabburn who died earlier this year. 

“After the difficulties of the past two years, the opportunity to celebrate in person with our nominated and award-winning directors, while also welcoming international and interstate guests via live streaming online and in-cinema, was warmly welcomed by Australia’s screen community. My congratulations to all the directors whose work has been acknowledged today,” said ADG executive director Alaric McAusland.

The full list of winners:

Best Direction in a Feature Film (Budget $1M)

Shannon Murphy – Babyteetch

Best Direction in a Feature Film (Budget under $1M)

Thomas Wilson-White – The Greenhouse

Best Direction in a Short Film

Cloudy Rhodes – Beautiful They

Best Direction in a Student Film

Andréas Giannopoulos – Friends of Mine

Best Direction in a Documentary Feature

Wayne Blair & Nel Minchin – Firestarter: The Story of Bangarra

Best Direction in a TV or SVOD Documentary Series Episode or Documentary One-Off (TV one-hour)

Laurence Billiet – Freeman

Best Direction in a Documentary Short Subject (Under 45 mins)

Jaina Kalifa and Amelia Paxman – Lost Contact

Best Direction in a Movie Made for TV or SVOD

Christiaan Van Vuuren – A Sunburnt Christmas

The Esben Storm Award for Best Direction in a Children’s TV or SVOD Drama Program Episode

Richard Jeffery – Bluey – Sleepytime

Best Direction in a TV or SVOD Drama Series episode

Shannon Murphy – Killing Eve, Series 3 Episode 5

Best Direction in a TV or SVOD Drama Serial episode

David Gould – Home and Away – E7591

Best Direction in a TV or SVOD Miniseries Episode

Claire McCarthy – The Luminaries – E2

Best Direction in a TV or SVOD Comedy Program episode

Max Miller – Aunty Donna’s Big Ol’ House of Fun – S1 E1

Best Direction in a Web/Online Drama Series Episode

Hannah Lehmann – Two Sides – S2 E8

Best Direction in a Web/Online Comedy Series Episode

Henry Stone – A Life in Questions: Wisdom School with Aaron Chen

Best Direction in an Animation Project

Jake Duczynski – Cooked

Best Direction in Commercial Content

Stef Smith – Shower Talk with Celeste Barber

Best Direction in a Commercial Advertisement

Sanjay De Silva – Flybuys: Give a Flybuys

Best Direction in a Music Video

· Chloe de Brito – ‘Keep It Up’ by Sonny Grin

Best Direction in an Interactive or Immersive Title

· Aaron Wilson – IOPU