The Great Gatsby dominated AACTA’s technical and short films awards today, collecting gongs in all six craft categories for which it was nominated, plus the AACTA award for outstanding achievement in visual effects.
The co-production Top of the Lake bagged two TV trophies while Matchbox Pictures’ Nowhere Boys, created by Tony Ayres, was named best children’s TV series.
The TV documentary prize went to Redesign My Brain, which explores the revolutionary new science of brain plasticity, written and directed by Paul Scott and produced by Isabel Perez and Scott for ABC TV.
Writer-director Nick Verso's The Last Time I Saw Richard, produced by John Molloy, was honoured as best short fiction film. Developed and funded through Screen Australia’s Springboard program, the short is a prequel to the upcoming feature film Boys In The Trees, tracing the friendship between two teenagers in a mental health clinic in 1995.
Best animated short went to A Cautionary Tale, the saga of a girl who’s born with a tail that expresses her emotions, narrated by Cate Blanchett, David Wenham and Barry Ottto, directed by Simon Rippingale, produced by Pauline Piper and scripted by Erica Harrison.
The Great Gatsby collected the awards for production design, costume design, original music score, sound, visual effects, editing and cinematography.
That gives Baz Luhrmann’s lavish romantic drama a fair degree of momentum going into Thursday night’s AACTA Awards, where it will compete with Kim Mordaunt’s The Rocket in key categories including best film, director, lead actor and supporting actor and actress.
Top of the Lake took the awards for cinematography and sound. Warwick Ross and David Roach won best direction in a documentary for Red Obsession.
Patrick Brammall hosted today’s AACTA awards luncheon at the Star Event Centre. The presenters included AACTA president Geoffrey Rush and fellow actors Richard Cawthorne, Damian Walshe-Howling, Glen McMillan, Abby Earl and Leanna Walsman.
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN IN TELEVISION
• AN ACCIDENTAL SOLDIER Clayton Jauncey – ABC1
• MRS BIGGS Episode 5 Pat Campbell – Seven Network
• PELEDA Episode 3: The Amber Shard Nathan Jurevicius – ABC3 (WINNER)
TOP OF THE LAKE Episode 5: The Dark Creator Fiona Crombie – FOXTEL – UKTV
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
• ADORATION Annie Beauchamp
• GODDESS Annie Beauchamp
• THE GREAT GATSBY Catherine Martin, Karen Murphy, Ian Gracie and Beverley Dunn (WINNER)
• THE ROCKET Pete Baxter
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST COSTUME DESIGN IN TELEVISION
• AN ACCIDENTAL SOLDIER Terri Lamera – ABC1
• MISS FISHER'S MURDER MYSTERIES – SERIES 2 Episode 1: Murder Most Scandalous Marion Boyce – ABC1 (WINNER)
• MRS BIGGS Episode 3 Amy Roberts and Kitty Stuckey – Seven Network
• TOP OF THE LAKE Episode 5: The Dark Creator Emily Seresin – FOXTEL – UKTV
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST COSTUME DESIGN
• ADORATION Joanna Mae Park
• GODDESS Shareen Beringer
• THE GREAT GATSBY Catherine Martin, Silvana Azzi Heras, Kerry Thompson (WINNER)
• THE ROCKET Woranun Pueakpun, Sylvia Wilczynski
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST SOUND IN TELEVISION
• AUSTRALIA'S GOT TALENT – SERIES 7 Episode 1: Auditions John Simpson – Nine Network
• MRS BIGGS Episode 5 John Wilkinson, John Hughes AMPS, Clare Howarth, John Senior and John Whitworth – Seven Network
• REDFERN NOW – SERIES 2 Episode 3: Babes in Arms Grant Shepherd, Wes Chew, Robert MacKenzie, Tom Herdman and Sam Gain-Emery – ABC1
• TOP OF THE LAKE Episode 5: The Dark Creator Richard Flynn, Tony Vaccher, John Dennison, Craig Butters, Danny Longhurst and Blair Slater – FOXTEL – UKTV (WINNER)
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST SOUND
• THE GREAT GATSBY Wayne Pashley MPSE, Jenny Ward MPSE, Fabian Sanjurjo, Steve Maslow, Phil Heywood and Guntis Sics (WINNER)
• MYSTERY ROAD Lawrence Horne, Nick Emond, Joe Huang, Phil Judd, Les Fiddess and Greg Fitzgerald
• THE ROCKET Sam Petty, Brooke Trezise, Nick Emond, Sam Hayward and Yulia Akerholt
• SATELLITE BOY Phil Judd, Liam Egan, Nick Emond, Glenn Butler, Les Fiddess and Jennifer Sochackyj
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST SOUND IN A DOCUMENTARY
• DESERT WAR Episode 1: Tobruk Ash Gibson Greig, Ric Curtin, Glenn Martin, Ash Charlton and Chris Bollard – ABC1 (WINNER)
• FALLOUT Antony Partos, Livia Ruzic and Keith Thomas
• ONCE MY MOTHER Cezary Skubiszewski, Michael Gissing and Mark Keating
• RED OBSESSION Burkhard Dallwitz, Amanda Brown, Liam Egan and Andrew Neil
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC SCORE IN TELEVISION PRESENTED BY APRA AMCOS
• MRS BIGGS Episode 3 Bryony Marks – Seven Network
• NOWHERE BOYS Episode 1 Cornel Wilczek – ABC3
• REDFERN NOW – SERIES 2 Episode 3: Babe in Arms Antony Partos – ABC1 (WINNER)
• TOP OF THE LAKE Episode 5: The Dark Creator Mark Bradshaw – FOXTEL – UKTV
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC SCORE PRESENTED BY APRA AMCOS
• DEAD EUROPE Jed Kurzel
• DRIFT Michael Yezerski
• THE GREAT GATSBY Craig Armstrong (WINNER)
• THE ROCKET Caitlin Yeo
AACTA AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS
• THE GREAT GATSBY Chris Godfrey, Prue Fletcher, Tony Cole and Andy Brown (WINNER)
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST CHILDREN'S TELEVISION SERIES
• DANCE ACADEMY – SERIES 3 Joanna Werner – ABC3
• NOWHERE BOYS Tony Ayres and Beth Frey – ABC3 (WINNER)
• PELEDA Luke Jurevicius and Nathan Jurevicius – ABC3
• YOU'RE SKITTING ME – SERIES 2 Toni Malone and Damian Davis – ABC3
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST SHORT FICTION FILM
• THE LAST TIME I SAW RICHARD John Molloy and Nicholas Verso (WINNER)
• PERCEPTION Lyn Norfor and Miranda Nation
• RECORD David Lyons and Dave Szamet
• TAU SERU (SMALL YELLOW FIELD) Rodd Rathjen
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST SHORT ANIMATION
• A CAUTIONARY TAIL Pauline Piper and Simon Rippingale (WINNER)
• BUTTERFLIES Warwick Burton and Isabel Peppard
• THE DUKES OF BROXSTONIA – MOJO Stu Connolly
• WOODY Stuart Bowen and Jodi Matterson
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST EDITING IN TELEVISION
• MRS BIGGS Episode 3 Ben Lester and Mark Atkin ASE – Seven Network (WINNER)
• POWER GAMES: THE PACKER-MURDOCH STORY Part 1 Mark Perry – Nine Network
• REDFERN NOW – SERIES 2 Episode 6: Dogs of War Dany Cooper ASE – ABC1
• TOP OF THE LAKE Episode 5: The Dark Creator Scott Gray ASE – FOXTEL – UKTV
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST EDITING
• THE GREAT GATSBY Matt Villa ASE, Jason Ballantine ASE and Jonathan Redmond (WINNER)
• MYSTERY ROAD Ivan Sen
• THE ROCKET Nick Meyers ASE
• THE TURNING The Turning Ensemble
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST EDITING IN A DOCUMENTARY
• DESERT WAR Episode 1: Tobruk Lawrie Silvestrin ASE – ABC1 (WINNER)
• I AM A GIRL Lindi Harrison ASE
• IN BOB WE TRUST Lynn-Maree Milburn, Richard Lowenstein, Andrew de Groot, Lora-Mae Adrao
• REDESIGN MY BRAIN Episode 1: Make Me Smarter Philippa Rowlands ASE – ABC1
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY IN TELEVISION
• AN ACCIDENTAL SOLDIER Germain McMicking – ABC1
• MRS BIGGS Episode 3 Fabian Wagner – Seven Network
• REDFERN NOW – SERIES 2 Episode 6: Dogs of War Jules O'Loughlin ACS – ABC1
• TOP OF THE LAKE Episode 5: The Dark Creator Adam Arkapaw – FOXTEL – UKTV (WINNER)
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
• DRIFT Geoffrey Hall ACS, Rick Rifici and Rick Jakovich
• GODDESS Damian E. Wyvill ACS
• THE GREAT GATSBY Simon Duggan ACS (THE WINNER)
• THE ROCKET Andrew Commis ACS
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY IN A DOCUMENTARY
• DESERT WAR Episode 1: Tobruk Jim Frater – ABC1
• I AM A GIRL Nicola Daley
• KAKADU Episode 4 Nick Robinson and Luke Peterson – ABC1 (WINNER)
• RED OBSESSION Lee Pullbrook and Steve Arnold ACS
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST DIRECTION IN A TELEVISION LIGHT ENTERTAINMENT OR REALITY SERIES
• BIG BROTHER 2013 Episode 1: Launch Mark Adamson – Nine Network
• HAMISH & ANDY'S GAP YEAR ASIA Episode 1: Week 1 Tim Bartley and Jo Siddiqui – Nine Network (WINNER)
• MASTERCHEF: THE PROFESSIONALS Episode 13: Mansfield Offsite Michael Venables – Network Ten
• STUDIO AT THE MEMO Episode 3: ANNA LUMB/BRIEFS/DON WALKER/SHERIDAN HARBRIDGE/KAKI KING Ken Connor – FOXTEL – STUDIO
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST DIRECTION IN A DOCUMENTARY
• AIM HIGH IN CREATION! Anna Broinowski
• I AM A GIRL Rebecca Barry
• RED OBSESSION Warwick Ross and David Roach (WINNER)
• REDESIGN MY BRAIN Episode 1: Make Me Smarter Paul Scott – ABC1
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY TELEVISION PROGRAM PRESENTED BY FOXTEL
• DESERT WAR Andrew Ogilvie, Andrea Quesnelle and Phil Craig – ABC1
• FIRST FOOTPRINTS Martin Butler and Bentley Dean – ABC1
• JABBED – LOVE, FEAR AND VACCINES Sonya Pemberton – SBS
• REDESIGN MY BRAIN Paul Scott and Isabel Perez – ABC1 (WINNER)