The first round of AACTA award winners were announced yesterday in Sydney at the 2nd Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards Luncheon.
Held at the Sydney’s The Star Event Centre and hosted by Adam Elliot, the luncheon drew a host of industry representatives including actors Damon Herriman, Daniel Henshall and Felicity Price.
The Sapphires was a favourite of the day, taking home five coveted gongs in total for cinematography (Warwick Thornton), editing (Dany Cooper ASE), sound (Andrew Plain, Bry Jones, Pete Smith, Ben Osmo and John Simpson), costume design (Tess Schofield) and production design in a feature film (Melinda Doring.)
A jovial Thornton told media working with Sapphires director Wayne Blair wasn’t exactly a walk in the park. “He’s an incredibly hard task master,” he said. “You can’t pull the wool over his eyes when you feel like being lazy.”
Cooper spoke of the personal joy she found in editing a musical comedy rather than dramatic work.
“My CV is full of junkie films and deep and meaningfuls,” she told media after her win. “It was so great to work on a musical comedy. I pursued this film… and I’m so glad I did.”
Schofield described working on the award-winning project as “pretty special and groovy” and enjoyed being able to “design clothes that are splashy.”
In the documentary category, Storm Surfers 3D took out the AACTA award for best feature length documentary, while Then the Wind Changed nabbed the award for best documentary under one hour.
Fighting Fear scored two awards – one for best direction (Marcario De Souza) and the other for best cinematography in a documentary (Tim Bonython, Chris Bryan, Macario De Souza, Lee Kelly.)
In television, Patrick Brammall walked away with the best performance in a television comedy for A Moody Christmas and said he hoped winning the award would “lead to more jobs, presumably.”
The Adventures of Figaro Pho won the award for best children’s TV series, Lowdown – season two took home best television comedy series and Agony Aunts came out on top in the best light entertainment TV series category.
For a full list of winners, see below.
The second round of AACTA awards will be announced tomorrow evening at the 2nd annual AACTA awards ceremony.
AACTA RAYMOND LONGFORD AWARD
Al Clark
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Iron Sky. Samuli Torssonen, Jussi Lehtiniemi, Juuso Kaari, Kelly Myers.
TELEVISION
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST LIGHT ENTERTAINMENT TELEVISION SERIES
Agony Aunts. Adam Zwar, Nicole Minchin. ABC1
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST TELEVISION COMEDY SERIES
Lowdown – Season 2. Nicole Minchin, Amanda Brotchie, Adam Zwar. ABC1
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST PERFORMANCE IN A TELEVISION COMEDY
Patrick Brammall. A Moody Christmas. ABC1
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST CHILDREN'S TELEVISION SERIES
The Adventures Of Figaro Pho. Dan Fill, Frank Verheggen, David Webster. ABC3
DOCUMENTARY
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST FEATURE LENGTH DOCUMENTARY
Storm Surfers 3D. Ellenor Cox, Marcus Gillezeau.
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY UNDER ONE HOUR
Then The Wind Changed. Jeni McMahon, Celeste Geer. ABC1
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY SERIES
Go Back To Where You Came From. Rick McPhee, Ivan O'Mahoney. SBS
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST DIRECTION IN A DOCUMENTARY
Fighting Fear. Macario De Souza. FOXTEL – Movie Network
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY IN A DOCUMENTARY
Fighting Fear. Tim Bonython, Chris Bryan, Macario De Souza, Lee Kelly. FOXTEL – Movie Network
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST EDITING IN A DOCUMENTARY
Once Upon A Time In Cabramatta – Episode 1. Sam Wilson. SBS
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST SOUND IN A DOCUMENTARY
Dr Sarmast's Music School. Dale Cornelius, Livia Ruzic, Keith Thomas. ABC1
SHORT FILM
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST SHORT ANIMATION
The Hunter. Marieka Walsh
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST SHORT FICTION FILM
Julian. Robert Jago, Matthew Moore.
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST SCREENPLAY IN A SHORT FILM
Transmission. Zak Hilditch.
FEATURE FILM
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
The Sapphires. Warwick Thornton.
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST EDITING
The Sapphires. Dany Cooper ASE.
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST SOUND
The Sapphires. Andrew Plain, Bry Jones, Pete Smith, Ben Osmo, John Simpson.
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC SCORE
Not Suitable For Children. Matteo Zingales, Jono Ma.
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
The Sapphires. Melinda Doring.
AACTA AWARD FOR BEST COSTUME DESIGN
The Sapphires. Tess Schofield.