(l-r) Deepti Naval and Garth Davis on set (photo credit: Mark Rogers).
The nominees for best feature direction at this year’s ADG Awards are Garth Davis (Lion), Simon Stone (The Daughter), Ben Young (Hounds of Love), Craig Boreham (Teenage Kicks) and Jonathan Leahy (Skin Deep). All are celebrated for their feature debuts.
ADG CEO Kingston Anderson says the ADG is angling for a high-profile director to present the feature film award. “I can’t say who it is but if we get him it’d be great," he tells IF. "It’s a timing issue as usual.”
Emma Freeman is nominated in the TV direction category for her work on Secret City alongside Leah Purcell for Cleverman, Rowan Woods for Rake and Tony Krawitz for The Kettering Incident.
“As always TV drama continues to be a strong and important and powerful category, and that reflects what’s going on in our industry," says Anderson. "It continues to be the growth area.”
Geoff Bennett is nominated for best direction in a miniseries for Brock alongside Kevin Carlin for Molly and Robert Connolly for Barracuda.
Jonathan Brough has two nominations in the comedy direction category, one for Rosehaven and another for The Family Law. Brough is nominated alongside Connor Van Vuuren and Christian Van Vuuren for Soul Mates, Matthew Saville for Please Like Me, and Trent O'Donnell for The Letdown.
The feature documentary directors nominated this year are Aaron Peterson for Zach's Ceremony, Amanda Blue for Deep Water: The Real Story, Dan Jackson for In the Shadow of the Hill, Gillian Leahy for Baxter and Me and Pete Gleeson for Hotel Coolgardie.
The awards will take place on May 5 at the Sofitel Melbourne. 2017’s ceremony will again be broadcast.
“We did our first broadcast last year,” says Anderson. “Only on a cable station but that was great because it allows people to watch the awards after the event."
“The guild awards are very important because we’ve got to back up what we say about directors and we really need to recognize directors across the board, whether it be [for] children’s television or feature films or documentary. That creative voice within the industry is incredibly important, and the awards are a platform to recognize that.”
The full list of nominees is here.