Frances Elliott and Samantha Marlowe’s Girl Like You, the story of a couple told over six years as one of them transitions gender, was recognised with the major award at this evening’s AWGIE Awards.
The film was was also a joint winner of the documentary category alongside Ben Lawrence’s Ithaka.
With this year’s ceremony taking place against the background of Transgender Awareness Week, the Rush Films’ production was fittingly the only multiple winner of the evening.
It marks the first AWGIE nominations and first wins for Elliott and Marlowe, who initially began the project as a 6×10 web series in 2015, with the hour-long documentary having its world premiere at last year’s CinefestOZ before screening on the ABC.
First-time winners were also well represented in the feature categories, as Del Kathryn Barton and Huna Amweero took home best original feature for Blaze, while Keith Thompson added to his previous wins in 2004 and 2012 with best feature adaption for his work on Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris, alongside Carroll Cartwright, Anthony Fabian, and Olivia Hetreed.
In television, ABC titles were awarded the series and limited series prizes. Kim Ho and Michael Lucas won the former for The Newsreader, while Tony Ayres, Belinda Chayko, Anya Beyersdorf, Steven McGregor, Jacquelin Perske and Mirrah Foulkes received the latter for Fires. Louise Bowes won the television serial award for Home and Away.
Lucas paid tribute to Ho, who secured his first writing credit with the series.
“He was our note taker and script coordinator, but I began in that role, and so I’m always on the lookout for emerging writers,” he told IF.
“It was really obvious (Ho) was talented; you could see the skill in his play and the other scripts he had written and so I asked him if he would like to co-write a script with me, and he took to it beautifully.”
Elsewhere, SBS’s The Feed made it a hat-trick, winning the light entertainment and sketch comedy prize for the third year running, with previous winners Alex Lee, Jenna Owen, and Victoria Zerbst joined by Ben Jenkins and Vidya Rajan in accepting the award. Spreadsheet scribe Kala Ellis won her first AWGIE for situation or narrative comedy.
Of the children’s awards, Samuel Nuggin-Paynter topped the preschool field with Little J & Big Cuz, and Luke Tierney was crowned the ‘C’ classification winner for The Strange Chores. Meanwhile, Ally Burnham took home the animation award for sci-fi dieselpunk series Metropius, and It’s Fine, I’m Fine writer Jeanette Cronin was recognised in the web series category.
In congratulating the winners, Australian Writers’ Guild group CEO Claire Pullen said a “real hunger” for Australian stories had made for increasing opportunities to grow the industry.
“We’ve seen Australian stories like The Stranger and Heartbreak High explode overseas,” she said.
“It shows that Australian stories are popular not just here but around the world.
“We are already telling incredible Australian stories; the right framework from government and industry would accelerate us into a job-creating and exporting powerhouse.
“Our winners show the depth of talent to support that growth.”
MAJOR AWARD
Girl Like You – Frances Elliott and Samantha Marlowe
FEATURE FILM – ORIGINAL
Blaze – Del Kathryn Barton and Huna Amweero
FEATURE FILM – ADAPTED
Mrs Harris Goes to Paris – Keith Thompson with Carroll Cartwright, Anthony Fabian, and Olivia Hetreed
SHORT FILM
The Moths Will Eat Them Up – Tanya Modini
DOCUMENTARY – PUBLIC BROADCAST (INCLUDING VOD) OR EXHIBITION
Girl Like You – Frances Elliott with Samantha Marlowe
Ithaka – Ben Lawrence
TELEVISION – SERIAL
Home and Away: Episode 7742 – Louise Bowes
TELEVISION – SERIES
The Newsreader: Season 1, ‘No More Lies’ – Kim Ho and Michael Lucas
TELEVISION – LIMITED SERIES
Fires – Tony Ayres, Belinda Chayko, Anya Beyersdorf, Steven McGregor and Jacquelin Perske with Mirrah Foulkes
ANIMATION
Metropius: Season 1, ‘Case #001’ – Ally Burnham
CHILDREN’S TELEVISION – ‘P’ CLASSIFICATION (PRESCHOOL – UNDER 5 YEARS), ORIGINAL OR ADAPTED, ANIMATED OR PERFORMED
Little J & Big Cuz: Season 3, ‘Levi Learns’ – Samuel Nuggin-Paynter
CHILDREN’S TELEVISION – ‘C’ CLASSIFICATION (CHILDREN’S – 5–14 YEARS), ORIGINAL OR ADAPTED, ANIMATED OR PERFORMED
The Strange Chores: Season 2, ‘Walk Wolfman’ – Luke Tierney
COMEDY – SITUATION OR NARRATIVE
Spreadsheet: Season 1, ‘Chlamydia & Nits’ – Kala Ellis
COMEDY – SKETCH OR LIGHT ENTERTAINMENT
The Feed: ‘Comedy Sketches, 2021’ – Ben Jenkins, Alex Lee, Jenna Owen, Vidya Rajan and Vic Zerbst
AUDIO – FICTION
Untrue Romance: ‘Call You Back’ – Tommy Murphy
AUDIO – NON-FICTION
The Phantom Never Dies: ‘Fantomen’ – Maria Lewis
STAGE – ORIGINAL
Horizon – Maxine Mellor
STAGE – ADAPTED
My Father’s Wars – Elaine Acworth
COMMUNITY AND YOUTH THEATRE
Euphoria – Emily Steel
THEATRE FOR YOUNG AUDIENCES
House – Dan Giovannoni
INTERACTIVE MEDIA & GAMING
Sun Runners: ‘Radioactive Laser Eyes’ – Zoe Pepper
WEB SERIES AND OTHER NON-BROADCAST/NON-‘SUBSCRIPTION VIDEO ON DEMAND’ TV SHORT WORKS
It’s Fine, I’m Fine: Season 1, ‘Poo Boy’ – Jeanette Cronin
DAVID WILLIAMSON PRIZE For Excellence in Writing for Australian Theatre
Horizon – Maxine Mello
STAGE – ADAPTED
My Father’s Wars – Elaine Acworth
AUSTRALIAN WRITERS’ GUILD LIFE MEMBERSHIP
Mac Gudgeon
DOROTHY CRAWFORD AWARD for Outstanding Contribution to the Profession and the
Industry
Philip Dalkin
HECTOR CRAWFORD AWARD for Outstanding Contribution to the Craft as a Script
Producer, Editor or Dramaturg
Peter Gawler
FRED PARSONS AWARD for Outstanding Contribution to Australian Comedy
Phil Lloyd & Trent O’Donnel