Cate Blanchett and Kyle Chandler in Carol
Todd Haynes' Carol leads the pack at the 5th AACTA International Awards.
The Australian Academy today nominated seventeen films across all categories.
Carol is nominated in five categories – Best Film, Best Direction, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress and Best Actress – while Adam McKay's financial collapse dramedy The Big Short won four nominations.
Competing alongside them for Best Film and Best Direction are Mad Max: Fury Road (which could well sweep both categories, as it did at AACTA's local awards last month) alongside Alejandro González Iñárritu’s The Revenant.
The fifth Best Film nom went to Spotlight, though that film's director, Tom McCarthy, is not nominated for Best Direction. That spot is filled by Ridley Scott, whose The Martian received three nominations, as did Steve Jobs.
Only two of the films nominated for Best Film were also nominated for Best Screenplay – Carol (written by Phyllis Nagy) and Spotlight (written by McCarthy and The Fifth Estate's Josh Singer).
The other screenwriting nominees are Alex Garland for Ex Machina, Drew Goddard for The Martian, and Aaron Sorkin for Steve Jobs.
Steve Carell (The Big Short), Matt Damon (The Martian), Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant), Michael Fassbender (Steve Jobs) and Eddie Redmayne (The Danish Girl) will compete for Best Actor, while Cate Blanchett is nominated for Best Actress alongside Brie Larson (Room), Saoirse Ronan (Brooklyn), Emily Blunt (Sicario) and Charlize Theron (Mad Max: Fury Road) in a formidably competitive category.
Aussie Joel Edgerton (Black Mass) is nominated for Best Supporting Actor alongside Christian Bale (The Big Short), Mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies), Paul Dano (Love and Mercy) and Benicio del Toro (Sicario).
The Dressmaker's Judy Davis will vie for Best Supporting Actress with her onscreen daughter, Kate Winslet (nominated for Steve Jobs), as well as Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl), Jennifer Jason Leigh (The Hateful Eight) and Rooney Mara (Carol).
"The AACTA International Awards add a unique Australian voice to the international discussion of screen excellence", AFI/AACTA CEO, Damian Trewhella, said. "On the one hand, our young Academy’s Awards have become a reliable early forecaster of which performers, practitioners and productions will be recognised by our international peers via the Oscars and the BAFTAs. On the other hand, as our Chapter members are almost all Australians, they add a uniquely Australian perspective to the conversation".
The awards will be announced in Los Angeles on January 29, and telecast January 31 on Foxtel Arts and Arena.