Ivan Sen’s Mystery Road won six of the eight awards for Australian films at the Australian Film Critics Association 2014 film and writing awards.
The murder mystery produced by David Jowsey was feted as best film and for Sen’s direction, screenplay and cinematography, lead actor Aaron Pedersen and supporting actor Hugo Weaving.
Nicole Kidman was named best actress for The Railway Man and Rose Byrne took the supporting actress prize for Tim Winton's The Turning.
Tarantino's Django Unchanged was judged best international film and Michael Haneke’s Amour best foreign-language international film. Best documentary went to Sarah Polley’s Stories We Tell.
The AFCA has about 75 members. “All our members voted on the Awards and the majority clearly felt Ivan Sen's gripping outback noir was the best Australian film from the last 12 months,” said AFCA chair Richard Haridy, whose outlets are ABC Radio Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast, Quickflix and Crikey’s Crikey – The Parallax Podcast.
Pedersen was on hand to accept his award. The event was held on Saturday night at Studio 1 at ACMI, hosted by Melbourne-based actor-comedian Ben McKenzie.
NOMINATIONS AND WINNERS
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Charles Dance (Patrick)
Joel Edgerton (The Great Gatsby)
Thep Phongam (The Rocket)
Angus Sampson (100 Bloody Acres)
Hugo Weaving (Mystery Road)
WINNER:
Hugo Weaving (Mystery Road)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Rose Byrne (The Turning)
Elizabeth Debicki (The Great Gatsby)
Isla Fisher (The Great Gatsby)
Loungnam Kaosainam (The Rocket)
Tasma Walton (Mystery Road)
WINNER:
Rose Byrne (The Turning)
BEST DOCUMENTARY (local or international)
20 Feet From Stardom
The Act Of Killing
Blackfish
The Gatekeepers
The Imposter
Stories We Tell
WINNER:
Stories We Tell
BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM (Foreign Language)
Amour
Blancanieves
The Hunt
No
Stranger By The Lake
WINNER:
Amour
BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM (English Language)
Django Unchained
Frances Ha
Gravity
The Place Beyond The Pines
Upstream Color
WINNER
Django Unchained
BEST SCREENPLAY
100 Bloody Acres (Colin & Cameron Cairnes)
Mystery Road (Ivan Sen)
The Railway Man (Frank Cottrell Boyce and Andy Patterson)
The Rocket (Kim Mordaunt)
The Turning (Various)
WINNER
Mystery Road (Ivan Sen)
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
The Great Gatsby (Simon Duggan)
Mystery Road (Ivan Sen)
The Railway Man (Garry Phillips)
The Rocket (Andrew Commis)
The Turning (Various)
WINNER:
Mystery Road (Ivan Sen)
BEST ACTOR
Leonardo DiCaprio (The Great Gatsby)
Sitthiphon Disamoe (The Rocket)
Colin Firth (The Railway Man)
Damon Herriman (100 Bloody Acres)
Aaron Pedersen (Mystery Road)
WINNER:
Aaron Pedersen (Mystery Road)
BEST ACTRESS
Nicole Kidman (The Railway Man)
Anna McGahan (100 Bloody Acres)
Carey Mulligan (The Great Gatsby)
Sharni Vinson (Patrick)
Naomi Watts (Adoration)
WINNER:
Nicole Kidman (The Railway Man)
BEST DIRECTOR
Baz Luhrmann (The Great Gatsby)
Catriona McKenzie (Satellite Boy)
Kim Mordaunt (The Rocket)
Ivan Sen (Mystery Road)
Jonathan Teplitzky (The Railway Man)
WINNER:
Ivan Sen (Mystery Road)
BEST FILM
The Great Gatsby
Mystery Road
The Railway Man
The Rocket
The Turning
WINNER:
Mystery Road
• Award for writing on non-Australian cinema.
Scott MacLeod.
"THROUGH THE MIND: Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master"
Award for writing on Australian Cinema.
Glenn Dunks.
"Launching The Rocket: Beyond the Typical Australian Film."
• Award for Best Review of an individual Australian film.
Simon Miraudo.
"The Great Gatsby"
• Award for Best Review of an Individual non-Australian film.
Simon Di Berardino
"To The Wonder"