The Australian Directors Guild is proud to announce the recipients of the three non-competitive ADG awards for 2008: Bruce Petty will receive the ADG Outstanding Achievement Award; Tom Zubrycki will receive the Cecil Holmes Award and Kate Woods will receive the Michael Carson Award for Excellence In Television Drama Direction. These award recipients
were announced by the ADG as the general call for entries deadline for the competitive 2008 ADG Awards was extended to Thursday 14th August.
Voted upon by the ADG President and Board, ADG President Ray Argall says, "These directors have been chosen by the board not just for their outstanding achievements but also for their leadership and creative vision that has inspired a generation of filmmakers in Australia."
2008 ADG Outstanding Achievement Award: Bruce Petty
The Outstanding Achievement Award is presented to a director who has created an outstanding body of work during their career, in any genre.The first award was presented in 2001 to Peter Weir, with recipients in recent years including Gillian Armstrong, Fred Schepisi, Ray Lawrence and Phil Noyce.
Bruce Petty is best known as one of Australia’s most influential political artists. His works include cartoons, sculpture, script, assemblage and printmaking as well as filmmaking.
In 1970, Petty directed Hearts and Minds, a film made in collaboration with Phillip Adams which showed Petty’s continuing attention to Vietnam as a war zone. In 1972 he made his first animated film Australian History.
In the same year, Petty wrote and designed his first short film for the ABC. A Big Hand for Everyone, which was an amalgamation of animation, kinetic sculpture, film clips and acted segments which constructed Petty’s vision of mass media and society.
In 1976 Petty wrote and directed the short film Leisure, for which he won the Oscar for animation at the 1977 Academy Awards. Since then he has continued his involvement in filmmaking through diverse projects, including Megalomedia, Clever Country and The Mad Century. His most recent film Global Haywire, a feature length film combining animation and documentary satire, was screened at the Melbourne International Film Festival in 2006 and released theatrically in 2007.
ADG President Ray Argall says, "Bruce Petty has been an inspiration to Australian animators for many decades, and has been committed to getting the very best out of his screen art without compromising his creative vision."
2008 ADG Cecil Holmes Award: Tom Zubrycki
The Cecil Holmes Award was named after Cecil Holmes, a filmmaker of the 70’s whose work was largely unheralded, and who was later instrumental in mentoring a number of directors during the 70’s film renaissance. Previous recipients have included Rolf de Heer and the indigenous filmmakers who created the Central Australia Aboriginal Media Association.
Tom Zubrycki is an award-winning filmmaker who has earned an international reputation for his substantial and widely-respected body of documentaries. He works mainly in an observational style and his films are narrative-based and strongly character-driven. His latest film Temple of Dreams, about the struggle of a group of young Muslim Australians to keep open a youth centre in Sydney’s west had its international premiere at the Sydney International Film Festival in June
2007. His earlier films include Molly & Mobarak (2003), The Diplomat (2000), Homelands (1993) and Billal (1996). Tom has also worked extensively as a producer mentoring emerging filmmakers.
ADG President Ray Argall says, "Tom’s exceptional creative output over so many years speaks for itself, however what is less known is how he has worked tirelessly for filmmakers rights and conditions over that period as a past board member of the ADG and through his continuing presence in key debates affecting documentary filmmakers."
2008 ADG Michael Carson Award for Excellence In Television Drama Direction: Kate Woods
In 2006 director Michael Carson was to receive an ADG Accreditation Award for Excellence at the annual ADG Dinner. Sadly, he passed away prior to his award being presented, so this award was renamed in his honour. It recognises excellence in the craft of television drama direction. Last year the award was presented to Peter Andrikidis.
Kate Woods directing spans some 15 years. She has enjoyed a long association with the ABC, having directed episodes of GP, Phoenix, Janus and the NHK co-production Escape From Jupiter (1993). Other series include Police Rescue (1994), Heartland (1994), Corelli, Mercury (1996), Raw FM (1997), Wildside (1997), Worst Best Friends (2002) and Farscape (2002). Kate has also directed the ABC’s award winning series MDA, the miniseries Simone de Beauvoir’s Babies (1997) and Changi (2001), a 6-hour award-winning mini series written by John Doyle. Looking For Alibrandi (1999) was Kate’s widely acclaimed first feature film. Kate has also directed episodes for a number of US television series including Jerry Bruckheimer’s Without a Trace, Bones, Crossing Jordan, Shark and Law and Order.
ADG President Ray Argall says, "Kate has directed over 200 hours of television and is now working in the US, where she continues to raise the bar of excellence. We look forward to luring her back to a re-vitalised television industry in Australia where she can continue her invaluable contribution to excellence in Australian TV Drama."
These three awards will be formally presented to Tom Zubrycki, Bruce Petty and Kate Woods at the ADG Awards Ceremony on Saturday 27 September, during the ADG National Directors Conference which takes place from 25 – 28 September at the new AFTRS building, within the Entertainment Quarter in Moore Park, Sydney.
The Australian Directors Guild Awards are the only peer-assessed awards which celebrate the best directing talent across Australia in the fields of feature film, television, documentary, short film, TVC, animation and music video.
The Australian Directors Guild would like to especially thank Screen Australia, the New South Wales Film and Television Office and the Australian Film, Television and Radio School for their generous support of the ADG Conference and Awards this year.
[Release by Nixco]