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‘Stateless’ dominates first round of AACTA Awards

'Stateless'.

Matchbox Pictures/Dirty Films’ Stateless dominated the AACTA Industry Awards on Friday evening, scooping up all of the television drama prizes.

The six gongs the ABC production received were for: cinematography, for the work of Bonnie Elliott; costume design, to Mariot Kerr; editing, to Mark Atkin; production design, to Melinda Doring; score, to composer Cornel Wilczek, and sound, going to Tom Heuzenroeder, Pete Smith, Michael Darren and Des Kenneally.

This year’s craft and technical awards were a little different thanks to COVID-19, presented virtually in a ceremony hosted by Claire Hooper.

Presenters included Rachel Griffiths, Ed Kavalee, Rhys Nicholson, Dilruk Jayasinha, Celia Pacquola and Bernard Curry.

In film, The Invisible Man and True History of the Kelly Gang each scooped three awards, and Babyteeth two.

Kirsty McGregor and Stevie Ray took home Best Casting for assembling the cast of Babyteeth, which boasts Eliza Scanlen, Toby Wallace, Ben Mendelsohn and Essie Davis.

Stefan Duscio snared Best Cinematography for his work on The Invisible Man. His colleagues on the film, P.K Hooker, Will Files and Paul “Salty” Brincat, won best sound, and Andy Canny the editing prize.

Karen Murphy and Rebecca Cohen won Best Production Design for True History of the Kelly Gang, with the film also recognised in costume (Alice Babidge) and hair and makeup (Kirsten Veysey).

Composer Amanda Brown won two awards on the night, Best Original Score for Babyteeth, and the equivalent documentary prize for Brazen Hussies. Brown is the first woman to win the award for Best Original Score since 2003’s Japanese Story, won by Elizabeth Drake.

Best Cinematography in a Documentary went to team of DOPs Nick Robinson, Jon Shaw, Caspar Mazzotti and Cam Batten, who shot Australia’s Ocean Odyssey: A Journey Down the East Australian Current.

The documentary sound prize went to the team behind Suzi Q: Emma Bortignon, Paul Shanahan, David Williams and Gemma Stack.

Larissa Behrendt won Best Direction in Nonfiction Television for Maralinga Tjarutja, while Best Editing in a Documentary went to Daniela Raulli for Can Art Stop A Bullet: William Kelly’s Big Picture.

The remaining AACTA Awards will be presented on Monday, in a ceremony at The Star Sydney held over two settings.

The AACTA Industry Awards are available to watch for free on the ScreenFest site until 16 December.