It seems AACTA voters couldn't help falling in love with the craft behind Baz Luhrmann's 'Elvis', with the film picking up seven out of a possible 10 gongs at the Industry Awards - including a history-making cinematography win for Mandy Walker.
This year's AACTA Award for Best Film will be a contest between Baz Luhrmann’s 'Elvis', George Miller’s 'Three Thousand Years of Longing', Leah Purcell’s 'The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson', Thomas M. Wright's 'The Stranger', Western Sydney anthology feature 'Here Out West', and Hannah Barlow and Kane Senes' horror 'Sissy'.
'Blaze', 'How To Please A Woman', 'Sissy' and 'Sweet As' will contend for the best original feature prize at this year’s AWGIE Awards, while 'Mrs Harris Goes to Paris', 'The Stranger' and 'The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson' are up for the adapted gong. 'The Newsreader' leads in television with two nominations alongside 'Total Control', 'Firebite', 'Bump' and 'Heartbreak High'.
Actress Anna Lindner hadn't necessarily planned to also become a screenwriter, yet felt she had "no option" but to turn her own painful and profound experiences with caring and loss into a dark comedy, 'A Beginner's Guide to Grief'.
In 'A Beginner's Guide to Grief', Anna Lindner is Harriet ‘Harry’ Wylde, who is navigating the loss of her two terminally ill parents in the one week, and the unpredictable fun park of grief.
SBS will bring more new voices to the forefront in its upcoming drama slate, which includes four short-form productions from its Digital Originals initiative, as well as the upcoming series 'Safe Home', from producer Imogen Banks.
'A Beginner's Guide to Grief' is the latest project to be greenlit via SBS and Screen Australia's Digital Originals initiative, with an additional six projects selected for further development.
Screen Australia and SBS have selected three short-form series from the 2019 Digital Originals initiative - 'A Beginner’s Guide to Grief', 'Freewheelers' and 'Iggy & Ace 5eva' - to further develop, with the intention of at least one going into production for SBS On Demand.