Film Victoria congratulates all the winners and nominees recognised in the 7th AACTA Awards presented by Foxtel last night.
The annual awards events were held on the 4th and 6th of December, recognising the talent of Australia’s screen industry. A strong contingent of Victorian projects and creatives took home awards in multiple categories from screenwriting, producing, directing and acting to cinematography, sound and costume design.
Lion blitzed the field in features, winning 12 awards, including Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography (Greig Fraser), Best Editing, Best Sound (Andrew Ramage), Best Original Music Score, Best Costume Design (Cappi Ireland) and Best Production (Chris Kennedy).
The incredible talent of Victorian Director Garth Davis was recognised with Lion receiving the award for Best Direction and Best Film.
Matchbox Pictures’ Seven Types of Ambiguity received five awards in the television drama categories, including Best Screenplay, Best Editing (Rodrigo Balart), Best Direction (Glendyn Ivin) and Best Cinematography (Bonnie Elliot). Hugo Weaving also won Best Actor for his powerful performance in the drama. Andrew Knight and Elsie McCredie took out Best Feature Screenplay for Ali’s Wedding also produced by Matchbox.
Shot in Melbourne, the SBS drama Sunshine produced by Easy Tiger’s Ian Collie and Carver Films’ Anna McLeish and Sarah Shaw took home Best Telefeature or Mini Series, while Victorian filmmaker Kitty Green’s Casting JonBenet won the award for Best Feature Length Documentary.
Utopia’s Rob Sitch won the award for Best Performance in a Television Comedy, with Robyn Butler and Wayne Hope winning best Children’s series for Little Lunch - The Specials.
VFX specialists Iloura continue to receive accolades for their work in creating one of the most exciting battles of the Game of Thrones series so far. The team took home the award for Best Visual Effects or Animation for ‘The Spoils of War’ episode.
The inaugural AACTA Award for Best Asian Film went to Dangal, which is distributed in Australia by Melbourne based Mind Blowing Films.
Martin Butler and Bentley Dean were honoured with the Byron Kennedy Award, which recognised their outstanding body of documentaries and their Oscar nominated feature Tanna.
Film Victoria CEO, Jenni Tosi said “a huge congratulations to all the award recipients and nominees and especially those from who Victoria who were so strongly represented at these prestigious awards.
“The calibre of drama, comedy, features and documentaries being produced out of Melbourne is a testament to the talent of all the individuals involved and we congratulate them on their contribution to the success of Australia’s screen industry."
7th AACTA Awards – Victorian projects (and creatives)
TELEVISION
Seven Types of Ambiguity
Sunshine
Wentworth
Utopia
Little Lunch – The Specials
Rosehaven
FEATURE FILM
Lion
Ali’s Wedding
DOCUMENTARY
Casting JonBenet
Blue
VISUAL EFFECTS OR ANIMATION
Game of Thrones – The Spoils of War
BYRON KENNEDY AWARD