It was announced today that family drama The Black Balloon, from debut director Elissa Down, was nominated 11 times, more than any other film. The unlikely love story Unfinished Sky, directed by Peter Duncan, has 10 nominations while The Square, director Nash Edgerton's debut feature and one of the few examples of Australian film noir, and director Dee McLachlan's tale of sex slavery, The Jammed, have seven nominations each.
All four films are also nominated in either the adapted or original screenplay categories -- alongside Hey Hey It's Esther Blueburger and All My Friends Are Leaving Brisbane -and have been named between two and four times in acting categories. The other films with nominated actors are Death Defying Acts, Bitter & Twisted and Black Water.
For several years the AFI has acknowledged the work of Australian actors abroad. This year those nominated include Eric Bana (The Other Boleyn Girl), Russell Crowe (American Gangster), Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight), Jack Thompson (Leatherheads), Cate Blanchett (Elizabeth: The Golden Age) and Nicole Kidman (The Golden Compass) as well as Judy Davis and Rachel Griffiths for their work on television dramas The Starter Wife and Brothers and Sisters, respectively.
The Jammed was the best film winner at last year's IF Awards but just missed the deadline for last year's AFIs, hence it seeming out of place in the line-up. It's distributor, John L Simpson of Titan View, is this year's recipient of the A$25,000 AFI Fellowship. He will use the money to research and develop systems and strategies for getting Australian films to communities without independent cinemas, which can then be used by other filmmakers. He will use Men's Group, a film he produced, as the test case.
'These communities don't have independent cinemas and might be the outer suburbs of big cities through to remote Aboriginal communities,' Simpson told screendaily.com. 'The project is about laying down railway tracks for filmmakers who want to be proactive and show their films non-theatrically.'
The AFI Awards will be held on Saturday December 6 in Melbourne and televised on the Nine Network, although some awards will be awarded on the previous evening.
The nominees are:
L'Oreal Paris AFI Award for Best Film:
The Black Balloon. Tristram Miall
The Jammed. Dee McLachlan, Andrea Buck & Sally Ayre-Smith
The Square. Louise Smith
Unfinished Sky. Cathy Overett & Anton Smit
AFI Award for Best Direction
The Black Balloon. Elissa Down
The Jammed. Dee McLachlan
The Square. Nash Edgerton
Unfinished Sky. Peter Duncan
Macquarie AFI Award for Best Original Screenplay
The Black Balloon. Elissa Down & Jimmy The Exploder
Hey Hey It's Esther Blueburger. Cathy Randall
The Jammed. Dee McLachlan
The Square. Joel Edgerton & Matthew Dabner
Macquarie AFI Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
All My Friends Are Leaving Brisbane. Stephen Vagg
Unfinished Sky. Peter Duncan
AFI Award for Best Cinematography
The Black Balloon. Denson Baker ACS
Death Defying Acts. Haris Zambarloukos BSC
The Tender Hook. Geoffrey Simpson ACS
Unfinished Sky. Robert Humphreys ACS
AFI Award for Best Editing
The Black Balloon. Veronika Jenet ASE
Black Water. Rodrigo Balart
The Jammed. Dee McLachlan & Anne Carter
Unfinished Sky. Suresh Ayyar ASE
AFI Award for Best Sound
The Black Balloon. Ben Osmo & Paul Pirola
Hey Hey It's Esther Blueburger. Liam Egan, Tony Murtagh, Phil Judd MPSE & Des Kenneally
The Tender Hook. Liam Egan, Tony Murtagh, Phil Judd MPSE & Gary Wilkins
Unfinished Sky. Andrew Plain, Annie Breslin & Will Ward
AFI Award for Best Original Music Score
The Black Balloon. Michael Yezerski
The Square. François Tetaz & Ben Lee
The Tender Hook. Chris Abrahams
Unfinished Sky. Antony Partos
AFI Award for Best Production Design
Children of the Silk Road. Steven Jones-Evans
Death Defying Acts. Gemma Jackson
The Tender Hook. Peter Baxter
Unfinished Sky. Laurie Faen
AFI Award for Best Costume Design
Children of the Silk Road. Wenyan Gao & Kym Barrett
Death Defying Acts. Susannah Buxton
Hey Hey It's Esther Blueburger. Shareen Beringer
The Tender Hook. Cappi Ireland
AFI Award for Best Lead Actor
Rhys Wakefield. The Black Balloon
Guy Pearce. Death Defying Acts
David Roberts. The Square
William McInnes. Unfinished Sky
AFI Award for Best Lead Actress
Noni Hazlehurst. Bitter & Twisted
Emma Lung. The Jammed
Veronica Sywak. The Jammed
Monic Hendrickx. Unfinished Sky
AFI Award for Best Supporting Actor
Luke Ford. The Black Balloon
Erik Thomson. The Black Balloon
Joel Edgerton. The Square
Anthony Hayes. The Square
AFI Award for Best Supporting Actress
Leeanna Walsman. Bitter & Twisted
Toni Collette. The Black Balloon
Maeve Dermody. Black Water
Saskia Burmeister. The Jammed
AFI International Award for Best Actor
Eric Bana. The Other Boleyn Girl
Russell Crowe. American Gangster
Heath Ledger. The Dark Knight
Jack Thompson. Leatherheads
AFI International Award for Best Actress
Cate Blanchett. Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Judy Davis. The Starter Wife. Network Ten
Rachel Griffiths. Brothers & Sisters. Seven Network
Nicole Kidman. The Golden Compass
L'Oreal Paris AFI Young Actor Award
Danielle Catanzariti. Hey Hey It's Esther Blueburger
Tom Green. The Ground Beneath
Saoirse Ronan. Death Defying Acts
Clarence John Ryan. September
AFI Visual Effects Award
Death Defying Acts. James Rogers
Double The Fist (Series 2). Doug Bayne, Adam MacGowan, Michael Blake & Bill McGuire. ABC
Gabriel. Matthew Graham & Steve Anderson
H2O - Just Add Water (Series 2). Barry Lanfranchi. Network Ten
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