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Russell Crowe’s The Water Diviner and Jennifer Kent thriller The Babadook have both won the AACTA (Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts) Award for best film, marking the first time that two titles have shared the country’s top film prize.

The event in Sydney, hosted this year by actresses Cate Blanchett and Deborah Mailman, is only the 4^th annual AACTA Awards but they were the result of an overhaul of the AFI (Australian Film Institute) Awards, which were established in 1969.

The two winning films could not be more different from each other. Kent’s meticulously crafted low-budget claustrophobic thriller, The Babadook, is about a single mother who battles with her son’s fear of a monster lurking in the house.

Gladiator star Crowe’s directorial debut, The Water Diviner, is about an Australian farmer (Crowe) who travels to Gallipoli four years after the end of the First World War to find his three sons. While there, he falls in love with a Turkish woman.

The Water Diviner was the local box office hit of last year but it is the industry that decides the best film recipient.

It was a triumphant night for The Babadook’s Kent in particular because she also won the awards for best director and best original screenplay.

Kristina Ceyton and Kristian Moliere produced The Babadook. Andrew Mason, Keith Rodger and Entertainment One Australia managing director Troy Lum produced The Water Diviner.

Surprising decision

The vote split was surprising for two key reasons. Firstly, The Water Diviner only won one other award: Turkish actor Yilmaz Erdogan in the best supporting actor category.

Secondly, it is 24 years since a best film award has gone to a feature whose director was not nominated in the category for direction. (John Duigan wasn’t nominated for directing when Flirting won best film in 1990.)

Crowe was nominated for best actor but was beaten to the top prize by David Gulpilil, who plays Charlie in Rolf de Heer’s Charlie’s Country, a story of indigenous dispossession.

In a very popular decision, Sarah Snook won best lead actress for Predestination. The Spierig Brothers’ time-travel drama, starring Ethan Hawke, also took home many of the craft awards.

Charlie’s Country, Predestination, The Railway Man and Tracks were the other four films nominated for best film.

Best adapted screenplay went to UK writers Frank Cottrell Boyce and Andy Paterson for The Railway Man.

Veteran television and film writer and producer Andrew Knight – who just happens to have co-written the script of The Water Diviner – and film director Amiel Courtin-Wilson won the prestigious Longford Lyell and Byron Kennedy Awards respectively.  

AACTA Awards 2015

Best Film

The Babadook: Kristina Ceyton And Kristian Moliere

The Water Diviner: Andrew Mason, Keith Rodger And Troylum

Best Direction

The Babadook: Jennifer Kent

Best Original Screenplay

The Babadook: Jennifer Kent

Best Adapted Screenplay

The Railway Man: Frank Cottrell Boyce, Andy Paterson

Best Cinematography

Predestination: Ben Nott Acs

Best Editing

Predestination: Matt Villa Ase

Best Sound

The Rover: Sam Petty, Des Kenneally, Justine Angus,Brooke Trezise, Francis Ward Lindsay And Robert Mackenzie

Best Original Music Score

The Railway Man: David Hirschfelder

Best Production Design

Predestination: Matthew Putland

Best Costume Design

The Water Diviner: Tess Schofield

Best Lead Actor

David Gulpilil: Charlie’s Country

Best Lead Actress

Sarah Snook: Predestination

Best Supporting Actor

Yilmaz Erdogan: The Water Diviner

Best Supporting Actress

Susan Prior: The Rover

Best Visual Effects Or Animation

The Lego Movie: Chris Mckay, Amber Naismith, Aidan Sarsfield, Grant Freckelton

Other Key Awards

Longford Lyell Award

• Andrew Knight
• Byron Kennedy Award
• Amiel Courtin-Wilson

Trailblazer Award

Rose Byrne

Best Feature Length Documentary

Ukraine Is Not A Brothel: Kitty Green, Jonathan Auf Der Heide, Michael Latham

Best Short Fiction Film

Florence Has Left The Building: Mirrah Foulkes, Alex White

Best Television Drama Series

The Code: Shelley Birse, David Maher, David Taylor - Abc

Best Telefeature Or Mini Series

Devil’s Playground: Helen Bowden, Penny Chapman, Blake Ayshford, Simon Burke - Foxtel - Showcase