The Hunter earns 14 nominations in AACTA film awards

The other most nominated films were the chilling Snowtown with 10, this year’s box office hit Red Dog with eight, the UK/Australian co-production Oranges And Sunshine with seven and the emotionally charged Mad Bastards with seven.

These films are also the six that are in the running for the AACTA Award for Best Film and the AFI Members Choice Award, it was revealed in Sydney today.

The frontrunner, The Hunter, is director Daniel Nettheim’s second film and was produced by Vincent Sheehan from Porchlight Films and written by Alice Addison.

Nettheim will have to fight off directors Fred Schepisi (The Eye Of The Storm), Kriv Stenders (Red Dog) and Justin Kurzel (Snowtown) to win his category and Addison is up against the writers of the same set of films in the adapted screenplay category. Those writers are, respectively, Judy Morris, Daniel Taplitz and Shaun Grant.

The nominees in the original screenplay category are Griff The Invisible, The Loved Ones, Mad Bastards and Red Hill.

The Eye Of The Storm, produced by Schepisi, Antony Waddington and Gregory Read, scored half of its nominations in the acting categories, including for leads Geoffrey Rush, Judy Davis and non-Australian Charlotte Rampling – as well as the director’s daughter Alexandra Schepisi. The other non-Australian thespian named was Willem Dafoe for The Hunter.

The nominations covered 14 features in all and were announced in front of a large gathering of film types at the National Institute of Dramatic Art by Adam Elliot and actors Alexandra Schepisi, Daniel Henshall and Claudia Karvan.

The most nominated television programs were the Matchbox mini-series The Slap, the eighth and last episode of which screened on ABC1 last week, and the Screentime mini-series Cloudstreet, which was adapted from a book by Tim Winton and screened on pay TV channel Showcase.

The AACTA (Australian Academy of Cinema, Television, Arts) Awards were launched in August and replace the Australian Film Institute Awards, which have been part of the local film calendar for more than 50 years.

The inaugural AACTA Awards will be presented across two events: at a lunch at Sydney’s Westin Hotel on January 15, which will coincide with the G’Day USA Black Tie Gala in LA on January 14; and at an evening ceremony at the Sydney Opera House on January 31.

The rebooted awards were moved to January in the hope of capturing more attention because of their proximity to other awards ceremonies happening around the globe during that month and the next. For the first time, the will include awards for the best international films and filmmakers as judged by Australian practitioners at the top of their game.

The Raymond Longford Award will also be presented at this time to veteran cinematographer Don McAlpine, who will be in Sydney.

The nominations are:

BEST FILM

The Eye Of The Storm, Antony Waddington, Gregory Read, Fred Schepisi.

The Hunter, Vincent Sheehan.

Mad Bastards, David Jowsey, Alan Pigram, Stephen Pigram, Brendan Fletcher.

Oranges And Sunshine, Camilla Bray, Emile Sherman, Iain Canning.

Red Dog, Nelson Woss, Julie Ryan.

Snowtown, Anna McLeish, Sarah Shaw.

BEST DIRECTION

The Eye Of The Storm, Fred Schepisi.

The Hunter, Daniel Nettheim.

Red Dog, Kriv Stenders.

Snowtown, Justin Kurzel.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Griff The Invisible, Leon Ford.

The Loved Ones, Sean Byrne.

Mad Bastards, Brendan Fletcher, Dean Daley-Jones, Greg Tait, John Watson.

Red Hill, Patrick Hughes.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

The Eye Of The Storm, Judy Morris.

The Hunter, Alice Addison.

Red Dog, Daniel Taplitz.

Snowtown, Shaun Grant.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

The Hunter, Robert Humphreys.

Red Dog, Geoffrey Hall.

Sleeping Beauty, Geoffrey Simpson.

Snowtown, Adam Arkapaw.

BEST EDITING

Oranges And Sunshine, Dany Cooper.

Red Dog, Jill Bilcock ASE.

Snowtown, Veronika Jenet.

Wasted On The Young, Leanne Cole.

BEST SOUND

The Hunter, Sam Petty, David Lee, Robert Mackenzie, Les Fiddess, Tony Murtagh,  

Tom Heuzenroeder.

Legend Of The Guardians: The Owls Of Ga’Hoole, Wayne Pashley, Derryn Pasquill, Polly McKinnon, Fabian Sanjurjo, Phil Heywood, Peter Smith.

Mad Bastards, Phil Judd, Nick Emond, Johanna Emond.

Snowtown, Frank Lipson, Andrew McGrath, Des Kenneally, Michael Carden, John Simpson, Erin McKimm.

BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC SCORE

The Hunter, Matteo Zingales, Michael Lira, Andrew Lancaster.

Legend Of The Guardians: The Owls Of Ga’Hoole, David Hirschfelder.

Red Dog, Cezary Skubiszewski.

Snowtown, Jed Kurzel.

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

The Eye Of The Storm, Melinda Doring.

The Hunter, Steven Jones-Evans.

Red Dog, Ian Gracie.

Sleeping Beauty, Annie Beauchamp.

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

The Eye Of The Storm, Terry Ryan.

The Hunter, Emily Seresin.

Oranges And Sunshine, Cappi Ireland.

Sleeping Beauty, Shareen Beringer.

BEST LEAD ACTOR

Willem Dafoe, The Hunter.

Daniel Henshall, Snowtown.

Geoffrey Rush, The Eye Of The Storm.

David Wenham, Oranges And Sunshine.

BEST LEAD ACTRESS

Judy Davis, The Eye Of The Storm.

Frances O’Connor, The Hunter.

Charlotte Rampling, The Eye Of The Storm.

Emily Watson, Oranges And Sunshine.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

John Gaden, The Eye Of The Storm.

Sam Neill, The Hunter.

Robert Rabiah, Face To Face.

Hugo Weaving, Oranges And Sunshine.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Morgana Davies, The Hunter.

Louise Harris, Snowtown.

Helen Morse, The Eye Of The Storm.

Alexandra Schepisi, The Eye Of The Storm.

AFI MEMBERS’ CHOICE AWARD

The Eye Of The Storm, Antony Waddington, Gregory Read, Fred Schepisi.

The Hunter, Vincent Sheehan.

Mad Bastards, David Jowsey, Alan Pigram, Stephen Pigram, Brendan Fletcher.

Oranges And Sunshine, Camilla Bray, Emile Sherman, Iain Canning.

Red Dog, Nelson Woss, Julie Ryan.

Snowtown, Anna McLeish, Sarah Shaw.

SPECIAL AWARDS

BEST YOUNG ACTOR

Olivia DeJonge, Good Pretender.

Emma Jefferson, My Place, series two, episode 17, 1848 – Johanna, ABC3

Lara Robinson Cloudstreet, part one, FOXTEL - Showcase

Lucas Yeeda, Mad Bastards.

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Cloudstreet, Scott Zero, FOXTEL - Showcase

Legend Of The Guardians: The Owls Of Ga’Hoole, Grant Freckelton.

Sanctum, David Booth, Peter Webb, Ineke Majoor, Glenn Melenhorst.

The Hunter, Felix Crawshaw, James Rogers.

RAYMOND LONGFORD AWARD

Don McAlpine

BEST SHORT ANIMATION

Forget Me Not, Emily Dean.

The Missing Key, Garth Nix, Anna McFarlane, Jonathan Nix.

The Moment, Justin Wight, Kristian Moliere, Troy Bellchambers, Shane McNeil.

Nullarbor, Alister Lockhart, Patrick Sarell, Katrina Mathers, Merrin Jensen, Daryl Munton.

BEST SHORT FICTION FILM

Adam’s Tallit, Justin Olstein, Marie Maroun.

Cropped, Bettina Hamilton, Dave Wade.

The Palace, Kate Croser, Anthony Maras, Andros Achilleos.

The Telegram Man, James F. Khehtie, Victoria Wharfe McIntyre.

BEST SCREENPLAY IN A SHORT FILM

Afterglow, Nadine Garner.

Cropped, Dave Wade.

The Palace, Anthony Maras.

Waiting For The Turning Of The Earth, David Evan Giles.

BEST FEATURE LENGTH DOCUMENTARY

Life In Movement, Sophie Hyde, Bryan Mason.

Mrs Carey’s Concert, Bob Connolly, Helen Panckhurst, Sophie Raymond. ABC1

Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure, Sophie Hyde, Matthew Bate.  

The Tall Man, Darren Dale. SBS