Australian films take top AFI awards
by Rama Gaind
Two Australian films – Samson & Delilah and Balibo – took out top awards at the AFI Awards last Saturday.
Seven awards were won by Samson & Delilah, with four going to Balibo.
In fact, it was the Madman Iconic Aussie Films range of releases which garnered a major sweep of awards at the 2009 Samsung Mobile AFI Industry and Ceremony Awards.
The talk of the Australian Film Industry in 2009, Samson & Delilah took out Best Film, Best Direction (Warwick Thornton), Best Original Screenplay and a shared AFI Young Actor Award for Rowan McNamara and Marissa Gibson the ceremony, as well as Industry Awards for Best Cinematography (Warwick Thornton), Best Sound and the AFI Member’s Choice Award.
Making major headlines at home and abroad, and recently controversially banned in Indonesia, Robert Connelly’s Balibo also picked up a number of major awards, including Best Lead Actor (Anthony LaPaglia), Best Adapted Screenplay (David Williamson, Robert Connolly), Best Supporting Actor (Oscar Isaac), and an AFI Industry Award for Best Editing (Nick Meyers ASE).
Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts – Scott Hicks’ study of internationally acclaimed composer, Philip Glass, also picked up a 2009 ceremony award for Best Feature Length Documentary.
SBS DVD series’ take top AFI Awards
SBS DVD series’ have picked up several major awards in the television and documentary categories at the 2009 Samsung Mobile AFI Industry and Ceremony Awards.
The second season of Sydney-based multicultural crime drama East West 101 (starring Don Hany and Susie Porter) scored three key 2009 AFI Awards with Best Television Drama, Best Direction in Television (Episode 13, Peter Andrikidis) and Best Lead Actress in a Television Drama (Susie Porter).
In the documentary category, SBS series Cracking the Colour Code won for Best Cinematography in a Documentary (Episode 2, ‘Making the Colours’), whilst breakthrough historical series First Australians was recognised with the award for Best Documentary Series.
Nominations for SBS series’ were abundant in several other categories, including East West 101, Season 2, Best Lead Actor in a Television Drama (Don Hany) and Best Screenplay in Television (Episode 13, ‘Atonement’), Cracking the Colour Code, Best Editing in a Documentary (Episode 2, ‘Making the Colours’), First Australians Best Direction in a Documentary (Episode 4, ‘There Is No Other Law’) and Death of the Megabeasts for the AFI Visual Effects Award.
