Red Dog enjoyed a last-minute triumph at the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) Awards, held at the Sydney Opera House last night. The ceremony was the culmination of two weeks of prize-giving, following events focusing on craft and honorary awards and international awards.
The box-office hit won the final award of the night – Best Feature Film – and no other awards, though it had picked up the AFI Members’ Prize for Best Film two weeks ago. It joins Storm Boy (1976) and Lonely Hearts (1981) as films that won only the top prize at the AFI Awards (the forerunner to the AACTA Awards).
Producer Nelson Woss told the media backstage that Red Dog is preparing for its international roll-out in the UK in February, followed by Europe, and finally the US later in the year. I’ll be curious to see whether overseas audiences and awards bodies take to the film, though star Koko has already been nominated for Best Dog in a Foreign Film at the first annual Golden Collar Awards in Hollywood.
The other big winner of the night was Snowtown, a confronting depiction of Australia’s worst serial killings. It won prizes for Direction (Justin Kurzel), Adapted Screenplay (Shaun Grant), Actor (Daniel Henshall) and Supporting Actress (Louise Harris), in addition to previous awards for Editing and Sound. Kurzel related how he approached non-professional actor Louise Harris at a shopping mall, and had to pursue her for the part in spite of her initial hostility and failure to turn up to two auditions.
Serial killer John Bunting was the first leading role and first film for Henshall. His excitement at getting to play the lead in a film outweighed any concern about taking on such a daunting part. The character’s power over those around him, and his ability to manipulate others, was what most fascinated Henshall in playing Bunting. He reassured the media backstage that he is not a 'fat bearded guy with a menacing look in his eye’ in real life. Snowtown has already been a critical success at international festivals and on release in the UK, and opens in the US in March.
Not all the acting awards went to relative newcomers. Judy Davis is the Meryl Streep of the AFI Awards. She’s been nominated in the film categories an unprecedented ten times, and picked up her seventh award, for lead actress in The Eye of the Storm. The film was special to her because it was based on a novel by Patrick White, a 'giant in our culture’. She noted that it’s a 'tough call’ for an Australian event to compete with American award shows, but it is important to celebrate the 'rare’ films that 'punch through the cultural veil’.
The final film acting award went to an absent Hugo Weaving, for Supporting Actor in Oranges and Sunshine. Like Davis, he’s an AFI favourite, having now won four film awards from seven nominations.
See the full list of winners and nominees, including the television categories, at the AACTA website.
The NFSA is an Official Sponsor of the AACTA Awards.
