The first winners of the 7th AACTA Awards presented by Foxtel were announced Monday in Sydney at the Industry Luncheon, held at The Star Event Centre.
A total of 35 Awards were presented, recognising and celebrating the nation’s top achievements in screen craft excellence across feature film, television, online, short film and documentary.
Oscar-nominated and AACTA International Award-winning feature film Lion led the afternoon, winning all seven of its nominated categories, including Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Sound, Best Original Music Score, Best Costume Design and Best Production Design.
Ali’s Wedding took home the remaining feature film Award for Best Original Screenplay, marking Andrew Knight‘s second consecutive year winning the category and Best Lead Actor nominee Osamah Sami‘s first AACTA Award.
AACTA Luncheon winners pose (c: Lisa Lisa Maree Williams)
Seven Types Of Ambiguity led the pack in television, taking home three out of a potential five AACTA Awards, including Best Direction in a Television Drama or Comedy, Best Cinematography in Television and Best Editing in Television.
Taking home consecutive AACTA Awards were Cleverman for Best Hair and Makeup and Game Of Thrones for Best Visual Effects or Animation for Iloura.
Also receiving their first AACTA Awards were YouTube sensations Danny and Michael Philippou, whose online series Rackaracka received the inaugural AACTA Award for Best Online Video or Series.
Feature length documentary Whiteley led the documentary Awards tally, receiving four awards – Best Direction in a Documentary, Best Editing in a Documentary, Best Original Music Score in a Documentary and Best Sound in a Documentary.
Presenters at the Monday event included Damon Herriman, Julia Zemiro, Noni Hazlehurst, Erik Thompson, Debra Lawrance and Hunter Page-Lochard and many more.
The AACTA Awards are supported by the NSW Government via its tourism and major events agency Destination NSW.
The remainder of this year’s Award recipients will be announced at the AACTA Awards Ceremony on Wednesday December 6, held at The Star Event Centre in Sydney and telecast at 8:30pm on Seven.
Top photo: Isabelle Cornish and Sean Keenan present on-stage (c: Lisa Maree Williams)
Television
Best Television Drama Series
Utopia Santo Cilauro, Tom Gleisner, Rob Sitch, Michael Hirsh – ABC
Best Children’s Television Series
Little Lunch – The Specials Robyn Butler, Wayne Hope – ABC
Best Direction In A Television Drama Or Comedy
Seven Types Of Ambiguity Episode 2 – Alex Glendyn Ivin – ABC
Best Direction In A Television Light Entertainment, Lifestyle Or Reality Series
Australian Survivor Episode 1 Richard Franc – Network Ten
Best Cinematography In Television
Seven Types Of Ambiguity Episode 1 – Joe Bonnie Elliott – ABC
Best Editing In Television
Seven Types Of Ambiguity Episode 1 – Joe Rodrigo Balart – ABC
Best Sound In Television
Wake In Fright Episode 1 – Part 1 Stephen Smith, Liam Price, Paul Brincat, Shanti Burn, Tony Murtagh – Network Ten
Best Original Music Score In Television
Wake In Fright Episode 1 – Part 1 Antony Partos, Matteo Mw Zingales – Network Ten
Best Production Design In Television
A Place To Call Home Episode 2 – Fallout Fiona Donovan – Foxtel/Showcase
Best Costume Design In Television
Blue Murder: Killer Cop Episode 1 – Part One Damir Peranovic – Seven Network
Best Documentary Television Program
War On Waste Jodi Boylan – ABC
Visual Effects Or Animation
Best Visual Effects Or Animation
Game Of Thrones – The Spoils Of War Joe Bauer, Steve Kullback, Glenn Melenhorst, Ineke Majoor, Josh Simmonds – Foxtel/Showcase
Best Hair And Makeup
Cleverman Katherine Brown, Troy Follington, Simon Joseph – ABC
Subscription Television
Best Female Presenter
Margaret Pomeranz Stage & Screen – Foxtel/Arts
Best Male Presenter
David Speers PM Agenda/Speers Tonight – Foxtel/Sky News
Best Live Event Production
Jeff Horn v Manny Pacquiao Steve Crawley, Matt Weiss, Joe Bromham – Foxtel/Fox Sports
Best New Talent
Zahra Newman Wentworth – Foxtel/Showcase