AACTA Awards Nominations
Australian Academy announces Nominees and a new Presenting Partner for the 6th AACTA Awards
The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) Awards has announced the nominees for the 6th AACTA Awards and new Presenting Partner, Foxtel.
Leading the nominations is Mel Gibson’s highly anticipated return to directing, Hacksaw Ridge, with 13 nominations, followed closely by The Daughter with 10 nominations. In television, the most nominated productions are Mini Series’ The Beautiful Lie (ABC), with nine nominations, and The Kettering Incident (Foxtel – Showcase) with eight.
“This year, over 300 of Australia’s finest individual practitioners, from over 90 productions, are competing for a total of 50 Awards. This makes the 6th AACTA Awards presented by Foxtel our biggest Awards yet,” said AFI | AACTA CEO Damian Trewhella. “The Nominees announced today showcase the tremendous quality and diversity of productions that the Australian screen industry continues to create. We congratulate all the nominees and look forward to celebrating their fine achievements this December at the 6th AACTA Awards presented by Foxtel in Sydney.”
Television Nominees
The TV competition sees 54 productions vying for 25 awards.
ABC leads the nominations for Best Television Drama Series, having taken three of the four nominations. Returning Nominees include The Code (ABC), which swept the 4th AACTA Awards, and Rake (ABC), which has been nominated for each of its four series. Following three successful miniseries, Jack Irish (ABC) received its first nomination for Best Television Drama Series, while Wentworth (Foxtel – SoHo) received its third nomination in the category.
Matt Nable (Barracuda, ABC) received his first AACTA nomination for Best Lead Actor in a Television Drama, alongside three previous category winners: Ashley Zuckerman received a nomination for The Code (ABC), a role for which he won at the 4th AACTA Awards; Richard Roxburgh received a nomination for reprising his role as Cleaver Greene in Rake (ABC), for which he previously won at the 2nd AACTA Awards; and Samuel Johnson received a nomination for his portrayal of Ian “Molly” Meldrum in Molly (Seven Network), having won for The Secret Life Of Us at the 2001 AFI Awards.
Danielle Cormack and Pamela Rabe, who walked away with the Award last year at the 5th AACTA Awards, go head to head for Best Lead Actress in a Television Drama for their performances in Wentworth (Foxtel – SoHo). Also nominated are past-AACTA Award winners Sarah Snook (The Beautiful Lie, ABC) and Elizabeth Debicki (The Kettering Incident, Foxtel – Showcase).
The ABC consolidated its standing as the home of Australian television comedy with AACTA Award winning comedies Please Like Me, Black Comedy and AACTA Award-nominated Upper Middle Bogan (all ABC) receiving nominations for Best Television Comedy Series, alongside new Comedy Series, The Family Law (SBS).
First time Nominee Fiona Choi (The Family Law, SBS) competes alongside past AACTA Award Nominee Alison Bell (ABC Comedy Showroom, The Letdown, ABC), and AACTA Award winners Patrick Brammall (No Activity, Stan) and Leah Purcell (Black Comedy, ABC).
MasterChef Australia (Network Ten) will be vying for back to back wins for Best Reality Television Series, having won at the 5th AACTA Awards. My Kitchen Rules (Seven Network) received its fourth nomination in the category, competing alongside first-time nominees First Dates (Seven Network) and The Recruit (Foxtel – Fox8).
The 6th AACTA Awards presented by Foxtel will see five new Awards presented including Best Lifestyle Television Program and four dedicated Subscription Television Awards in partnership with the Australian Subscription Television and Radio Association (ASTRA): Best New Talent, Best Male Presenter, Best Female Presenter and Best Live Event Production.
ASTRA Award winner Grand Designs Australia (Foxtel – Lifestyle) and ASTRA Award Nominee River Cottage Australia (Foxtel – Lifestyle) received AACTA nominations for Best Lifestyle Television Program alongside Destination Flavour Scandinavia and Poh & Co (both SBS).
Following in the footsteps of her AFI Award winning and Golden Globe nominated parents, Bryan Brown and Rachel Ward, Matilda Brown received her first nomination for the inaugural AACTA Subscription Television Award for Best New Talent for her short form series, Let’s Talk About (Presto). Also nominated for Best New Talent are George H. Xanthis for Open Slather (Foxtel – The Comedy Channel), James Rochford for Not The NRL News (Foxtel – Fox Sports) and supermodel twins Zac & Jordan Stenmark for their mentoring roles on Australia’s Next Top Model (Foxtel – FOX8).
Behind the camera, Oscar Nominee and BAFTA, AFI and AACTA Award winner Guntis Sics received his first nomination for Best Sound in Television for Rake, Series 4, Episode 7 (ABC). Five-time AFI and AACTA Award winner Antony Partos AGSC received his twelfth and thirteenth nominations for Best Original Music Score in Television (Deep Water, Chapter 1, SBS) and Best Original Music Score (Tanna).
Director Shawn Seet will be vying for his third consecutive win in Best Direction in a Television Drama or Comedy for The Code, Season 2, Episode 1 (ABC). He previously won the Award at the 5th AACTA Awards for Peter Allen: Not The Boy Next Door, and at the 4th AACTA Awards for the first season of The Code. Also chasing a repeat win is Geoffrey Hall ACS for Best Cinematography in Television for Wold Creek, Episode 3 – ‘Salt Lake’ (Stan), following his win in the category last year for Deadline Gallipoli, Part 1.