In a Samson and Goliath tale, the gritty crime drama Animal Kingdom shares the lead in nominations with box-office hit Mao’s Last Dancer despite the latter pulling in almost three times the box office numbers making over $15 million locally. Both films are up for seven awards at the Australian Inside Film IF Awards ceremony in November.
Animal Kingdom, which has received international critical acclaim and received the prestigious World Cinema Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, is nominated in the Best Film, Best Sound and Best Editing categories. David Michôd is nominated for Best Director and Best Script for the film, while Ben Mendelsohn and Jacki Weaver are up for Best Actor and Best Actress respectively.
Box Office giant, Mao’s Last Dancer is nominated in the Best Film, Best Music, Best Script and Best Cinematography categories with Bruce Beresford nominated for Best Director and Best Actor and Actress nominations have gone to Chi Cao and Joan Chen.
Joining these in the Best Film Category are Tomorrow When the War Began and Beneath Hill 60. Fellow Best Director nominees include Jeremy Hartley Sims for Beneath Hill 60 and Rachel Perkins for Bran Nue Day.
Acclaimed actor and former IF Award host Joel Edgerton, is also up for Best Actor for The Waiting City alongside Tomorrow When the War Began newcomer Deniz Akdeniz. Edgerton’s The Waiting City co-star Radha Mitchell is nominated in the Best Actress category as is Tomorrow When The War Began’s Caitlin Stasey.
Jane Campion’s tale of the life of romantic poet John Keats, Bright Star, is nominated in four categories including Best Sound, Best Production Design, Best Editing and Best Cinematography.
The Best Music Video category sees the return of Angus and Julia Stone whose Just A Boy video took the prize in 2008. Their video for Big Jet Plane directed by Kiku Ohe is nominated alongside Gyroscope’s Baby I’m Getting Better directed by Nick Pollack and Philadelphia Grand Jury’s The Good News directed by Luke Tierney.
The three films nominated in the Short Film category are The Wake – the story of a misfit’s unexpected arrival at the funeral of his friend’s father, the tale of finding love in unexpected places in Celestial Avenue and the dark tale of Daniel’s 21st. Best Short Animation nominees include the story of thirty-something Evelyn’s online Second Life in Evelyn Everyone, The Lost Thing based on Shaun Tan’s prize-winning children’s book and the story of Zero’s determination and courage. The nominees for Best Short Documentary are Big Fella about the effects of obesity and diabetes in indigenous communities, the story of one man’s journey to enlightenment From Dope to Dalai Lama and Little Ripper which explores the curious world of pigeon fancying. The Best Documentary category sees nominees Lani’s Story – an exploration of a woman’s survival of an abusive relationship, Boxing for Palm Island –about Palm Island natives taking the future into their own hands through boxing and Strange Birds in Paradise – a revealing story of exiled West Papuans protesting Indonesian oppression through song.
Rising Talent Nominees for 2010 are Ariel Kleiman whose graduating film from the VCA Deeper Than Yesterday has screened at festivals throughout Australia, Craig Boreham who has received funding to develop his short film Drowning into a feature and Adrian Wills who has written and directed IF nominated short Daniel’s 21st and documentary Boxing for Palm Island. Nominated in the Independent Spirit category are surf thriller Caught Inside, tribute to cult Sydney art space and performance venue Lanfranchi’s Memorial Discotheque and the story of three sisters whose mother is dying of cancer Little Sparrows.
The IF Nominations
The AUTODESK IF Award for Best Short Animation
EVELYN EVERYONE Director: Kylie Plunkett Producer: Kate Breen
LOST THING Directors: Shaun Tan, Andrew Ruhemann Producer: Sophie Byrne
ZERO Director: Christopher Kezelos Producer: Christine Kezelos
The Holding Redlich IF Award for Best Short Film
CELESTIAL AVENUE Directors: Colin & Cameron Cairnes Producer: Scott Alexander
DANIEL’S 21st Director: Adrian Wills Producer: Gillian Moody
THE WAKE Director: Gemma Lee Producer: Charlie Clausen
The FACB IF Award for Best Short Documentary
BIG FELLA Director: Michael Longbottom Producer: Lisa Duff
FROM DOPE TO DALAI LAMA Director: Jason Raftopoulos Producer: Jason Raftopoulos
LITTLE RIPPER Director: Craig Boord Producer: Craig Boord, Jarrod Boord
Best Documentary IF Award
BOXING FOR PALM ISLAND Director: Adrian Wills Producer: Michaela Perske
LANI’S STORY Director: Genevieve Grieves Producer: Darren Dale
STRANGE BIRDS IN PARADISE Director: Charlie Hill-Smith Producer: Jamie Nicolai, John Cherry
The SAE INSTITUTE IF Award for Best Music Video
BABY I’M GETTING BETTER – Gyroscope Director: Nick Pollack Producer: Anne Robinson
BIG JET PLANE – Angus and Julia Stone Director: Kiku Ohe
THE GOOD NEWS – Philadelphia Grand Jury Director: Luke Tierney Producer: Cameron D’Arcy
The AFTRS IF Award for Best Direction
BRUCE BERESFORD Mao’s Last Dancer
DAVID MICHÔD Animal Kingdom
RACHEL PERKINS Bran Nue Dae
JEREMY HARTLEY SIMS Beneath Hill 60
JAMESON IF Award for Best Script
DAVID MICHÔD Animal Kingdom
JAN SARDI Mao’s Last Dancer
STUART BEATTIE Tomorrow When the War Began
Events NSW IF Award for Best Actor
BEN MENDELSOHN Animal Kingdom
CHI CAO Mao’s Last Dancer
DENIZ AKDENIZ Tomorrow When the War Began
JOEL EDGERTON The Waiting City
The IF Award for Best Actress
CAITLIN STASEY Tomorrow When the War Began
JACKI WEAVER Animal Kingdom
JOAN CHEN Mao’s Last Dancer
RADHA MITCHELL The Waiting City
The SHOWTIME MOVIE CHANNELS IF Award for Best Feature Film
ANIMAL KINGDOM
BENEATH HILL 60
MAO’S LAST DANCER
TOMORROW WHEN THE WAR BEGAN
SA FILM IF Award for Best Sound
SAM PETTY, ROB MACKENZIE, PHILIPPE DECRAUSAZ Animal Kingdom
JOHN DENNISON, TONY VACCHER, CRAIG BUTTERS Bright Star
ROBERT SULLIVAN, LIAM EGAN, MARK CORNISH, TONY MURTAGH Beneath Hill 60
Dinosaur Designs IF Award for Best Music
CEZARY SKUBISZEWSKI, JIMMY CHI, KUCKLES Bran Nue Dae
CHRISTOPHER GORDON Mao’s Last Dancer
JOHNNY KLIMEK, REINHOLD HEIL Tomorrow When The War Began
CineAlta by SONY IF Award for Best Cinematography
GREIG FRASER Bright Star
PETER JAMES Mao’s Last Dancer
DENSON BAKER The Waiting City
DYSON IF Award for Best Production Design
CLAYTON JAUNCEY Beneath Hill 60
FELICITY ABBOTT Bran Nue Dae
JANET PATTERSON Bright Star
AVID IF Award for Best Editing
LUKE DOOLAN Animal Kingdom
ALEXANDRE DE FRANCESCHI Bright Star
VERONIKA JENET The Waiting City
National Film and Sound Archive Independent Spirit IF Award
CAUGHT INSIDE
LAN FRANCHI’S MEMORIAL DISCOTHEQUE
LITTLE SPARROWS
EFilm IF Award for Rising Talent
ADRIAN WILLS
ARIEL KLEIMAN
CRAIG BOREHAM
The Media Super Out of the Box IF Award
HUGO JOHNSTONE-BURT
FIRASS DIRANI
EVA LAZARRO
KATHERINE HICKS
RICHARD DAVIES CORR
Docklands Studios Melbourne IF Award for Contribution to TV
ROB SITCH
ANDREW DENTON
BRIAN WALSH
POSIE GRAEME-EVANS
STEVE VIZARD
KIM WILLIAMS
JOHN EDWARDS
HAL MCELROY
MARK AND CARL FENNESSEY
PENNY CHAPMAN
source: IF