‘Lion’ Sweeps First Round Of Oz’s AACTA Awards

The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts hands out its prizes, Oz’s highest honors in both fields, at two separate ceremonies this week. The first raft of winners was unveiled this afternoon local time with Lion sweeping all seven of its categories today. The 2016 Garth Davis-directed drama that scored six Oscar nominations earlier this year is up for five further AACTAs on Wednesday night in Sydney.

Due to the release calendar, Lion actually already won two AACTA International Awards last January, one each in the Supporting categories for Dev Patel and Nicole Kidman who are also nominated on Wednesday. For today, Lion scooped Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Sound, Best Original Music Score, Best Costume Design and Best Production Design.

While it had been acquired by The Weinstein Co in a $12M 2014 Cannes deal, Lion was produced by UK-Australia banner See-Saw Films. In the Cannes arrangement, TWC had taken world rights excluding Australia and New Zealand where Transmission released in January of this year. When it bowed in Oz, it scored the biggest launch ever for an Australian indie. AACTA recently revoked Harvey Weinstein’s International Fellowship.

AACTA has also been in the news recently with its President, Geoffrey Rush, voluntarily stepping down from his ambassadorial role following allegations of “inappropriate behavior” during an Australian stage production of King Lear. Rush has denied the claims.

Other AACTA winners today included Ali’s Wedding for Best Original Screenplay, marking Andrew Knight’s second consecutive year winning the category and the first AACTA for Osamah Sami.

On the TV side, Seven Types Of Ambiguity led the pack with statues for Best Direction in a Television Drama or Comedy, Best Cinematography in Television and Best Editing in Television. The AACTA for Best Television Comedy Series went to Utopia for the second time.

Here’s the list of winners from today:

Best Original Screenplay
Andrew Knight, Osamah Sami – Ali’s Wedding

Best Adapted Screenplay
Luke Davies – Lion

Best Cinematography
Greig Fraser – Lion

Best Editing
Alexandre de Franceschi – Lion

Best Sound
Robert Mackenzie, Glenn Newnham, Nakul Kamte, Andrew Ramage, James Ashton, Mario Vaccaro – Lion

Best Original Score
Volker Bertelmann, Dustin O’Halloran – Lion

Best Production Design
Chris Kennedy – Lion

Best Costume Design
Cappi Ireland – Lion

Best Feature Length Documentary
Casting JonBenét – Kitty Green, Scott Macaulay, James Schamus

Best Television Comedy Series
Utopia, ABC

Best Direction in a Television Drama Or Comedy
Glendyn Ivin – Seven Types Of Ambiguity – Episode 2: Alex, ABC

Best Direction in a Television Light Entertainment, Lifestyle Or Reality Series
Richard Franc – Australian Survivor – Episode 1, Network Ten

Best Cinematography in Television
Bonnie Elliott – Seven Types Of Ambiguity – Episode 1: Joe, ABC

Best Editing in Television
Rodrigo Balart – Seven Types Of Ambiguity – Episode 1: Joe, ABC

Best Sound in Television
Stephen Smith, Liam Price, Paul Brincat, Shanti Burn, Tony Murtagh – Wake In Fright – Episode 1: Part 1, Network Ten

Best Original Music Score in Television
Antony Partos, Matteo Zingales – Wake In Fright – Episode 1: Part 1, Network Ten

Best Production Design in Television
Fiona Donovan – A Place To Call Home – Episode 2: Fallout, Foxtel/Showcase

Best Costume Design in Television
Damir Peranovic – Blue Murder: Killer Cop – Episode 1: Part One, Seven Network

Best Documentary Television Program
War On Waste, ABC

Best Direction in a Documentary
James Bogle – Whiteley

Best Cinematography in a Documentary
Jody Muston, Jon Shaw – Blue

Best Editing in a Documentary
Lawrie Silvestrin – Whiteley

Best Sound in a Documentary
Ric Curtin, John Simpson, Lawrie Silvestrin – Whiteley

Best Original Music Score in a Documentary
Ash Gibson Greig – Whiteley

Best Short Animation
Lost Property Office – Daniel Agdag, Liz Kearney

Best Short Fiction Film
The Eleven O’Clock – Derin Seale, Josh Lawson, Karen Bryson

Subscription Television Award for Best Female Presenter
Margaret Pomeranz – Stage & Screen, Foxtel/Arts

Subscription Television Award for Best Male Presenter
David Speers – PM Agenda/Speers Tonight, Foxtel/Sky News

Subscription Television Award for Best Live Event Production
Steve Crawley, Matt Weiss, Joe Bromham – Jeff Horn v Manny Pacquiao, Foxtel/Fox Sports

Subscription Television Award for Best New Talent
Zahra Newman – Wentworth, Foxtel/Showcase

Best Online Video or Series
RackaRacka – Danny Philippou, Michael Philippou, Judd Wild, Timani Seve

Best Visual Effects Or Animation
Joe Bauer, Steve Kullback, Glenn Melenhorst, Ineke Majoor, Josh Simmonds – Game Of Thrones – The Spoils Of War, Foxtel/Showcase

Best Hair and Makeup
Katherine Brown, Troy Follington, Simon Joseph – Cleverman, ABC

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