Topic: AFI Awards

[Critter]

So the AFI (Australian Film Institute) Awards were on over the weekend. While no where near as big as something like the Academy Awards, they are the closest thing we have here in Aus. I actually missed the ceremony on TV as I was in Melbourne that night and went to the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, but while I was walking around the city beforehand I walked past the venue where the awards are held. I saw the red carpet, a lot of security around, people all dressed up and waiting and several camera crews around the place. Pretty exciting.
Anyway here is the list of awards and I will make the winners bold.

SAMSUNG MOBILE AFI AWARD FOR BEST FILM
-Animal Kingdom. Liz Watts.
-Beneath Hill 60. Bill Leimbach.
-Bran Nue Dae. Robyn Kershaw, Graeme Isaac.
-Bright Star. Jan Chapman, Caroline Hewitt.
-The Tree. Sue Taylor, Yaël Fogiel.
-Tomorrow When The War Began. Andrew Mason,
Michael Boughen.

AFI AWARD FOR BEST DIRECTION
-Animal Kingdom. David Michôd.
-Beneath Hill 60. Jeremy Hartley Sims.
-Bright Star. Jane Campion.
-The Tree. Julie Bertuccelli.

MACQUARIE AFI AWARD FOR BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
-Animal Kingdom. David Michôd.
-Beneath Hill 60. David Roach.
-Bright Star. Jane Campion.
-Daybreakers. Peter Spierig, Michael Spierig.

MACQUARIE AFI AWARD FOR BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
-Bran Nue Dae. Reg Cribb, Rachel Perkins, Jimmy Chi.
-The Boys Are Back. Allan Cubitt.
-The Tree. Julie Bertuccelli.
-Tomorrow When The War Began. Stuart Beattie.

AFI AWARD FOR BEST LEAD ACTOR
-Brendan Cowell. Beneath Hill 60.
-James Frecheville. Animal Kingdom.
-Ben Mendelsohn. Animal Kingdom.
-Clive Owen. The Boys Are Back.

AFI AWARD FOR BEST LEAD ACTRESS
-Abbie Cornish. Bright Star.
-Morgana Davies. The Tree.
-Charlotte Gainsbourg. The Tree.
-Jacki Weaver. Animal Kingdom.

AFI AWARD FOR BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
-Joel Edgerton. Animal Kingdom.
-Guy Pearce. Animal Kingdom.
-Kodi Smit-McPhee. Matching Jack.
-Sullivan Stapleton. Animal Kingdom.

AFI AWARD FOR BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
-Julia Blake. The Boys Are Back.
-Kerry Fox. Bright Star.
-Deborah Mailman. Bran Nue Dae.
-Laura Wheelwright. Animal Kingdom.

AFI INTERNATIONAL AWARD FOR BEST ACTOR
-Simon Baker. The Mentalist, Season 2. Nine Network
-Ryan Kwanten. True Blood, Season 3. Showcase
-Kodi Smit-McPhee. The Road
-Sam Worthington. Avatar

AFI INTERNATIONAL AWARD FOR BEST ACTRESS
-Toni Collette. United States of Tara, Season 2. ABC1
-Bojana Novakovic. Edge of Darkness
-Mia Wasikowska. Alice in Wonderland
-Naomi Watts. Mother and Child


Okay, so those are probably the biggest awards for the night, but there are a lot more. All of them can be found here: http://www.afi.org.au/AM/ContentManagerNet/HTMLDisplay.aspx?ContentID=11828&Section=AFI_Award_Winners_and_Nominees

[Dr. Hasslein]

People watch the AFI's? 

Ben Mendelsohn for Animal Kingdom. That's well deserved!

Sam Worthington for Avatar. Give me a bucket
It should have been Kodi Smit-McPhee for The Road, that kid has talent.

[Critter]

Haha I agree about the Avatar thing. It's actually funny that Worthignton won it for Avatar, and Mia won it for Alice in Wonderland. They should have called the award "Which Australian actor was in the highest grossing US film". 

[Dr. Hasslein]

Yeah that's a good one. Too bad the Chaser's War isn't still on, they would have torn it to shreds.

Sam Worthington was pretty terrible in Avatar but I hear his voice acting in Black Ops is excellent.

Have you seen The Road?

[Critter]

No I haven't seen The Road, but I have read the book about 4 times and I just love it. I think I had read it 3 times before I even heard they were making a film of it. I'm not even sure if I want to see the film as it might skew the images I have of one of my favourite novels.

I think Worthington was alright in Avatar, the real bad one was apparently that Clash of the Titans thing. I haven't seen it but I heard that the whole film, including his role was just laughable.

[Dr. Hasslein]

No I haven't seen The Road, but I have read the book about 4 times and I just love it. I think I had read it 3 times before I even heard they were making a film of it. I'm not even sure if I want to see the film as it might skew the images I have of one of my favourite novels.

I haven't read the book yet but I can tell you the film does have some powerful imagery, one scene in particular. 

[Critter]

I might give it a go one day.

[Achim]

They are mixing TV and movies...? Weird.


Kodi Smit-McPhee was even nominated in two categories! If that didn't give them a hint

[Critter]

Yup, TV and Film in one. Which is actually quite strange as we also have a specific TV award show which is the Emmys.

[Dr. Hasslein]

For television we have the Logies, which are absolutely terrible. It's barely even about the awards now; it's all just the red carpet fluff.

[Critter]

Ah yes, by 'Emmys' I meant 'Logies'. Haha whoops, I mixed the US one in accidently. 

[Dr. Hasslein]

That's alright I'll take the Emmys over the Logies any day.

[Najemikon]

No I haven't seen The Road, but I have read the book about 4 times and I just love it. I think I had read it 3 times before I even heard they were making a film of it. I'm not even sure if I want to see the film as it might skew the images I have of one of my favourite novels.

I haven't read the book yet but I can tell you the film does have some powerful imagery, one scene in particular. 

Spoiler it, but which scene do you mean, just out of interest?

I think I'm the only one to have reviewed it here so far, which is a shame, because it deserves to be seen. The full version is here though: http://www.find-dvd.co.uk/blu-ray/The-Road/1099598.htm

[Dr. Hasslein]

The people in the basement. That scene is probably in the book, but I won't say anymore just in case.

[Critter]

The people in the basement. That scene is probably in the book, but I won't say anymore just in case.

Haha! I knew you would say that. I haven't seen the film but as I said read the book at least 4 times and yes, that scene is in the book and it's terribly haunting/shocking in it. I remember being thoroughly terrified and enthralled while reading the entire thing. It's also an interesting book, Cormac Mcarthy does interesting things with grammar that few other people would dare to. For example he removes any speech marks that should be present from the entire novel. It's amazing, yet you never have any trouble knowing whether someone is speaking or not. It reminded me of Annie Proulx' style of writing in The Shipping News. She basically broke all rules when it comes to English grammar and just did what she wanted. I think that Mcarthy and Proulx alike both realise that they are good enough to bend the rules however they want, and the result is fascinating. I actually studied The Shipping News in school, and as my literature teacher said "If any of you students handed in writing like this it would be an instant fail"