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OZ CINEMA
Your guide to Australian film.
By Joshua Smith

AFI Award Nominations In
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Author: Joshua Smith
Published on: September 16, 1998

It's that time of year again. Australian cinema audiences are busy catching up on this year's finest films in preparation for the AFI awards presentation. The AFI awards are Australia's equivalent to the Academy Awards, though AFI membership is open to all cinephiles, instead of being restricted to a 'by invitation only' elitist tradition.

This year, perhaps more than any other in recent memory, is packed to the brim with innovative, quality films. Films that reveal that Australian cinema has once and for all left its traditional, conservative, literary-based cinematic tradition behind - making way for a series of deeply psychological, groundbreaking voices to be heard.

The best of the best this year, in terms of nominations received, is the scathing drama The Boys with 13 nominations. Ana Kokkinos' brilliant feature debut, Head On fared well, with 9 nominations. It also receives my vote for the Best Film of the Year. Hugo Weaving's psychological star vehicle The Interview also received 9 nominations.

Gillian Armstrong proved that she could still stir up critical recognition with Oscar & Lucinda, while her period adaptation of a Peter Carey novel failed to have such an effect on audiences. Her film received 7 nominations in all, just one more than Radiance. In the Winter Dark gained 3 nominations, closely followed by Dance Me to My Song, Amy and Dead Letter Office with 2. Terra Nova, A Little Bit of Soul each received one nomination, while The Sound of One Hand Clapping rounded out the elite list with a nomination for Costume Design.

The masterful L.A. Confidential, unfairly ignored by the commercially-driven Academy Awards, has been nominated as Best Foreign Film. While it is in good company - Scorsese's brilliant Kundun has also been nominated, it will almost certainly take out the prestigious award.

The categorised nominations as they stand are as follows:

BEST FILM
THE BOYS (Prod. Robert Connolly & John Maynard)
HEAD ON (Prod. Jane Scott)
THE INTERVIEW (Prod. Bill Hughes)
RADIANCE (Prod. Ned Lander & Andrew Myer)

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTION
ANA KOKKINOS (Head On)
CRAIG MONAHAN (The Interview)
RACHEL PERKINS (Radiance)
ROWAN WOODS (The Boys)

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
DEBORAH COX (Dead Letter Office)
CRAIG MONAHAN & GORDON DAVIE (The Interview)
DAVID PARKER (Amy)
HEATHER ROSE, ROLF DE HEER & FREDERICK STAHL (Dance Me to My Song)

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
LAURA JONES (Oscar & Lucinda)
ANA KOKKINOS, ANDRE BOVELL & MIRA ROBERTSON (Head On)
LOUIS NOWRA (Radiance)
STEPHEN SEWELL (The Boys)

BEST ACTRESS
CATE BLANCHETT (Oscar & Lucinda)
LYNETTE CURRAN (The Boys)
RACHEL GRIFFITHS (Amy)
DEBORAH MAILMAN (Radiance)

BEST ACTOR
RAY BARRETT (In the Winter Dark)
ALEX DIMITRIADES (Head On)
HUGO WEAVING (The Interview)
DAVID WENHAM (The Boys)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
TONI COLLETTE (The Boys)
MIRANDA OTTO (In the Winter Dark)
RENA OWEN (Dance Me to My Song)
ANGELA PUNCH McGREGOR (Terra Nova)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
PAUL CAPSIS (Head On)
ANTHONY HAYES (The Boys)
JOHN POLSON (The Boys)
GEOFFREY RUSH (A Little Bit of Soul)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
SIMON DUGGAN ACS (The Interview)
MARTIN McGRATH ACS (In the Winter Dark)
TRISTAN MILANI (The Boys)
GEOFFREY SIMPSON ACS (Oscar & Lucinda)

BEST EDITING
SURESH AYYAR (The Interview)
JILL BILCOCK (Head On)
JAMES BRADLEY (Radiance)
NICK MEYERS (The Boys)

BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC SCORE
DAVID HIRSCHFELDER (The Interview)
OLLIE OLSEN (Head On)
THE NECKS (The Boys)
THOMAS NEWMAN (Radiance)

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
LUCIANA ARRIGHI (Oscar & Lucinda)
RICHARD BELL (The Interview)
CHRIS KENNEDY (Dead Letter Office)
SARAH STOLLMAN (Radiance)

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
ANNA BORGHESI (Head On)
APHRODITE KONDOS (The Sound of One Hand Clapping)
ANNIE MARSHALL (The Boys)
JANET PATTERSON (Oscar & Lucinda)

BEST SOUND
SAM PETTY, PETER GRACE & PHIL JUDD (The Boys)
PETER PALANKI, STEPHEN WITHEROW, JOHN WILKINSON & PETE SMITH (The Interview)
LLOYD CARRICK, ROGER SAVAGE, CRAIG CARTER & LIVIA RUZIC (Head On)
ANDREW PLAIN, BEN OSMO, GETHIN CREAGH (Oscar & Lucinda)

BEST FOREIGN FILM
THE FULL MONTY (Prod. Umberto Pasolini; Dir. Peter Catteneo)
THE ICE STORM (Prod. Ted Hope, James Schamus & Ang Lee; Dir. Ang Lee)
L.A. CONFIDENTIAL (Prod. Arnon Milchan, Curtis Hanson & Michael Nathanson; Dir. Curtis Hanson)
KUNDUN (Prod. Barbara De Fina; Dir. Martin Scorsese)

Good luck to all concerned. It's been a great year for Australian cinema!

 
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