The Australian screen industry has celebrated the best achievements in screen craft excellence of the past year at the 6th AACTA Awards Industry Luncheon presented by Blue Post with sponsorship from Foxtel.
Among the first winners were the TV shows Rake, The Recruit, No Activity, Beat Bugs.
Thirty-three awards were presented during the event, held at The Star Event Centre in Sydney, recognising the talent and skill of practitioners working across feature film, television, documentary, and short film.
Australian comedians Kitty Flanagan and Tom Gleeson hosted the luncheon with AACTA president Geoffrey Rush, Danielle Cormack, Julia Zemiro, Darren Gilshenan, Rachael Blake, Steve Le Marquand and Matilda Brown presenting awards.
The remainder of this year’s award recipients will be announced at the 6th AACTA Awards Ceremony presented by Foxtel on Wednesday December 7, telecast at 8.30pm on Channel 7.
The AACTA winners
The Television Awards were hotly contested, with 18 awards spread across 17 winning productions.
Rake (ABC) was the only production to receive multiple Awards in the television categories, receiving awards for Best Direction in a Television Drama or Comedy (awarded to Peter Duncan ADG) and Best Sound in Television (awarded to Guntis Sics ASSG, Michol Marsh, Peter Hall and Olivia Monteith).
The AACTA Award for Best Direction in a Television Light Entertainment, Lifestyle or Reality Series went to Michael Venables for The Recruit (Foxtel, Fox8).
The Recruit
Co-creator and leading actor of No Activity (Stan), Patrick Brammall, received his second AACTA Award for Best Performance in a Television Comedy for his role as Detective Hendy. He previously won the category at the 2nd AACTA Awards.
Following her win at the 5th AACTA Awards, Celia Pacquola took home her second AACTA Award for Best Guest or Supporting Actress in a Television Drama for her role as Dolly Faraday in ABC’s modern adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina”, The Beautiful Lie.
Damon Herriman received his first AACTA Award for Best Guest or Supporting Actor in a Television Drama for his role as Kim Gordon in political thriller Secret City (Foxtel, Showcase). Damon is also nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Down Under, which will be presented at Wednesday’s Ceremony.
Edie Kurzer took home her first AACTA Award for Best Costume Design in Television for her era-spanning costume designs in Molly (Seven Network). Sam Rickard also took home his first AACTA Award for Best Production Design in Television for Mary: The Making Of A Princess (Network Ten).
Matteo Zingales received his third AACTA Award for Best Original Music Score in Television alongside Max Lyandvert for The Kettering Incident (Foxtel, Showcase).
Receiving back-to-back AACTA Awards for Best Cinematography in Television was Geoffrey Hall ACS (Wolf Creek, Stan), after receiving the Award at the 5th AACTA Awards for Deadline Gallipoli.
The AACTA Award for Best Editing in Television went to Ben Joss for his work on gritty prison drama Wentworth (Foxtel, SoHo).
The Beatles-inspired Beat Bugs (7Two), which features an impressive list of guest performers covering The Beatles’ songs, including: Pink, James Corden, Robbie Williams, Rod Stewart and Sia, won the AACTA Award for Best Children’s Television Series (awarded to Josh Wakely and Jennifer Twiner McCarron).
AACTA also presented four inaugural subscription television awards in partnership with the Australian Subscription Television and Radio Association (ASTRA).
Beloved television personality Maggie Beer received the AACTA Subscription Television Award for Best Female Presenter for Great Australian Bake Off (Foxtel, Lifestyle Food), while Walkley Award-winner Stan Grant received Best Male Presenter for Crimes That Shook Australia (Foxtel, Crime + Investigation).
Fox Sports won the remaining two Subscription Television Awards: Best New Talent was awarded to James Rochford for his hilarious segments on Not The NRL News (Foxtel, Fox Sports), and Best Live Event Production was awarded to Murray Shaw and Geoff Bullock for the 2015/16 Hyundai A-League Adelaide United v Western Sydney Wanderers (Foxtel, Fox Sports).
Receiving the inaugural AACTA Award for Best Hair and Makeup were Kath Brown, Simon Joseph and Troy Follington for their incredible hair and makeup work on Cleverman (ABC).
The AACTA Award for Best Visual Effects or Animation went to Joe Bauer, Steve Kullback, Glenn Melenhorst and Ineke Majoor for their work on Game Of Thrones – Battle Of The Bastards (Foxtel, Showcase).
Documentary
Award-winning journalist Sarah Ferguson received her second consecutive AACTA Award for Best Documentary Television Program for Hitting Home (ABC), alongside Nial Fulton and Ivan O’Mahoney.
Anna Broinowski took home her third AFI or AACTA Award for Best Direction in Documentary for Hanson: Please Explain (SBS).
Dan Jackson received two Awards for In The Shadow Of The Hill: Best Editing in a Documentary, alongside Steven Robinson ASE, and Best Cinematography in a Documentary and Best Editing in a Documentary.
Past AFI Award-winner James Currie received the AACTA Award for Best Sound in a Documentary alongside Pete Smith and Tom Heuzenroeder ASSG for Highly Strung, while two-time AFI Award-winning composer Cezary Skubiszewski AGSC received the AACTA Award for Best Original Music Score in a Documentary for Monsieur Mayonnaise.