Mel Gibson’s pacifist World War II drama, Hacksaw Ridge, took five key prizes at the AACTA Awards in Sydney last night. The film won Australia’s equivalent to the Oscar in the Best Film, Best Direction and Best Original Screenplay (Andrew Knight and Robert Schenkkan) categories as well as scooping Best Lead Actor for Andrew Garfield and Best Supporting Actor for Hugo Weaving. The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts had earlier this week given Oz’s highest film honors to Hacksaw Ridge in four craft races: Editing, Cinematography, Production Design and Sound.
Hacksaw marks Gibson’s return to directing after 10 years and has been heaped with praise since it first bowed at the Venice Film Festival to strong reviews and a 10-minute standing ovation.
The story of real-life conscientious objector Desmond T Doss is equal parts faith-based film and horrors-of-war action drama. It tells how Doss (Garfield) saved 75 men in Okinawa without ever carrying a gun. It was filmed on a relatively low budget in Australia; has seven Broadcast Film Critics Association Critics’ Choice Awards nominations and was named to the Top 10 2016 films list by the National Board of Review.
International rollout continues on the Lionsgate title which has made $76M worldwide to date. It opens in China today where legendary director Feng Xiaogang recently gave it his stamp of approval.
Also at last night’s awards ceremony, Simon Stone’s drama The Daughter took the Adapted Screenplay prize as well as Best Lead Actress for Odessa Young and Best Supporting Actress for Mirando Otto.
AACTA hands out TV prizes too, and gave Elizabeth Debicki the lead actress nod for The Kettering Incident. The very popular Wentworth scored in the Best Drama category.
In honor of his outstanding contribution to the Australian screen industry, Crocodile Dundee‘s Paul Hogan was presented with the Longford Lyell Award. Nocturnal Animals‘ Isla Fisher received the Trailblazer Award.
Check out the list of major winners below:
FEATURE FILM
BEST FILM
Hacksaw Ridge – Bill Mechanic, David Permut, Paul Currie, Bruce Davey
BEST DIRECTION
Mel Gibson – Hacksaw Ridge
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Andrew Knight & Robert Schenkkan – Hacksaw Ridge
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Simon Stone – The Daughter
BEST LEAD ACTOR
Andrew Garfield – Hacksaw Ridge
BEST LEAD ACTRESS
Odessa Young – The Daughter
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Hugo Weaving – Hacksaw Ridge
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Miranda Otto – The Daughter
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Simon Duggan – Hacksaw Ridge
BEST EDITING
John Gilbert – Hacksaw Ridge
BEST SOUND
Hacksaw Ridge – Andrew Wright, Robert Mackenzie, Kevin O’Connell, Mario Vaccaro, Tara Webb, Peter Grace
BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC SCORE
Tanna – Antony Partos
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Hacksaw Ridge – Barry Robison
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Girl Asleep – Jonathan Oxlade
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS OR ANIMATION (combined with television)
Game Of Thrones – “Battle Of The Bastards,” Season 6, Episode 9 (Foxtel – Showcase) – Jon Bauer, Steve Kullback, Glenn Melenhorst, Ineke Majoor
BEST HAIR AND MAKE-UP (combined with television)
Cleverman (ABC) – Kath Brown, Simon Joseph, Troy Follington
MAJOR TELEVISION CATEGORIES
BEST COMEDY SERIES
Upper Middle Bogan (ABC) – Robyn Butler, Wayne Hope, Ben Grogan
BEST REALITY SERIES
Masterchef Australia (Ten) – Marty Benson, Tim Toni, Rob Wallace
BEST DRAMA SERIES
Wentworth (Foxtel – SoHo) – Pino Amenta, Jo Porter
BEST TELEFEATURE OR MINISERIES
The Kettering Incident (Foxtel – Showcase) – Vincent Sheehan, Victoria Madden, Andrew Walker
BEST LEAD ACTOR IN A DRAMA
Samuel Johnson – Molly
BEST LEAD ACTRESS IN A DRAMA
Elizabeth Debicki – The Kettering Incident
BEST PERFORMANCE IN A COMEDY
Patrick Brammall – No Activity (Stan)
