Political drama leads films in contention for AFI awards

THE quality, diversity and breakout commercial success of Australian films this year was duly reflected in the AFI Award nominations, announced in Sydney yesterday. They included an expanded best film category and a new award recognising the importance of commercial success.

By InvestSMART · 29 Oct 2009

By InvestSMART ·
29 Oct 2009

Six films rather than the usual four will vie for best film: Balibo, Mary & Max, Beautiful Kate, Mao's Last Dancer, Samson & Delilah and Blessed.

The three most nominated films reflected a strong taste for controversial subject matter.

Leading the field with 14 nominations is Balibo, the unapologetically political documentary-style drama about the 1975 murders of six Australian journalists in East Timor.

Close behind with 13 nominations is Samson & Delilah, the confronting contemporary drama about two teenage indigenous petrol sniffers. Beautiful Kate, a domestic drama about an intense relationship between a brother and sister that becomes incestuous, scored 10 nominations.

These films had notable box office success, but at the arthouse end of the market. Balibo took about $1.2 million, Beautiful Kate about $1.6 million and Samson & Delilah about $3.2 million.

The nominations reflected the year's much-needed breakthrough success stories. Mao's Last Dancer, which has made more than $10 million in four weeks, won eight nominations, while Baz Luhrmann's epic melodrama Australia received eight nominations, sound reward for its mammoth $37.5 million local box office take since its release in November. It is the second-biggest local film released in Australia (after Paul Hogan's 1986 comedy Crocodile Dundee) and has made more than $232 million worldwide.

The Paul Hogan comedy, Charlie and Boots, which made $3.7 million in six weeks, received no nominations.

The introduction of the AFI highest-grossing film award is a bold gesture designed to acknowledge the importance of popular success to the health of the industry. It will help redress the AFI's long-standing image problem of being overly concerned with smaller films that have limited, arthouse appeal.

FEATURE FILM NOMINEES

BEST FILM

Balibo John Maynard, Rebecca Williamson

Beautiful Kate Leah Churchill-Brown, Bryan Brown

Blessed Al Clark

Maos Last Dancer Jane Scott

Mary and Max Melanie Coombs

Samson & Delilah Kath Shelper

BEST LEAD ACTOR

Anthony LaPaglia Balibo

Ben Mendelsohn Beautiful Kate

Hugo Weaving Last Ride