"Nitram" leads the AACTA Nominations
Sunday, November 7, 2021 at 10:00PM
Travis C in AACTA, Australia

by Travis Cragg

Controversial character study Nitram, which you'll remember took the Best Actor prize at Cannes, leads the pack for this year’s Australian Academy Cinema Television Arts (AACTA) awards with 15 nominations. The nominations were drawn from a list of 33 official submissions, and they honour Australian film (and television and digital entertainment) performances and technical achievements. 

The complete list of nominees, plus trivia and a couple of opinions, is after the jump…

BEST FILM

Joining Nitram we have a mystery crime thriller set in a small country town (The Dry – 12 nominations), a historical drama set in the time of the frontier wars (High Ground – 12 nominations), a drama highlighting the Afghan contribution to the country’s outback history (The Furnace  - 5 nominations), a family friendly, true life tale of dealing with personal tragedy through befriending magpies (Penguin Bloom – 8 nominations), and the remake of the Icelandic film Rams that somehow found a loophole to get 6 nominations in consecutive years (albeit in different categories – Sam Neill was the sole nominee last year in Best Actor, and he isn’t back this year).

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY IN FILM

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY IN FILM

We’re probably looking at wins here for The Dry and Nitram, although I can see a scenario where Shaun Grant wins both awards.

BEST DIRECTION IN FILM

One debut director (MacKay) and two who mainly work in television but made a minor splash over a decade ago with their debut films (Thompson with Yolngu Boy, and Ivyn with Last Ride). But this is probably between Connolly and Kurzel.

 

BEST INDIE FILM

Ellie & Abbie

Queer rom com Elie and Abbie (& Abbie’s Dead Aunt) is the only one of these that broke through for another nomination (for Best Original Screenplay).

 

BEST LEAD ACTOR IN FILM


Given his Cannes Best Actor win, you might think that Caleb Landry Jones is the favourite here, but that’s not necessarily how AACTA works. There's a bit of controvery about the film’s subject, as the massacre is still raw in many people’s minds after only 25 years and subsequently many didn’t want the movie made. The Dry was the biggest box office hit among films nominated for Best Film and it’s an adaptation of a much beloved book, so Bana can’t be counted out for a third AACTA(/AFI) win in this category.

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN FILM

A mix of beloved Australian actors and relative unknowns (although you may recall Ganambarr from The Nightingale a couple of years ago). High Ground was released at the start of 2021 in cinemas, and the scenes I recall most vividly from the film involve Thompson, so he might be a winner here. But LaPaglia has recency on his side.

 

BEST LEAD ACTRESS IN FILM

Nitram

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN FILM

We’re probably looking at a Nitram-Davis double here for the actresses (although I personally hope that voters go back and re-watch June Again, recognize the tender and prickly mother-daughter dynamic between Hazlehurst and Karvan, and maybe spread the wealth a little bit). I haven’t seen Peter Rabbit 2 and so I can’t legitimately criticize its presence here, but I think I am safe in saying that Byrne got the nod because of a lack of female narratives in Australian films this year.

 

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

We have two returning nominees from last year – Stefan Duscio (The Dry, The Invisible Man -the winner last year) and Andrew Commis (High Ground, Babyteeth).

 

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Tess Schofield, costume designer for Rams, has dominated this category and the local industry since her first nomination and win in 1991 for Spotswood. She has also won for Bootmen, Dirty Deeds, The Sapphires and The Water Diviner. 

BEST EDITING

High Ground

High Ground is edited by Oscar nominee Jill Bilcock (Moulin Rouge!) who is the subject of AACTA-nominated documentary Dancing The Invisible. This is her eleventh nomination.

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

Another Moulin Rouge! craftsperson, Annie Beauchamp, is here for her fourth nomination for Penguin Bloom. Maybe, if the three fantasy films cancel each other out, she can actually win one this year.

 

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

Jed Kurzel (who is the brother of director Justin Kurzel) has been nominated three times prior (Snowtown, Dead Europe, True History of the Kelly Gang) in this category. Can this be his win year for Nitram? (He has won an AACTA for scoring before, in the Documentary category for All This Mayhem.)

 

BEST SOUND

The past couple of years, this award has started to trend towards the “bigger” genre picture (The Invisible Man, Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan) and so I expect Mortal Kombat (the film with the largest number of nominations (7) without a Best Picture spot) to have its best chance here.

 

BEST DOCUMENTARY

These nominations were announced a few months ago. Five character studies and a history of Australian women’s surfing make up the contents of this category in 2021. When The Camera Stopped Rolling, about a pioneering Australian female director and the prejudices she found herself up against, directed by her daughter, has the most nominations of any documentary (5). It has only just started festival screenings in Australia.

Note: in the following categories, eligibility is open to both film and television. Television series nominees have been indicated.

 

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY IN A DOCUMENTARY

BEST EDITING IN A DOCUMENTARY

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE IN A DOCUMENTARY

BEST SOUND IN A DOCUMENTARY

 

BEST CASTING

 

BEST HAIR AND MAKE-UP

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS AND ANIMATION

The 2021 AACTA Awards, presented by Foxtel Group, will be held at the iconic Sydney Opera House a month from now on December 6th and 8th.

Article originally appeared on The Film Experience (http://thefilmexperience.net/).
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