Tony Krawitz’s The Tall Man
The first batch of nominees for the first Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) Awards, an upgraded version of the Australian Film Institute Awards, has been announced. The nominations are in the Best Documentary, Best Short Animation, and Best Short Fiction Film categories.
Best Feature-Length Documentary: Life in Movement, Mrs. Carey’s Concert, Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure, and The Tall Man.
Best Short Fiction Film: Adam’s Tallit, Cropped, The Palace, and The Telegram Man.
Best Short Animation: Forget Me Not, The Missing Key, The Moment, and Nullabor.
Filmmaker Sophie Hyde has two movies in the running for Best Feature-Length Documentary: Life in Movement, which she co-directed with Bryan Mason, and Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure, produced by Hyde and directed by Matthew Bate.
Bob Connolly and Sophie Raymond’s Mrs. Carey’s Concert, about a dedicated (obsessed?) high-school teacher who every two years organizes concerts at the Sydney Opera House, has earned more than AUD$1 million at the Australian box office.
Tony Krawitz’s feature debut The Tall Man — not to be confused with the Jessica Biel film of the same title — will be screened at the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival. The title of Krawitz’s film refers to Christopher Hurley, a white Queensland cop accused of killing an Aboriginal man held in custody for swearing at him. Queensland police then tried to cover up the case. Hurley was eventually acquitted of manslaughter in 2007.
The nominated movies and the 23 eligible narrative features for the 2011 AACTA Awards can be viewed at the AFI/AACTA Festival of Film in Sydney and Melbourne. The festival runs October 6 to November 14.
Nominees in the feature film, television and other non-feature categories will be announced in late November.
The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts was launched by the Australian Film Institute on August 18. Oscar winner Geoffrey Rush is the Academy’s current president.