Filmmaker/animator Sarah Watt, winner of the Australian Film Institute’s (AFI) Best Director and Best Screenplay awards for the 2006 drama Look Both Ways died at age 53 on Nov. 4.
Watt directed a series of animated shorts before turning to features. In Look Both Ways, William McInnes – Watt’s husband in real life – plays a photographer who is diagnosed with cancer. In addition to Watt’s awards for direction and screenplay, Look Both Ways was the AFI’s Best Film of the year and Anthony Hayes was voted Best Supporting Actor. The film also received the Discovery Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, among several other international awards and nominations.
Released in 2009, My Year Without Sex also dealt with illness – in this case, a wife and mother (Sacha Horler) who must refrain from sex (among other things) because of an aneurysm. The comedy-drama received two AFI nominations: Best Actress (Horler) and Best Screenplay (Watt).