The 2016 Australian Directors Guild Awards reveals nominees; winners announced May 6
In a year when gender equality is a focus of the Australian screen industry more than a third of nominees in the 2016 Australian Directors Guild Awards are women. Two of the four nominees in the Best Direction in a Feature Film category are women and all five films in the Best Documentary Feature category were directed or co-directed by female filmmakers.
The ADG announced all nominations for the 2016 Awards this morning. The prestigious awards celebrate the outstanding work of Australian screen directors over the past year and the winners will be announced at a ceremony in Melbourne on Friday 6 May.
The Australian Directors Guild was thrilled to receive more entries for 2016 than ever before and this year’s awards will be presented across 16 categories including film, television, animation, multiplatform, music and advertising. This year’s judges noted that entries in the categories of Best Student Film and Best Short Film have been particularly strong and encouragingly three of the four Student nominations and three of the five Short Film nominees are female.
The nominees for Best Direction in a Feature Film are Sue Brooks for Looking for Grace, Jocelyn Moorhouse for The Dressmaker and Bentley Dean & Martin Butler for Tanna. This year there are five nominations for Best Feature Documentary and four of the five features were directed or co-directed by female filmmakers. They are Nick Bird & Eleanor Sharpe for Remembering The Man, Jennifer Peedom for Sherpa, Margot Nash for The Silences, Stefan Moore and Susan Lambert for Tyke Elephant Outlaw and Lisa Nicol for Wide Open Sky.
Nominations in all the TV categories indicate another solid year for television in Australia. TV Drama Series nominees are Emma Freeman for Glitch: Series 1, Ep1, Fiona Banks for The Dr. Blake Mysteries: Series 3, Ep3, Kevin Carlin for Wentworth: Series 3, Ep1, along with Jeffrey Walker forBanished: Series 1, Ep7 and Shawn Seet for Love Child: Series 2, Ep 3, both 2015 Award winners.
Shawn Seet receives a second nomination in the TV Mini Series category for his work on Peter Allen – Not The Boy Next Door (Ep1). He is nominated alongside Michael Rymer for Deadline Gallipoli (Ep1), Peter Salmon for The Beautiful Lie (Ep6) and Kriv Stenders for The Principal (Ep1).
House of Hancock, Mary – The Making of a Princess and Redfern Now – Promise Me are all nominated in the Telemovie category for Mark Joffe, Jennifer Leacey and Rachel Perkins respectively.
The ADG Awards present three awards to Documentary Directors. In addition to Best Feature Documentary there is Documentary Series and Documentary Stand Alone. Nominees for a Documentary Series are Ivan O’Mahoney (Hitting Home Ep1), Cian O’Clery (Changing Minds: The Inside Story, Series 2, Ep2), Madeleine Parry (The Maddie Parry Series, Ep2 Brothel Hostess) and Sally Aitken (The Great Australian Race Riot, Ep1).
The Documentary Stand Alone nominations go to Sophie Wiesner (Call Me Dad), David Mason (Cast from the Storm), Sally Aitken (Getting Frank Gehry), Jane Manning (Ka-Ching! Pokie Nation), and Darlene Johnson (The Redfern Story).
The winners will be announced at the ADG Awards on Friday 6 May at the Sofitel Melbourne on Collins. This year’s event will be hosted by Nazeem Hussain.
Tickets are available for purchase from www.adg.org.au.
Complete list of the 2016 ADG Awards nominees:
TV COMMERCIAL
Husein Alicajic – Officeworks: Let Their Amazing Out
Tim Bullock – Volkswagen: Bear
Nicholas Carlton – beyondblue: Preventing Youth Suicide
Michael Spiccia – Taco Bell: Routine Republic
Peter Carstairs – Ultrasound
MUSIC VIDEO
Peter Carstairs & Curtis Hill – Hallelujah (The Rubens)
Nash Edgerton – The Night We Called It A Day (Bob Dylan)
Aaron McCann – Cold Sober feat. Empty (Mathas Stone)
ANIMATION
Darcy Prendergast – Come Alive
Luke Jurevicius – The New Adventures of Figaro Pho: Time Travellers
Damian Smith – Little Darling (Director’s Cut)
Del Kathryn Barton & Brendan Fletcher – Oscar Wilde’s The Nightingale and the Rose
ORIGINAL ONLINE PROJECT
Kacie Anning – Fragments of Friday / S2
Shaun Wilson – Noirhouse / S2
Nathan Earl – Plonk
Julietta Boscolo – Department of Justice Victoria: Barbie
Christopher Nelius – Andy Hensel – Unstoppable
TV DRAMA SERIAL
Geoffrey Nottage – Home & Away / Ep 6176
David Gould – Home & Away / Ep 6341
STUDENT FILM
Rachel Anderson – Little Kingdom
Dongmei Li – The Corn is Flowering
Simon Trevorrow – There’s a Bluebird in my Heart
Eugenie Muggleton – Twenty Forty Three
SHORT FILM
Darlene Johnson – Bluey
Jack Sheridan – Injury Time
Corrie Chen – Reg Makes Contact
Matthew Richards – The Disappearance of Willie Bingham
Brooke Goldfinch – Red Rover
TV COMEDY
Dena Curtis – 8MMM Aboriginal Radio – Episode 2
Craig Melville – Maximum Choppage / Ep 4
Jonathan Brough – Sammy J & Randy in Ricketts Lane / Ep 1
Sian Davies – The Ex PM / Ep 2
TV DRAMA SERIES
Jeffrey Walker – Banished / S1, Ep7
Shawn Seet – Love Child / S2, Ep3
Emma Freeman – Glitch / S1, Ep1
Fiona Banks – The Dr. Blake Mysteries / S3, Ep3
Kevin Carlin – Wentworth / S3, Ep1
DOCUMENTARY STAND ALONE
Sophie Wiesner – Call Me Dad
David Mason – Cast from the Storm (TV version)
Sally Aitken – Getting Frank Gehry
Jane Manning – Ka-Ching! Pokie Nation
Darlene Johnson – The Redfern Story
CHILDREN’S TV DRAMA
Daina Reid – Ready For This / Ep4
Ian Reiser – Little Lunch: The Grandparents Day
Tony Krawitz – Ready For This / Ep13
Evan Clarry – Mako: Island of
Secrets (AKA: Mermaids) / S2, Ep11
DOCUMENTARY SERIES
Ivan O’Mahoney – Hitting Home / Ep 1
Cian O’Clery – Changing Minds – The Inside Story / S2, Ep2
Madeleine Parry – The Maddie Parry Series / Ep 2
Sally Aitken – The Great Australian Race Riot / Ep 1
TV MINI SERIES
Michael Rymer – Deadline Gallipoli / Ep 1
Peter Salmon – The Beautiful Lie / Ep 6
Kriv Stenders – The Principal / Ep 1
Shawn Seet – Peter Allen – Not The Boy Next Door / Ep 1
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Margot Nash – The Silences
Jennifer Peedom – Sherpa
Stefan Moore & Susan Lambert – Tyke Elephant Outlaw
Nick Bird & Eleanor Sharpe – Remembering The Man
Lisa Nicol – Wide Open Sky
TELEMOVIE
Mark Joffe – House of Hancock
Jennifer Leacey – Mary – The Making of a Princess
Rachel Perkins – Redfern Now: Promise Me
FEATURE FILM
Bentley Dean & Martin Butler – Tanna
Sue Brooks – Looking For Grace
Jocelyn Moorhouse – The Dressmaker
Jeremy Sims – Last Cab To Darwin