Australian
Film Awards 2000

November 18

As
predicted in our exclusive preview, the 2000 Australian Film Institute
Awards turned out to be a close contest between Chopper
and Looking
for Alibrandi.



The films shared the major awards on the night; but in the
end it was Looking for Alibrandi which took the top honour
- Best Film. Perhaps reflecting its broader appeal and lighter touch,
Alibrandi edged out Chopper in the most important
category. The film's exploration of a teenage girl growing up in
an Italian-Australian family in Sydney has been a popular and critical
favourite since its release, and its success could result in a re-release
to capitalise on the acclaim.



The film's prospects were no doubt helped by the fact that
it was based on one of Australia's best-loved works of teen fiction,
Melina Marchetta's novel of the same name. And it was Marchetta's
screenplay from her own novel which took out the Best Adapted Screenplay
award, in a direct contest with Chopper.



However, the polarisation among AFI voters was evident in
the award for Best Director, picking Andrew Dominik for Chopper
over Alibrandi's Kate Woods. The first time director impressed
with his uncompromising style and clear vision in bringing the character
of Mark "Chopper" Read to the screen. In his acceptance speech,
Dominik thanked Read for his assistance in making the film; adding
only half jokingly "I'm glad he liked it."



In the acting categories, there was no surprise when former
comedian Eric Bana's name was read for Best Actor. Since Chopper's
release, just about everyone in the industry has been topping an
award for Bana's powerful, off-the-wall performance. True to character,
an emotional Bana took a deep breath and declared "I mustn't cry;
Chopper would not be impressed."



Best Actress saw another award for Looking for Alibrandi
as newcomer Pia Miranda walked away with the trophy. The teenager
was almost overcome by the accolade, as she edged out seasoned stage
and screen performer Julia Blake (Innocence),
Oscar nominee Rachel Griffiths (Me, Myself, I) and Susie
Porter (Better Than Sex) to take the prize. In her speech,
Miranda paid tribute to director Woods as "the greatest director;"
adding quickly that she'd only ever worked with one!



Simon Lyndon picked up the Best Supporting Actor nod for
his role in Chopper, completing the film's haul of three
awards. Best Supporting Actress was awarded to veteran Greta Scacchi
for her role in Alibrandi; the split echoing the lead acting
categories.



An interesting turn of events was the award for Best Original
Screenplay; which went to Russian Doll. The yet-to-be-released
film is a love story in the Green Card mold; with the reluctant
hero played by Hugo Weaving talked into a sham marriage with a beautiful
but eccentric Russian émigré. Although it was overlooked in other
categories, its score in this category augurs well for its commercial
release.



The musical drama Bootmen swept up five awards. Although
they were mostly in technical or design categories, DOP Steve Mason
took home the important award for Best Cinematography. At least
the producers of that film had some consolation. Not so for two
of the more highly praised Australian films of the year - Jonathan
Teplitzky's Better Than Sex and Paul Cox's Innocence;
both of which went away empty-handed.



In the non-feature film categories, the big winner was Tom
Zubrycki's The Diplomat; a documentary chronicling the extraordinary
year in the life of East Timor's international representative Jose
Ramos Horta leading up to the country's independence vote in August
1999. The film was awarded both Best Documentary and Best Direction
in a Non-Feature Film.



And despite our prediction, the Best Foreign Film prize went
to Sam Mendes'
American Beauty, beating out Being John Malkovich,
The Sixth Sense and All About My Mother. Two special
awards were presented by the AFI. The Raymond Longford Award recognising
significant contribution to the Australian film industry was presented
to producer Anthony Buckley; while the Byron Kennedy Award for the
pursuit of excellence went jointly to Matt Wheeldon and Gary Doust,
the co-founders of the Popcorn Taxi filmmakers' forum; and Stephen
Jenner and David Barda, publishers of "if" (Independent Film)
Magazine.



The awards ceremony itself was markedly more low-key than
in previous years. Of course, it would have taken a lot to top last
year's verbal stoush between Bryan Brown and Russell Crowe! With
many of the "name" Australian stars committed to projects overseas,
the guest list was a little light on. The biggest names on the bill
were Guy Pearce (LA Confidential), director Phil Noyce (in
Australia to shoot The Rabbit Proof Fence with Kenneth Branagh)
and legendary screen writer Robert Towne (Chinatown amongst
many others).



Pearce created waves by announcing he was presenting the
award for "supposed best film;" and there were some political remarks
about the appalling level of government support for film and television
production in Australia. But generally, the ceremony went off smoothly
and with little controversy. As for the results, the closeness of
the competition between Chopper and Alibrandi was
something of a surprise; as was the lack of recognition for Better
Than Sex and Innocence. Certainly the quality of the
entries was high, although there was a marked gap between the leading
contenders and many of the other films which were entered but didn't
make it to the final round.



The AFI has tinkered with the voting system in recent years
and there will no doubt be calls for more changes (as there always
are). However, the AFI hails its system as "the most democratic
in the world" and it looks like the current system is here to stay;
at least in the short term.

David
Edwards