Ben Apfelbaum

AACTA AWARDS CEREMONY: THE MEDIA ROOM

Stephen Curry was back again hosting the AACTA Awards ceremony held at the Star Event Centre on 5th December. Much was made of the 60th anniversary of this event and how far the Industry has come over this time. Occasionally the ceremony is a victim of its own making in that past award winners have been recognised and work internationally or interstate and are unable to attend this year’s event despite being nominated.

Nevertheless such is the depth of talent in the film and television industry that the capacious Star Event Centre was filled to the brim.

The most prestigious award of the evening went to Bryan Brown who received the  Longford  Lyell Award for his body of work  and his contribution to the film and television industry.

The Byron Kennedy Award went to Ian Darling of the Good Pitch Australia/ Documentary Australia Foundation.

Indigenous films were prominent in the Award nominations with the drama series  Mystery Road and the movie Sweet Country. 

As is the case in some Oscar ceremonies a film dominates the Awards and that film was Sweet Country winning six awards including Best Film, Best Director (Warwick Thornton), Best Cinematography (Warwick Thornton) and Best Lead Actor (Hamilton Morris – who had never acted before).

Among the other winners were Angourie Rice for Best Actress for ‘Ladies in Black’, Simon Baker for Best Supporting Actor for ‘Breath’, Nicole Kidman for Best Supporting Actress for ‘Boy Erased’. ‘Boy Erased’  also received an award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

‘Mystery Road’ and ‘Riot’ dominated the television categories, receiving three awards each including Best Drama series and Best Tele Feature or Mini Series respectively.

‘Riot’ won the best Lead Actor in a Television Drama  for Damon Herriman and Best Lead Actress for first time winner Kate Box.

‘Mystery Road’ won both the best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress for Wayne Blair and Deborah Mailman.

For a complete list of award winners visit www.aacta.org

The audience also enjoyed Stephen Curry ‘s pre-recorded skits, Gina Riley and Jane Turner reprising their roles as Kath and Kim to present the award for Best Comedian for Hannah Gadsby. Other highlights included Vance Joy’s performance and Katie Noonan’s ‘In Memoriam’ tribute.

All pics by Ben Apfelbaum (c)

Published by Ben Apfelbaum

My photography began when my father handed me the proverbial brownie box camera as a child. As cameras developed I went through Fujica and Olympus range finders graduating to my first single lens reflex camera, the Minolta SRT101, the latter being the greatest facilitator to my growth as a photographer. Digital photography has only added to this. I was a regular contributor to Camera Craft magazine (Australian Camera ) for over three years. During Australia’s Bicentennial year (1988) I made it a personal project to document the celebrations. This culminated in the creation of a book of my photos which was published in 1989. The book was called CELEBRATING AUSTRALIA and came with an accompanying calendar. My works have appeared in a number of publications including the coffee book entitled MY AUSTRALIA (1989), publisher Robertsbridge Severn. This book had a preface by the then Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke. I was a co-photographer on a book entitled SYDNEY- DISCOVER THE CITY with text written by Robert Treborland. Major Mitchell Press was the publisher. Also for two years I was the photographer for calendars celebrating Sydney’s multicultural communities. The two calendars were entitled MULTICULTURAL SYDNEY. My work appeared in a group exhibition held at Sydney’s Town Hall pertaining to the diversity of life in South America to raise money for orphanages there. I have over one hundred photos stored in the New South Wales State Library archive. I had a solo exhibition held in 2007 entitled Ben’s Lens at the Sydney Jewish Museum which celebrated the vibrancy of the Sydney Jewish community. Some of these photos are on the Museum’s permanent display. I have exhibited internationally firstly at the Spruill Gallery in Atlanta Georgia, united states, and in an exhibition entitled Kosher and Co at the Jewish Museum in Berlin. Currently I am a regular contributor to J-Wire and this esteemed publication.