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South Australia’s screen sector sweeps 2024 AACTA Award nominations
11 December 2023
South Australian screen productions, creatives and talent have swept the nominations for the 2024 AACTA Awards, receiving 50 nominations across 23 categories, with The New Boy and Talk to Me leading the film nominations.
Three of the six features nominated for Best Film were South Australian and SAFC supported: Warwick Thornton‘s The New Boy, which scored 12 nominations overall; followed closely by Talk To Me, the debut feature from Adelaide directors Danny and Michael Philippou, with 11 nominations; and The Royal Hotel, with six nominations.
The New Boy scored nominations across almost every eligible category including Best Direction, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Costume Design for SA costume designer Heather Wallace, Best Production Design for SA production designer Amy Baker, and Best Casting. Newcomer Aswan Reid was nominated for Best Lead Actor, Cate Blanchett for Best Lead Actress, Wayne Blair for Best Supporting Actor and Deborah Mailman for Best Supporting Actress.
International horror hit Talk To Me , which was also supported by the Adelaide Film Festival Investment Fund (AFFIF), scooped 11 nominations including Best Direction for SA’s Danny and Michael Philippou, Best Screenplay for writers Danny Philippou and SA’s Bill Hinzman, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Original Score, Best Hair and Makeup for a team including SA’s Rebecca Buratto and Best Sound for a team including SA’s Pete Smith. Star Sophie Wilde has been nominated for Best Lead Actress alongside Zoe Terakes for Best Supporting Actor and Alex Jensen for Best Supporting Actress.
And Kitty Green‘s feature The Royal Hotel, filmed in Yatina in Outback SA and at the SAFC’s Adelaide Studios, received nominations for Best Direction, Best Screenplay and Best Casting. Julia Garner was nominated for Best Lead Actress, and Ursula Yovich for Best Supporting Actress.
SAFC and AFFIF supported documentary The Last Daughter, directed by Brenda Matthews and SA director Nathaniel Schmidt and produced by SA producers Simon Williams and Brendon Skinner of Adelaide Studios based Gravity Films earned a nomination for Best Documentary.
South Australia also leads the nominations in the Best Indie Film category – in the running are SAFC and AFFIF supported features The Survival of Kindness, directed by Rolf de Heer and produced by SA producer Julie Byrne, and Monolith, from first time SA feature filmmaking team of director Matt Vesely, writer Lucy Campbell and producer Bettina Hamilton through the Film Lab: New Voices initiative; and SAFC supported film Limbo, which also picked up main category nominations for Best Lead Actor for Simon Baker and Best Supporting Actor for Rob Collins.
South Australia’s Sarah Snook was nominated for Best Lead Actress for SA made and SAFC supported horror Run Rabbit Run, which also picked up a nomination for Best Casting.
Animated feature Scarygirl, which was supported for development by the SAFC, nabbed nominations for Best Editing, Best Sound, and nods for SA animator and writer Nathan Jurevicius in Best Production Design and Best Visual Effects or Animation.
In the television categories, series one of South Australian made kids series Beep and Mort by Adelaide’s Windmill Pictures received nominations for Best Children’s Program and Best Production Design for SA designer Jonathon Oxlade. SAFC supported comedy series Gold Diggers by SA’s KOJO Studios was also nominated in two categories, Best Narrative Comedy Series and Best Production Design.
South Australian PDV company Rising Sun Pictures scored two nominations in the Best Visual Effects or Animation category, for their work on feature films Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Post production on both films was supported by the SAFC’s SA PDV Rebate.
SA sound practitioner Tom Heuzenroeder was also named in the nomination for Best Sound in Television for Black Snow, South Australian actor Teresa Palmer was nominated for Best Lead Actress in a Drama for series The Clearing, and SA actor Shantae Barnes-Cowan nabbed a nomination for Best Lead Actress for her work in feature film Sweet As.
The SAFC congratulates the entire creative teams on all nominated productions, with special congratulations to all nominated South Australian practitioners.
Winners will be announced at the 2024 AACTA Awards, which will be presented across two ceremonies on the Gold Coast on 8 February and 10 February.
View all the nominees at aacta.org/aacta-awards/winners-and-nominees