Past Winners

1980-1989

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AACTA Winners & Nominees

AFI Past winners

A dispute with the Australian Writers Guild meant that there were no screenplay awards in any category this year. 19 feature films were nominated in at least one category. The largest number of nominations went to The Navigator (8), followed by Boulevard Of Broken Dreams (7), Mullaway (6) and Grievous Bodily Harm (4). These films were also the finalists for Best Film. Other multiple nominees were The Lighthorsemen (3), Fever (2), Dangerous Game (2), Incident At Raven's Gate (2), The Everlasting Secret Family (2), Boundaries Of The Heart (2) and Spirits Of The Air, Gremlins Of The Clouds (2).

The big winner was The Navigator, which took six of a possible eight prizes. They included Best Film (John Maynard), Best Direction (Vincent Ward), Best Cinematography (Geoffrey Simpson), Best Production Design (Sally Campbell) and Best Costume Design (Glenys Jackson). None of these winners had been previously nominated. The award for Best Editing went to John Scott. Since winning for Newsfront, Scott had been nominated for Heatwave, The Coca-Cola Kid and The Umbrella Woman.

The Lighthorsemen won two awards for Best Sound and for Best Original Music. Boulevard Of Broken Dreams won the Best Lead Actor award for John Waters, with Kim Gyngell being named Best Supporting Actor in the same film. Waters had a previous nomination for Weekend Of Shadows. Gyngell was another first-time nominee, as were Nadine Garner, who was named Best Lead Actress for her performance in Mullaway, and Tina Bursill, who won Best Supporting Actress for Jilted.

The television mini-series awards initially seemed to be a match between True Believers and Poor Man’s Orange. But True Believers was named Best Mini-Series (Sandra Levy and Matt Carroll), as well as winning Best Direction in a Mini-Series (Peter Fisk) and Best Actor in a Mini-Series (Ed Deveraux). Anne Phelan in Poor Man’s Orange was named Best Actress in a Mini-Series.

Olive led the telefeature nominations with 4, ahead of Sisterly Love (3), A Matter Of Convenience (2) and Fragments Of War (2). Kerry McGuire was named Best Actress in a Telefeature for Olive, while Ernie Dingo was named Best Actor in a Telefeature for A Waltz Through The Hills. Dingo had been nominated the previous year, but had been beaten for the award by Steve Jacobs in what was said to be a tight finish. Best Telefeature and Best Direction in a Telefeature went to A Matter Of Convenience.

In the non-feature section, Mark Lewis’ Cane Toads was named Best Documentary and won the Best Editing in a Non-Feature Film for Lindsay Frazer. David Bradbury’s South Of The Border won awards for Best Cinematography in a Non-Feature Film and Best Sound in a Non-Feature Film. Shirley Barrett made a striking debut with Cherith and won the Best Short Fiction Film award. Best Experimental Film went to Merilee Bennett for her beautiful diary film A Song Of Air.

George Ogilvie received the Byron Kennedy Award for his work in theatre, film, television and ballet and for his highly influential performance workshops.

The Raymond Longford Award went to cinematographer Russell Boyd who, by now, had won three AFI Awards from eight nominations, as well as a BAFTA Award for his work on Picnic At Hanging Rock.

1988 Winners & Nominees

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FEATURE FILM

  • Best Feature Film

  • Winner:

    The Navigator John Maynard

    Nominees:

    Boulevard Of Broken Dreams Frank Howson
    Grievous Bodily Harm Richard Brennan
    Mullaway D. Howard Grigsby

  • Best Achievement in Direction

  • Winner:

    The Navigator Vincent Ward

    Nominees:

    Boulevard Of Broken Dreams Pino Amenta
    Fever Craig Lahiff
    Mullaway Don McLennan

  • Samuelson Award for Best Achievement in Cinematography

  • Winner:

    The Navigator Geoffrey Simpson

    Nominees:

    Boulevard Of Broken Dreams David Connell
    Grievous Bodily Harm Ellery Ryan
    The Lighthorsemen Dean Semler

  • Spectrum Films Award for Best Achievement in Editing

  • Winner:

    The Navigator John Scott

    Nominees:

    Boulevard Of Broken Dreams Philip Reid
    Grievous Bodily Harm Marc van Buuren
    The Dreaming Suresh Ayyar

  • Best Achievement in Sound

  • Winner:

    The Lighthorsemen Lloyd Carrick, Craig Carter, Peter Burgess, James Currie, Phil Heywood, Peter D. Wood

    Nominees:

    Dangerous Game Peter Fenton, Phil Heywood, Martin Oswin
    Rikky And Pete Roger Savage, Lloyd Carrick, Frank Lipson, Craig Carter, Chris Goldsmith, Ross Chambers
    The Man From Snowy River II Terry Rodman, David Harrison, Ron Purvis, Tim Chau, Peter Burgess, Gary Wilkins

  • Best Original Music Score

  • Winner:

    The Lighthorsemen Mario Millo

    Nominees:

    Fever Frank Strangio
    Incident At Raven's Gate Graham Tardif, Roman Kronen
    Where The Outback Ends Andrew Hagen, Morton Wilson

  • Best Achievement in Production Design

  • Winner:

    The Navigator Sally Campbell

    Nominees:

    Dangerous Game Igor Nay
    Incident At Raven's Gate Judith Russell
    Spirits Of The Air, Gremlins Of The Clouds Sean Peter Miller

  • Best Achievement in Costume Design

  • Winner:

    The Navigator Glenys Jackson

    Nominees:

    Boulevard Of Broken Dreams Cheryl McCloud
    Mullaway Jeanie Cameron
    Spirits Of The Air, Gremlins Of The Clouds Angela Tonks, Mathu Anderson

  • Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

  • Winner:

    Boulevard Of Broken Dreams John Waters

    Nominees:

    Phobia Sean Scully
    The Everlasting Secret Family Mark Lee
    The Navigator Hamish McFarlane

  • Best Performance by an Actress in Leading Role

  • Winner:

    Mullaway Nadine Garner

    Nominees:

    Afraid To Dance Rosey Jones
    Boundaries Of The Heart Wendy Hughes
    Tender Hooks Jo Kennedy

  • Best Performance by an Actor in Leading Role

  • Winner:

    Boulevard Of Broken Dreams Kim Gyngell

    Nominees:

    Grievous Bodily Harm Bruno Lawrence
    The Everlasting Secret Family John Meillon
    The Navigator Paul Livingston

  • Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

  • Winner:

    Jilted Tina Bursill

    Nominees:

    Boundaries Of The Heart Julie Nihill
    Mullaway Mary Coustas
    Mullaway Sue Jones

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NON-FEATURE FILM

  • Kodak Award for Best Documentary

  • Winner:

    Cane Toads, An Unnatural History Film Australia (Production Company), Mark Lewis (Producer)

    Nominees:

    Riding The Gale Kim Batterham, Genni Batterham (Producer)
    South Of The Border David Bradbury (Producer)
    Thanks Girls And Goodbye Sue Maslin, Sue Hardisty (Producer)

  • Kodak Award for Best Animated Film

  • Winner:

    Where The Forest Meets The Sea Film Australia (Production Company), Jeannie Baker (Director)

    Nominees:

    A Craven Swinburne Institute of Technology (Production Company), Anne Algar (Director)
    Feathers And Fools Film Victoria (Production Company), Penny Robenstone (Director)
    Home Sweet Home Swinburne Institute of Technology (Production Company), Simone Lindhout (Director)

  • Kodak Award for Best Short Fiction Film

  • Winner:

    Cherith AFTRS (Production Company), Shirley Barrett (Producer / Director), Alexander Sharp (Producer)

    Nominees:

    Boss Boy Swinburne Institute of Technology (Production Company), George Viscas (Director)
    Rabbit On The Moon AFTRS (Production Company), Monica Pellizzari (Producer / Director)
    The Seannachie Swinburne Institute of Technology (Production Company), Lynn Hegarty (Director)

  • Kodak Award for Best Experimental Film

  • Winner:

    A Song Of Air Jane Karslake (Producer), Merilee Bennett (Director)

    Nominees:

    Bad Rocks David Stranger (Producer / Director)
    Delirium Kathy Smith (Producer / Director)
    Phantasmagoria Colin Hawke (Producer / Director)

  • Kodak Award for Best Achievement in Direction

  • Winner:

    Rabbit On The Moon Monica Pellizzari

    Nominees:

    The Invisible Girl Danae Gunn, Jayne Stevenson
    All That Is Solid John Hughes
    Riding The Gale Hugh Piper

  • Kodak Award for Best Achievement in Cinematography

  • Winner:

    South Of The Border Phillip Bull

    Nominees:

    Cane Toads, An Unnatural History Jim Frazier, Wayne Taylor
    Green John Maruff
    Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em Lief Peedersen

  • Kodak Award for Best Achievement in Editing

  • Winner:

    Cane Toads, An Unnatural History Lindsay Frazer

    Nominees:

    A Song Of Air Merilee Bennett
    Sleepwalker Scott Patterson, Neill Gibbie
    South Of The Border Denise Hunter

  • Kodak Award for Best Achievement in Sound

  • Winner:

    South Of The Border John Patterson, Annie Cocksedge, David Bradbury

    Nominees:

    COO-EE Rodney Simmons, George Hart
    Crane Liam Egan, Michelle Cattle, Geoffrey Stitt
    Salt, Saliva, Sperm And Sweat Philip Brophy, Ian Haig, Phillip Samartzis

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TELEVISION

  • Best Telefeature

  • Winner:

    A Matter Of Convenience (ABC) Noel Price

    Nominees:

    Fragments Of War (Network Ten) Terry Hayes, Doug Mitchell, George Miller
    Olive (ABC) Richard Brennan
    Sisterly Love (ABC) Peter Du Cane

  • Best Mini-Series

  • Winner:

    The True Believers (ABC) Sandra Levy, Matt Carroll

    Nominees:

    The Alien Years (ABC) Ray Alchin
    Captain James Cook (ABC) Ray Alchin
    Poor Man's Orange (Network Ten) Anthony Buckley

  • Best Achievement in Direction in a Telefeature

  • Winner:

    A Matter Of Convenience (ABC) Ben Lewin

    Nominees:

    The Clean Machine (Network Ten) Ken Cameron
    Princess Kate (ABC) George Ogilvie
    Olive (ABC) Stephen Wallace

  • Best Achievement in Direction in a Mini-Series

  • Winner:

    The True Believers (ABC) Peter Fisk

    Nominees:

    The Alien Years (ABC) Donald Crombie
    Captain James Cook (ABC) Lawrence Gordon Clark
    Poor Man's Orange (Network Ten) George Whaley

  • Best Performance by an Actor in a Telefeature

  • Winner:

    A Waltz Through The Hills (Nine Network) Ernie Dingo

    Nominees:

    Fragments Of War (Network Ten) Nicholas Eadie
    The Lizard King (ABC) John Hargreaves
    Olive (ABC) Nick Tate

  • Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series

  • Winner:

    The True Believers (ABC) Ed Devereaux

    Nominees:

    The True Believers (ABC) Simon Chilvers
    Poor Man's Orange (Network Ten) Shane Connor
    Captain James Cook (ABC) Keith Mitchell

  • Best Performance by an Actress in a Telefeature

  • Winner:

    Olive (ABC) Kerry McGuire

    Nominees:

    Sisterly Love (ABC) Maggie King
    Custody Judith Stratford
    Sisterly Love (ABC) Joan Sydney

  • Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series

  • Winner:

    Poor Man's Orange (Network Ten) Anne Phelan

    Nominees:

    Always Afternoon (ABC) Tushka Bergen
    Poor Man's Orange (Network Ten) Kaarin Fairfax
    The Alien Years (ABC) Victoria Longley

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