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Short Fiction Film and Short Animation nominees

AACTA has today revealed the first nominees for the 7th AACTA Awards presented by Foxtel. Nominees were announced in two categories: Best Short Fiction Film and Best Short Animation.

Further nominees will be announced later this year, with winners across all categories to be announced at AACTA’s two major events, the Industry Luncheon and the Ceremony and Official After Party, in Sydney this December.

 

AACTA AWARD FOR SHORT FICTION FILM NOMINEES

2017 Shorts Nominees Fiction

  • THE ELEVEN O’CLOCK Derin Seale, Josh Lawson, Karen Bryson 
  • MIRO Victoria Wharfe McIntyre, Fran Dobbie, Amadeo Marquez-Perez 
  • MRS MCCUTCHEON John Sheedy, Andre Lima, Jenny Vila 
  • SLAPPER Luci Shroder, Jason Byrne, Michael Latham, Stephanie Westwood

Marking a strong year for Australian short film, all of this year’s Best Short Fiction Film nominees have received critical acclaim following screenings at a host of Australian and international film festivals.

Written, produced and starring internationally acclaimed Australian actor Josh Lawson (HOUSE OF LIES, THE LITTLE DEATH, HOGES), THE ELEVEN O’CLOCK follows the delusional patient of a psychiatrist who believes he is actually the psychiatrist. THE ELEVEN O’CLOCK, directed by Derin Seale, was awarded Best Comedy at LA Shorts Festival 2016, Best Narrative Short at Cinequest 2017, Best Screenplay at FlickerFest 2017 and Audience Choice for Best Comedy Short Film at Cleveland International Film Festival 2017.

A WWII Aboriginal Western, MIRO stars AACTA Award-nominated actor Mark Coles Smith (LAST CAB TO DARWIN, PAWNO) and Aaron McGrath (JASPER JONES, GLITCH, THE CODE). The film’s nomination follows sell out screenings at GI Film Festival in Washington DC, and is writer and director Victoria Wharfe McIntyre’s second nomination in the category, having previously been nominated at the inaugural AACTA Awards for THE TELEGRAM MAN.

MRS MCCUTCHEON marks multiple Helpmann, Sydney Theatre Critics and WA Equity Award-winning theatre director John Sheedy’s film debut. The short film, which aims to give a voice to the thousands of trans and gender diverse children, has received acclaim at international film festivals including the 33rd Hamburg International Short Film Festival and the 63rd Oberhausen International Film Festival in Germany, where it received a special mention in the International Children’s Competition Award.

Directed by Luci Shroder, SLAPPER follows a rebellious and broke teen in Australian suburbia. SLAPPER has received critical acclaim on the festival circuit, picking up a number of awards, including: Best Short Film at the 2016 Australian Directors’ Guild Awards, Best Short Fiction Film at Sydney Film Festival 2016, the Emerging Australian Filmmaker Award at Melbourne International Film Festival 2016, and a nomination for the Short Film Grand Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival 2017.

 

AACTA AWARD FOR SHORT ANIMATION NOMINEES 

2017 Shorts Nominees Animation

  • AFTER ALL Michael Cusack, Richard Chataway
  • BARBARA Larissa Behrendt, Marieka Walsh, Kiki Dillon, Michaela Perske
  • LOST PROPERTY OFFICE Daniel Agdag, Liz Kearney
  • THE WALL Nick Baker, Tristan Klein

A strong presence at festivals also precede AACTA nominations for three of the Short Animation nominees and their filmmakers.

Michael Cusack receives his third nomination in the Best Short Animation category for AFTER ALL, having previously won in 2006 for GARGOYLE as well as receiving a nomination in 2013 for SLIGHT OF HAND, for which AFTER ALL producer Richard Chataway was also nominated. AFTER ALL is a poignant stop motion film about a middle-aged man coming to terms with the loss of his mother.

AACTA Award winner Marieka Walsh receives her second consecutive nomination in the category for BARBARA, which follows the story of Noongar woman Barbara, whose granddaughter was taken from school by welfare workers in 2013. Walsh is nominated alongside Larissa Behrendt, the award-winning author and director of the Walkley Award nominated documentary INNOCENCE BETRAYED, Michaela Perske, an award-winning journalist and producer, who worked alongside fellow nominee Kiki Dillon, on DREAM BABY, last year’s winner of the AACTA Award for Best Short Fiction Film.

Daniel Adgag’s LOST PROPERTY OFFICE, which follows the sole custodian of a lost property office who has to move on from his post, swept the Sydney Film Festival 2017 short film awards, picking up both the Robert Mamoulian Award for Best Director and the Yoram Gross Animation Award.

Narrated by AFI Award winner David Wenham and sparked by Donald Trump’s plan to build a wall on the Mexican border, THE WALL won Best Visual Effects at Tropfest 2017 and was a finalist for the Yoram Gross Animation Award at Sydney Film Festival 2017. THE WALL marks four time Tropfest finalists Nick Baker and Tristan Klein’s first AACTA nominations.

“We are excited to see Australian short films getting such recognition at film festivals both here and internationally, further cementing Australia’s international reputation for excellence in our industry,” said AFI | AACTA CEO Damian Trewhella. “On behalf of AACTA, I congratulate all our short film nominees and wish them the very best for the 7th AACTA Awards presented by Foxtel.”

The Short Fiction Film and Short Animation nominated films will screen during AACTA’s Festival of Australian Film – For Your Consideration screenings (formerly the Official Screenings Program), alongside the Feature Length Documentary nominees and feature films in competition, which will be announced in early August. The program will screen in cinemas throughout August and September and online via AACTA TV. Further details to be announced.

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