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Notes

  • Until 1975 this category also encompassed non-features and documentaries.

Latest Winners / Recipients

Year: 2010

winner form y separately published work icon Animal Kingdom David Michôd , ( dir. David Michôd ) Australia : Porchlight Films , 2010 Z1686698 2010 single work film/TV crime (taught in 2 units)

Inspired in part by Melbourne's 1988 Walsh Street murders, Animal Kingdom is a story about the battle between Melbourne's underworld and the police. The story tracks seventeen-year-old Joshua 'J' Cody, a troubled teenager perilously caught between his own criminal family and Detective Leckie, a compromised cop who thinks that he can save 'J'. 'J' comes to realise that in order to survive, he must determine how the game is played. This involves not only writing his own rule book but also choosing his place in the cunning and brutal animal kingdom in which his family lives.

Year: 2009

winner form y separately published work icon Samson and Delilah Warwick Thornton , ( dir. Warwick Thornton ) Scarlett Pictures CAAMA Productions , 2009 Z1561915 2009 single work film/TV (taught in 9 units)

'Samson and Delilah tells the story of two Aboriginal teenagers in a remote community. They live in a sparse environment but one that absorbs all manner of cultural influences, where dot painting and country music exist side by side. Samson gets through his days by sniffing, while Delilah is the caregiver for her nana before taking a moment for herself to listen to Latino music. Their journey ranges across many of the most urgent issues concerning Indigenous people in Australia, homelessness, poverty, domestic violence and substance abuse, but it does so with tenderness, dignity, and even humour.'

Source: Adelaide Film Festival website, www.adelaidefilmfestival.org/ Sighted: 23/02/2009

Year: 2008

winner form y separately published work icon The Black Balloon Elissa Down , Jimmy Jack , ( dir. Elissa Down ) Australia : Black Balloon Productions , 2008 Z1481112 2008 single work film/TV

'When Thomas (Rhys Wakefield) and his family move to a new home and he has to start at a new school, all he wants is to fit in. When his pregnant mother (Toni Collette) has to take things easy, his father Simon (Erik Thomson) puts him in charge of his autistic older brother Charlie (Luke Ford). Thomas, with the help of his new girlfriend Jackie (Gemma Ward), faces his biggest challenge yet. Charlie’s unusual antics take Thomas on an emotional journey that causes his pent-up frustrations about his brother to pour out - in a story that is funny, confronting, and ultimately heart-warming. The Black Balloon is a story about fitting in, discovering love and accepting your family.'

Source: Screen Australia.

Year: 2007

winner form y separately published work icon Romulus, My Father Nick Drake , ( dir. Richard Roxburgh ) Australia : Arenafilm , 2007 Z1308732 2007 single work film/TV (taught in 1 units)

Film adaptation of Raymond Gaita's biography.

Year: 2005

winner form y separately published work icon Look Both Ways Sarah Watt , ( dir. Sarah Watt ) 2004 Australia : Hibiscus Films , 2005 Z1218102 2004 single work film/TV (taught in 1 units) Over a fiercely hot weekend, four people grapple with life changing news, wondering whether their fate is deserved or earned, and how happiness might be possible. Meryl is a lonely artist who literally envisions disaster around every corner. Nick is a photojournalist whose work keeps him emotionally distanced from the tragedies he documents. When the two meet in the aftermath of a real train accident, their lives, and the lives of a handful of other witnesses and victims, are revealed and transformed.
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