Olivia Newton John. Photo: Ben Rushton
Garry Maddox, The Sydney Morning Herald, reports
IT WAS one more triumphant yelp for Red Dog. The warm-hearted hit film won the top prize at the first Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards at the Opera House last night.
The comic drama by the director Kriv Stenders about a kelpie who unites a mining town in the Pilbara, loosely based on a true story from the 1970s, added best film to the previously announced member's choice award.
But with Red Dog's directing, acting and craft nominees all overlooked, the intense drama Snowtown surprisingly won four of the stylish trophies modelled on the Southern Cross at the replacement for the Australian Film Institute Awards.
Presenters at the black-tie ceremony included the Australian of the Year and academy president Geoffrey Rush, Cate Blanchett, Mia Wasikowska, Anthony LaPaglia and Jacki Weaver, with performances by Olivia Newton-John and Megan Washington.
Justin Kurzel's dark Snowtown, which dramatised South Australia's infamous bodies-in-the-barrels murders using mostly non-actors from the Adelaide suburbs where the early crimes took place, won best direction, best actor for little-known Daniel Henshall, best adapted screenplay for Shaun Grant and, in the night's biggest upset, best supporting actress for first-timer Louise Harris.
Henshall took the role of serial killer John Bunting to break away from being cast as an ''affable loser'' in TV shows and commercials. He beat three big names - Geoffrey Rush for The Eye of the Storm, Willem Dafoe for The Hunter and David Wenham for Oranges and Sunshine.
Kurzel cast Harris, a non-actor, as the mother of teenage killer Jamie Vlassakis after seeing her arguing in the street about a dog off the chain.
She was considered a long-shot against Helen Morse and Alexandra Schepisi (both for The Eye of the Storm) and young Morgana Davies (The Hunter).
At the earlier craft awards, Snowtown also won won best editing and sound.
The six-time AFI winner Judy Davis won best actress for playing a fragile expat who returns to see her dying mother in The Eye of the Storm, Fred Schepisi's adaptation of a Patrick White novel.
Hugo Weaving, a three-time AFI winner, won best supporting actor for playing a former ''lost child'' shipped to Australia in the drama Oranges and Sunshine.
The Tasmanian wilderness drama The Hunter led the nominations with 14 but won just two - best cinematography and music score - at the craft awards.
In the TV categories, the drama The Slap won five prizes and the Tim Winton adaptation Cloudstreet had eight nominations but won only best young actor for Lara Robinson.
Asher Keddie, who memorably played Ita Buttrose in the mini-series Paper Giants: The Birth of Cleo, collected the audience choice award for best performance in a TV drama.
Packed To The Rafters collected the audience choice award for best TV program.
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