November 2009

29 November 2009

AFI Readers Choice Award Nomination

I am very happy to announce that Australia has been nominated for the AFI Readers' Choice Award. As previously reported, Australia has already been nominated for several Australian Film Institute (AFI) awards, but voting has now commenced for the Readers' Choice Award, where the Australian public get the opportunity to vote for their favourite Australian film of the year. If you are an Australian resident, check out the website and vote for Australia today! As well as helping to give Australia the recognition it deserves, you can win some great prizes, including a trip for two to the Sundance Film Festival! :)

Living Legend IF Award Press

As previously reported, Baz Luhrmann received the Living Legend IF Award last week and news of his win has been circulating across the internet. Contact Music posted the following, including the above photo from this year's Gday USA Week in New York, and a quote from Luhrmann’s IF Award acceptance speech:

Luhrmann Honoured in Australia

Famed director Baz Luhrmann was honoured in his native Australia on Wednesday night (18Nov09) - he was presented with the coveted Living Legend prize at the country's Inside Film (IF) Awards. The Moulin Rouge! moviemaker was also handed the trophy for Box Office Achievement for his 2008 epic Australia, a homage to his home country. Luhrmann used the opportunity to pay tribute to the ever-expanding Australian film industry, telling the crowd, "This is an industry to be proud of, it's incredibly exciting. We have it, let's not blow it. I think it's an extraordinarily exciting time to be an Australian filmmaker."

21 November 2009

Inside Film Awards

The Inside Film (IF) Awards were held on 18 November 2009 in Sydney. Baz Luhrmann's Australia earned the 'Box Office Achievement' award in recognition of how well the film did here in Australia. Baz Luhrmann was also honoured with the Living Legend IF Award in recognition of his body of work to date. Congratulations Baz! :)

Vogue managed to snap the above fantastic pic of Baz and CM (click here for larger image) and described them as "The trailblazers … With that mega-watt smile CM always shines and Baz continues to look as ageless as his regular leading lady Nicole Kidman." And news.com.au managed to talk with them both and revealed how they have been "hiding out" in Paris and "working on a whole lot of things": (Let's hope we hear more about these "things" soon!)

Australia director Luhrmann and his Oscar-winning wife, costume designer Catherine Martin, said they were enjoying being back home in Sydney after spending some time in Paris.

"We've been hiding out with our family in Paris. We basically move between here and Paris," Luhrmann said.

The pair said they were "working on a whole lot of things", but wouldn't reveal any details.

One project they were keen to talk about was designing masks for Lady GaGa's performance at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles for its 30th-anniversary celebrations on Saturday. "We worked on the masks, and Lady GaGa was fab," Luhrmann said. "She's pretty cool. GaGa's got a thing for costumes, you may have noticed."

AFI Award Nominations

The Australian Film Institute Awards will be held on Saturday, 12 December 2009, with the ceremony being broadcast in Australia at 9:30pm on Channel 9. Baz Luhrmann's Australia has been nominated for the following categories:

- Member's Choice Award (Baz Luhrmann, G. Mac Brown, Catherine Knapman)
- Best Sound (Andy Nelson, Anna Behlmer, Wayne Pashley MPSE, Guntis Sics, Simon Leadley)
- Best Original Musical Score (David Hirschfelder, Felix Meagher, Baz Luhrmann, Angela Little)
- Best Production Design (Catherine Martin, Ian Gracie, Karen Murphy, Beverley Dunn)
- Best Costume Design (Catherine Martin, Eliza Godman)
- Best Supporting Actor (Brandon Walters)

There has been much media speculation about how Australia was not nominated for the 'major' awards, such as Best Film, Best Direction and Best Lead Actor/Actress. While this is unfortunate, at least Australia has been recognised in six categories, and fingers crossed that the AFI gives the film some of the recognition it deserves.

'Oh my God' Documentary

Baz Luhrmann and Hugh Jackman are featured in the newly released documentary entitled Oh My God. Apparently, their segments were filmed on the set of Australia (hence why Jackman is looking very 'Drover-like' in the image above!) The Internet Movie Database describes the film as follows - "Oh My God" asks people from all walks of life, from celebrities, to the religious, to atheists and the common Man - the question - "What is God?" The documentary was released on 13 November 2009 in the US. The IMDb does not list any further release dates, and so I assume that it is a very limited release. However, perhaps we might see this on DVD at some point.