1977 Australian Film Institute Awards

1977 Australian Film Awards
DateWednesday, 21 September 1977
SiteRegent Theatre
Sydney, New South Wales
Hosted by
Highlights
Best FilmStorm Boy
Most awardsDon's Party (6)
Most nominationsStorm Boy (9)
Television coverage
NetworkABC

The 1977 Australian Film Awards ceremony, presented by the Australian Film Institute (AFI), honoured the best Australian films of 1976 on 21 September 1977 at Regent Theatre, in Sydney, New South Wales. It was televised on ABC. Actors Keir Dullea and Karen Black, and former Australian Prime Minister John Gorton hosted the show.

Don's Party won six awards including Best Direction and Best Actress. Other winners were The Picture Show Man with four awards, and Storm Boy with two awards including Best Film and the Jury Prize. Charles Chauvel was posthumously awarded the Raymond Longford Award.

Ceremony

The ceremony was held on 21 September 1977 at Regent Theatre, in Sydney, New South Wales. It was hosted by actors Keir Dullea and Karen Black, and former Australian Prime Minister John Gorton.[1] Films were nominated for awards in thirteen categories, marking the first time the awards were presented competitively and not as a film prize like previous years, with the exception of the non-feature film categories.[2] The Awards were televised on ABC.[3]

Winners and nominees

The Australian Film Institute (AFI) presented awards across eighteen categories. Three new award categories were presented for Best Achievement in Sound, Best Costume Design and Best Art Direction, and the award for Best Original Music Score was reinstated after it had not been given since 1973.[4] The recipients of the peer voted feature-film awards included the film Storm Boy, for Best Film; Bruce Beresford for Best Direction, for Don's Party; John Meillon for Best Actor, for The Fourth Wish; and Pat Bishop for Best Actress, for Don's Party.[4][5] Charles Chauvel received the Raymond Longford Award posthumously for his contribution to Australian screen culture and environment, and was presented to his wife Elsa Chauvel.[1] Storm Boy was nominated for nine awards but only received two; and Don's Party won five of the six awards it was nominated for, winning the most awards at the ceremony.[4]
Non-feature films were presented with a gold, silver or bronze prize, or an honourable mention, and the awards were determined by a jury.[1] The Love Letters from Teralba Road received a gold and silver prize, and a special award for creativity.[1]

Peer voted awards

Winners of competitive awards marked first in boldface and highlighted in gold.

Category Winners and nominees
Best Film Storm Boy – Matt Carroll
Break of Day – Patricia Lovell
Don's Party — Phillip Adams
The Picture Show Man — Joan Long
Best Direction Bruce Beresford – Don's Party
Philippe Mora – Mad Dog Morgan
Chris Löfvén – Oz
Henri Safran – Storm Boy
Best Actor John Meillon – The Fourth Wish as Casey
Noel Ferrier – Eliza Fraser as Captain James Fraser
David Gulpilil – Storm Boy as Fingerbone
John Meillon – The Picture Show Man as Maurice 'Pop' Pym
Best Actress Pat Bishop – Don's Party as Jenny
Jeanie Drynan – Don's Party as Kath Henderson
Sara Kestelman – Break of Day as Alice
Robyn Nevin – The Fourth Wish as Connie
Best Supporting Actor John Ewart – The Picture Show Man as Freddie Graves
John Ewart – Let the Balloon Go as PC Baird
Bill Hunter – Mad Dog Morgan as Sgt. Smith
Christopher Pate – Raw Deal as Dick
Best Supporting Actress Veronica Lang – Don's Party as Jody
Anne Haddy – The Fourth Wish as Dr. Kirk
Ingrid Mason – Break of Day as Beth
Judy Morris – The Picture Show Man as Miss Lockhart
Best Screenplay (Original or Adapted) Don's Party – David Williamson
Storm Boy – Sonia Borg
The Fourth Wish – Michael Craig
The Picture Show Man – Joan Long
Best Art Direction The Picture Show Man – David Copping
Break of Day – Wendy Dickson
Oz – Robbie Perkins
Storm Boy – David Copping
Best Costume Design The Picture Show Man – Judith Dorsman
Let the Balloon Go – Ron Williams
Oz – Robbie Perkins
Storm Boy – Helen Evans
Best Sound Don's Party – William M. Anderson
Oz – Les Luxford
Raw Deal – Bruce Lamshed
Storm Boy – Bob Cogger
Best Original Music Score The Picture Show Man – Peter Best
Storm Boy – Michael Carlos
Mad Dog Morgan – Patrick Flynn
Oz – Ross Wilson
Best Cinematography Break of Day – Russell Boyd
Storm Boy – Geoff Burton
Raw Deal – Vincent Monton
Summer Of Secrets – Russell Boyd
Best Editing Don's Party – William M. Anderson
Oz – Les Luxford
The Fourth Wish – Gerard Turney-Smith
Deathcheaters – Ron Williams

Jury voted prizes

Winners of the gold prize.
Winners of the silver prize.
Winners of the bronze prize.

Category Winners
Jury Prize Storm Boy – Matt Carroll
Best Documentary We Are All Alone My Dear – Paul Cox
Greg – Tom Manefield
Here's To You Mr. Robinson – Peter Tammer, Gary Patterson (Honourable mention)
Best Short Fiction Film The Love Letters from Teralba Road – Richard Brennan
The Singer and the Dancer – Gillian Armstrong
Do I Have to Kill My Child? – Janet Isaac
The Idyll – Aphrodite Jansen (Honourable mention)
In The Beginning – Mark D'Arcy-Irvine (Honourable mention)
Best Cinematography – Documentary The Love Letters from Teralba Road – Tom Cowan
The Last Harvest – David Foreman
Advertising Italy – Adrian Ussher

Special awards

Raymond Longford Award
Jedda Award
Creativity award
Macro Photography

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d Paul Heinrichs (22 September 1977). "Storm Boy is best film". The Age. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
  2. ^ French, Lisa; Poole, Mark (2009). Shining a Light: 50 Years of the Australian Film Institute. Australian Teachers of Media. pp. 142–182. ISBN 1-876467-20-7.
  3. ^ French, Lisa; Poole, Mark (2009). Shining a Light: 50 Years of the Australian Film Institute. Australian Teachers of Media. p. 111. ISBN 1-876467-20-7.
  4. ^ a b c "AACTA - Past Winners 1977". Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts. Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA). Archived from the original on 30 March 2012. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
  5. ^ French, Lisa; Poole, Mark (2009). Shining a Light: 50 Years of the Australian Film Institute. Australian Teachers of Media. p. 145. ISBN 1-876467-20-7.

Further reading