The nominations were announced on 31 October 2003. Leading the feature film nominees was comedy crime caper Gettin' Square with a total of fourteen nominations across 12 of the 14 categories, equalling the record set by director Phillip Noyce's film Newsfront in 1978. After the Deluge, a miniseries about a father who is suffering from Alzheimer's and his three estranged sons who reluctantly come together to secure institutional care for him, gained the most television nominations with eight.[3][4]
Despite the record number of nominations, Gettin' Square only won a single award, for David Wenham as best actor. Director, Sue Brooks's Japanese Story, about an Australian geologist and a Japanese businessman journeying into the Pilbara desert in Western Australia received eight awards, the most for any production. In the television category, the miniseries After The Deluge and medical-legal drama MDA, won three awards apiece.[1][5][6][7][8]
Controversies
There was some controversy at the ceremony, with almost half of the winners using their acceptance speeches to criticise the Australian government's proposal to cut cultural subsidies as part of a free trade agreement with the United States. Many arrived wearing yellow and green ribbons in protest against the agreement.[1][8][6]