2005 Australian Film Institute Awards


The 47th Annual Australian Film Institute Awards, were a series of awards which included the AFI Craft Awards and the AFI Awards Ceremony. Presented by the Australian Film Institute, the awards celebrated the best in Australian feature film, television, documentary and short film productions of 2005. The two events were held in Melbourne, Victoria, with the former presentation at the Waterfront City Pavilion, and the latter at the Melbourne Central City Studios, on 25 November and 26 November 2005, respectively. The AFI Awards Ceremony was televised on the Nine Network, with actor Russell Crowe hosting both this and the AFI Craft Awards.
Look Both Ways received the most feature film awards with five, including Best Film and Best Direction. Little Fish and The Proposition collected four awards each. The only other winner was Three Dollars with one for Best Adapted Screenplay. In the television categories, Love My Way won five awards, including Best Drama Series, Best Direction and Best Screenplay. MDA was given two awards. Other television winners were Holly's Heroes, John Safran vs God, The Glass House and The Incredible Journey of Mary Bryant, with one each.

Ceremony

After poor viewership of the 2004 Awards ceremony, the AFI hired live entertainment promoter Paul Dainty to revamp the event. This included splitting the awards into two separate events: The AFI Craft Awards and the AFI Awards Ceremony, which were held on the 25 November and 26 November, respectively. The Craft Awards were presented for technical achievements in feature films, television and non-feature films. The chief executive of the AFI said the reason behind the split was to give "craft nominees more respect, with their own black-tie event." The decision, however, was met with some criticism from industry members, who felt that they were being undermined and overshadowed by the other non-technical categories. Australian Screen Editors said the "split undermines the uniquely collaborative nature of filmmaking and sent the wrong message for the next generation of filmmakers."
Australian actor Russell Crowe was chosen to host the AFI Craft Awards and the AFI Awards Ceremony. Awards at both presentations were handed out on the 25 November and 26 November, respectively. The latter event received a delayed broadcast on Nine Network at 10:55pm, and a five-minute segment dedicated to the Craft Awards was shown. The ceremony drew in an audience of 900,000 viewers. Crowe's work as host, and the AFI's decision to hire Dainty to produce the event was well received by critics. The Age felt Dainty's involvement in the production of the ceremony "was pivotal to the awards' renaissance", adding that splitting the awards "put an end to the drawn-out ceremonies of years past." Michaela Boland from Variety praised Crowe for his "charming funny" performance hosting the show.

Winners and nominees

The nominations were announced by Australian actors Claudia Karvan and Alex Dimitriades on 21 October 2005 at the Wharf Restaurant in Sydney, New South Wales. Leading the feature film nominees was Little Fish with thirteen. Love My Way gained the most television nominations with six.

Feature film

Best FilmBest Direction

  • Look Both Ways – Bridget Ikin
  • *Little Fish – Vincent Sheehan, Liz Watts and Richard Keddie
  • *Oyster Farmer – Anthony Buckley and Piers Tempest
  • *The Proposition – Chris Brown, Jackie O'Sullivan, Chiara Menage and Cat Villiers
  • Sarah Watt – Look Both Ways
  • *Rowan Woods – Little Fish
  • *John Hillcoat – The Proposition
  • *Greg McLean – Wolf Creek
    • Best Original ScreenplayBest Adapted Screenplay
  • Look Both Ways – Sarah Watt
  • *Little Fish – Jacqueline Perske
  • *The Proposition – Nick Cave
  • *Wolf Creek – Greg McLean
  • Three Dollars – Robert Connolly and Elliot Perlman
  • *Hating Alison Ashley – Christine Madafferi
  • *The Illustrated Family Doctor – Kriv Stenders and David Snell
  • *The Widower – Lyndon Terracini
    • Best Lead ActorBest Lead Actress
  • Hugo Weaving – Little Fish as Lionel Dawson
  • *William McInnes – Look Both Ways as Nick
  • *Guy Pearce – The Proposition as Charlie Burns
  • *Ray Winstone – The Proposition as Captain Morris Stanley
  • Cate Blanchett – Little Fish as Tracy Louise Heart
  • *Saskia Burmeister – Hating Alison Ashley as Erica Yurken
  • *Justine Clarke – Look Both Ways as Meryl Lee
  • *Frances O'Connor – Three Dollars as Tanya Harnovey
    • Best Supporting ActorBest Supporting Actress
  • Anthony Hayes – Look Both Ways as Andy Walker
  • *Martin Henderson – Little Fish as Ray Robert Heart
  • *John Hurt – The Proposition as Jellon Lamb
  • *Robert Menzies – Three Dollars as Nick
  • Noni Hazlehurst – Little Fish as Janelle Margaret Heart
  • *Tracy Mann – Hating Alison Ashley as Mum
  • *Daniela Farinacci – Look Both Ways as Julia
  • *Kestie Morassi – Wolf Creek as Kristy Earl
    • Best CinematographyBest Editing
  • The Proposition – Benoît Delhomme
  • *Little Fish – Danny Ruhlmann
  • *Oyster Farmer – Alun Bollinger
  • *Wolf Creek – Will Gibson
  • Little Fish – Alexandre de Franceschi and John Scott
  • *Look Both Ways – Denise Haratzis
  • *The Proposition – Jon Gregory
  • *Wolf Creek – Jason Ballantine
    • Best Original Music ScoreBest Sound
  • The Proposition – Nick Cave and Warren Ellis
  • *Little Fish – Nathan Larson
  • *Three Dollars – Alan John
  • *Wolf Creek – François Tétaz
  • Little Fish – Sam Petty and Peter Grace
  • *Look Both Ways – Andrew Plain, Peter Smith and Toivo Lember
  • *The Proposition – Tim Alban, Paul Davies and Craig Walmsley
  • *Wolf Creek – Des Kenneally, Peter Smith, Pete Best and Tom Heuzenroeder
    • Best Production DesignBest Costume Design
  • The Proposition – Chris Kennedy
  • *Little Fish – Luigi Pittorino
  • *Look Both Ways – Rita Zanchetta
  • *Three Dollars – Luigi Pittorino
  • The Proposition – Margot Wilson
  • *Hating Alison Ashley – Paul Warren
  • *Little Fish – Melinda Doring
  • *Look Both Ways – Edie Kurzer

    • Television

    Non-feature film

    Best DocumentaryBest Direction in a Documentary

    • Land Mines - A Love Story – Dennis O'Rourke
    • *Girl in a Mirror – Helen Bowden
    • *Jabe Babe: A Heightened Life – Janet Merewether, Deborah Szapiro, Georgia Wallace-Crabbe
    • *Killers in Eden – Klaus Toft
  • Janet Merewether – Jabe Babe: A Heightened Life
  • *Kathy Drayton – Girl in a Mirror
  • *John Moore – Abortion, Corruption and Cops - The Bertram Wainer Story
  • *Klaus Toft – Killers in Eden
    • Best Short Fiction FilmBest Short Animation
  • Jewboy – Tony Krawitz
  • *A Message from Fallujah – Richard Gibson
  • *Azadi – Anthony Maras
  • *The Eye Inside – Cordelia Beresford
  • The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello – Anthony Lucas
  • *2:41 Upfield – Callum Cooper
  • *Fritz Gets Rich – Eddie White, James Calvert
  • *Piñata – Mike Hollands
    • Best Screenplay in a Short FilmBest Cinematography in a Non-Feature Film
  • Tony Krawitz – Jewboy
  • *Wayne Blair – The Djarn Djarns
  • *Jody Dwyer – Barely Visible
  • *Mark Shirrefs – The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello
  • Greig Fraser – Jewboy
  • *Cordelia Beresford – The Eye Inside
  • *Jenni Meaney – Abortion, Corruption and Cops - The Bertram Wainer Story
  • *Corey Piper – Opal Fever
    • Best Editing in a Non-Feature FilmBest Sound in a Non-Feature Film
  • James Bradley – Mr. Patterns
  • *Henry Dangar ASE – The Djarn Djarns
  • *Paul Hamilton, Michael Horton – All Points of the Compass
  • *Jane Moran – Jewboy
  • Leo Sullivan, Tony Vaccher, Danny Longhurst – Vietnam Symphony
  • *Doron Kipen, Emma Bortignon, Ken Sallows ASE – Iraq, My Country
  • *Basil Krivoroutchko, Davin Patterson – Cool
  • *Sam Petty, Mark Blackwell – Jewboy
    • Outstanding Achievement in Craft in a Non-Feature Film-
  • Anthony Lucas – The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello
  • *Karla Urizar – Jabe Babe: A Heightened Life
  • *Phillip Crawford – Knot At Home Project
  • *Ewen Leslie – Jewboy
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