'The Sapphires' Leads Australian Academy Of Cinema Award Nominations

Wayne Blair's Cannes crowd pleaser The Sapphires leads the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts feature film nominations for 2012 with 12 nods including picture, director, actor and actress. A close second is Jonathan Teplitzky's Burning Man with 10, followed by PJ Hogan's Mental, Kieran Darcy-Smith's Wish You Were Here and Cate Shortland's Lore at 8 apiece. Lore is Australia's entry for the foreign language Oscar. AACTA held its inaugural prize ceremony earlier this year, acting as a continuum of the Australian Film Institute Awards which were established in 1958. Considered Oz's equivalent to the Oscars, the second annual AACTA awards will be handed out in late January in Sydney. Following is the list of feature nominees:

BEST FILM
Burning Man, producers: Andy Paterson, Jonathan Teplitzky
Lore, producers: Karsten Stöter, Liz Watts, Paul Welsh, Benny Drechsel
The Sapphires, producers: Rosemary Blight, Kylie du Fresne
Wish You Were Here, producer: Angie Fielder

BEST DIRECTION
Burning Man, dir: Jonathan Teplitzky
Lore, dir: Cate Shortland
The Sapphires, dir: Wayne Blair
Wish You Were Here, dir: Kieran Darcy-Smith

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Burning Man, Jonathan Teplitzky
Mental, PJ Hogan
Not Suitable For Children, Michael Lucas
Wish You Were Here, Kieran Darcy-Smith, Felicity Price

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Lore, Cate Shortland, Robin Mukherjee
The Sapphires, Keith Thompson, Tony Briggs

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Burning Man, Garry Phillips ACS
Lore, Adam Arkapaw
The Sapphires, Warwick Thornton
Wish You Were Here, Jules O'Loughlin ACS

BEST EDITING
Burning Man, Martin Connor
The Sapphires, Dany Cooper ASE
Wish You Were Here, Jason Ballantine ASE
X, Cindy Clarkson

BEST SOUND
Burning Man, David Lee, Andrew Plain, Gethin Creagh
Lore, Sam Petty, Michael Busch, Robert Mackenzie, Antony Gray, Yulia Akerholt, Brooke Trezise
The Sapphires, Andrew Plain, Bry Jones, Pete Smith, Ben Osmo, John Simpson
Swerve, Pete Smith, John Simpson, Martyn Zub, Des Kenneally

BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC SCORE
33 POSTCARDS, Antony Partos
A Few Best Men, Guy Gross
Mental, Michael Yezerski
Not Suitable For Children, Matteo Zingales, Jono Ma

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Burning Man, Steven Jones-Evans APDG
Killer Elite, Michelle McGahey
Lore, Silke Fischer
The Sapphires Melinda Doring

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Burning Man, Lizzy Gardiner
Lore, Stefanie Bieker
Mental, Tim Chappel
The Sapphires, Tess Schofield

BEST LEAD ACTOR
Joel Edgerton, Wish You Were Here
Matthew Goode, Burning Man
Chris O'Dowd, The Sapphires
Guy Pearce, 33 POSTCARDS

BEST LEAD ACTRESS
Toni Collette, Mental
Deborah Mailman, The Sapphires
Felicity Price, Wish You Were Here
Sarah Snook, Not Suitable For Children

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Ryan Corr, Not Suitable For Children
Liev Schreiber, Mental
Antony Starr, Wish You Were Here
Gary Waddell, The King Is Dead!

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Essie Davis, Burning Man
Rebecca Gibney, Mental
Deborah Mailman, Mental
Jessica Mauboy, The Sapphires

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