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The L'Oréal Paris 2008 AFI Awards Form Guide

With the L'Oréal Paris 2008 AFI Awards are coming up this Saturday, who will be the winners in Australia’s answer to the Oscars? We throw our thoughts into the ring…

Editorial Review

The L'Oréal Paris 2008 AFI Awards are celebrating 50 years of pride and passion in the Australian movie industry. While the industry awards will be presented on Friday, 5 December, the big ones will be presented the following night, Saturday, 6 December at the glamorous Princess Theatre in Melbourne.

But the big question is, who's going to sweep the room with their awards? Four films are standing out from the pack - will it be the Edgerton Brothers for their first feature, The Square? Will it be the likeable family drama, The Black Balloon? The indy-guerilla production The Jammed, or the outback drama of Unfinished Sky? Here are our picks.

AFI Award for Best Lead Actor
Rhys Wakefield The Black Balloon
Guy Pearce Death Defying Acts
David Roberts The Square
William McInnes Unfinished Sky

They're all worthy contenders, but McInnes has to be the favourite here. Pearce has played much better parts than this.

AFI Award for Best Lead Actress
Noni Hazlehurst Bitter & Twisted
Emma Lung The Jammed
Veronica Sywak The Jammed
Monic Hendrickx Unfinished Sky

A great performance by Emma Lung in the no-budget film The Jammed should see her taking home the gong.

AFI Award for Best Supporting Actor
Luke Ford The Black Balloon
Erik Thomson The Black Balloon
Joel Edgerton The Square
Anthony Hayes The Square

A great performance from Luke Ford as an autistic teenager – which gave him a part as Brendan Fraser’s son in The Mummy 3 – will earn him this award.

AFI Award for Best Supporting Actress
Leeanna Walsman Bitter & Twisted
Toni Collette The Black Balloon
Maeve Dermody Black Water
Saskia Burmeister The Jammed

Yes, she's won plenty of AFI Awards already, but Toni Collette’s role here as the challenged but perky mum really deserves another nod.

L´Oréal Paris AFI Young Actor Award
Danielle Catanzariti Hey Hey It’s Esther Blueburger
Tom Green The Ground Beneath
Saoirse Ronan Death Defying Acts
Clarence John Ryan September

Saoirse Ronan was great in Death Defying Acts; she'll win this hands down.

AFI International Award for Best Actor
Eric Bana The Other Boleyn Girl
Russell Crowe American Gangster
Heath Ledger The Dark Knight
Jack Thompson Leatherheads

If Heath Ledger doesn't get this award posthumously, there'll be an outcry heard all the way to Hollywood!

AFI International Award for Best Actress
Cate Blanchett Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Judy Davis The Starter Wife. Network Ten
Rachel Griffiths Brothers & Sisters. Seven Network
Nicole Kidman The Golden Compass

In a strong field, Cate Blanchett is still a stand-out winner here.

Macquarie AFI Award for Best Original Screenplay
The Black Balloon Elissa Down & Jimmy The Exploder
Hey Hey It's Esther Blueburger Cathy Randall
The Jammed Dee McLachlan
The Square Joel Edgerton & Matthew Dabner

Dee McLachlan's underrated but powerful screenplay about local slave trade will take this one out.

Macquarie AFI Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
All My Friends Are Leaving Brisbane Stephen Vagg
Unfinished Sky Peter Duncan

Peter Duncan will get this one, for making it relevant and topical to Australia.

AFI Award for Best Cinematography
The Black Balloon Denson Baker ACS
Death Defying Acts Haris Zambarloukos BSC
The Tender Hook Geoffrey Simpson ACS
Unfinished Sky Robert Humphreys ACS

And Unfinished Sky's stunning cinematography is the deserving winner here too.

AFI Award for Best Direction
The Black Balloon Elissa Down
The Jammed Dee McLachlan
The Square Nash Edgerton
Unfinished Sky Peter Duncan

Peter Duncan will take this one home too for his atmospheric adaptation of a Dutch film.

L’Oréal Paris AFI Award for Best Film
The Black Balloon Tristram Miall
The Jammed Dee McLachlan, Andrea Buck & Sally Ayre-Smith
The Square Louise Smith
Unfinished Sky Cathy Overett & Anton Smit

And the award goes to The Black Balloon, because it tackles autism in a frank but fun and fair way.

Australia’s Favourite Film
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
The Castle
Muriel’s Wedding
Lantana
Gallipoli

And the winner is… after a close call with Gallipoli, Muriel's Wedding wins, because even 15 years later, it's still funny and tragically sad all at once.

Tim Hunter, Movies Editor, Citysearch

The L'Oréal Paris 2008 AFI Awards will be screened in Channel Nine, Saturday, 6 December, 9.30pm

Watch out for our exclusive Red Carpet coverage here on Citysearch.

Tell us who you think will win the AFI Awards here.