Australian Film Institute Award
| AACTA Awards | |
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 6th AACTA Awards
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| Awarded for | "To recognise and honour outstanding achievement in the Australian film and television industry." |
| Country | Australia |
| Presented by | Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) |
| First awarded | 1958 (to honour achievements of 1957/1958) |
| Official website | http://www.aacta.org |
| Television/Radio coverage | |
| Network |
ABC (1977, 1980–1983, 1986–1987, 1989–1990, 1993, 1995, 1997, 2003–2004) SBS (1998–2000) Seven Network (1978, 2001, 2016–) Nine Network (1976, 2005–2012) Ovation (2004) Network Ten (1985, 2002, 2013–2015) Arena (2013–present) |
The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards, known as the AACTA Awards, are presented annually by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA). The awards recognise excellence of professionals in the film and television industry, including the producers, directors, actors, writers and cinematographers. It is the most prestigious awards ceremony for the Australian film and television industry. They are generally considered to be the Australian counterpart of the Academy Awards and British Academy Awards.
The awards, previously called Australian Film Institute Awards or AFI Awards, began in 1958 and involved 30 nominations across six categories. They expanded in 1986 to cover television as well as film. The AACTA Awards were instituted in 2011. As of 2011, the Australian awards take place at the Sydney Opera House in Sydney and the International Awards, inaugurated on 27 January 2012, are presented every January in Los Angeles.
The awards were presented annually by the Australian Film Institute (AFI) as the Australian Film Institute Awards (more commonly known as the AFI Awards), "to recognise and honour outstanding achievement in the Australian film and television industry." They were instituted in 1958, "as a way to improve the impoverished state of Australian cinema", and was part of the Melbourne International Film Festival (known then as the Melbourne Film Festival) until 1972. The first AFI Awards ceremony consisted of seven fields: Documentary, Educational, Advertising, Experimental Film, Public Relations and Teaching, and an Open category for other films which didn't fit in the aforementioned categories. Between 1958–1980, submitted films were presented with a gold, silver or bronze prize, and in some circumstances, a Grand Prix award, which was the highest honour a film could receive. Additionally, films were also presented with a gold or silver medallion for technical achievements, and films which didn't receive a prize was given a certificate of honourable mention. From the awards inception to 1968, documentary and educational films were the only films submitted for awards due to few feature films produced in Australia, but in 1969, Jack and Jill: A Postscript became the first feature film to receive an award from the AFI, with a silver prize in the "Open" category, and is considered a winner in the Best Film category of the current awards. Up until 1970, prizes were handed out in recognition of the film and production, rather than achievements of individual filmmakers and crafts people. However, from 1971 special achievement awards were introduced to recognise actors, directors, screenwriters, musicians, editors and cinematographers in feature films, and from 1975, an additional cash prize was given per achievement. In 1977 feature film categories became competitive, while non-feature films continued to be awarded the gold, silver and bronze prizes until 1981, when they also became competitive. In 1976 the awards were broadcast live on television for the first time on the Nine Network at the Hilton Hotel in Melbourne. In 1986 television categories were introduced, presenting awards for mini-series and telefeatures before expanding to dramas, comedies and documentaries in the 1990s.
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