Overview
What do one of the darkest chapters in Australia's recent past, one of the nation's literary best-sellers and the country's ongoing reckoning with its colonial history all have in common? In 2021, they all found a home on the big screen. And, they've all just been named among the year's best homegrown flicks, too, with Nitram, The Dry and High Ground scoring a heap of 2021 AACTA Award nominations.
The AACTA Awards — which were previously called the AFI Awards, before changing their name — recognise the best and brightest in Australian film and television every 12 months. Because they span multiple types of screen content, there's a hefty number of local productions vying for a gong when the winners are announced on Wednesday, December 8.
On the film front, that includes not only the three movies already mentioned above, but also the gold rush era-set western The Furnace, queer rom-com Ellie and Abbie (& Ellie's Dead Aunt), true tale Penguin Bloom and comedy Rams. In terms of stars, everyone from Eric Bana, Simon Baker, Naomi Watts and Claudia Karvan are in the running, as well as Noni Hazlehurst, Judy Davis, Rose Byrne and Michael Caton.
Recognising the wealth of Indigenous talent that's graced our screens over the past year, the acting nominees in the movie fields also include Jacob Junior Nayinggul, Sean Mununggurr and Esmerelda Marimowa from High Ground; Miranda Tapsell for The Dry; and Baykali Ganambarr for The Furnace. Egyptian actor Ahmed Malek also got a nod for the latter — and, in terms of overseas actors, so did American actor and 2021 Cannes Film Festival Best Actor-winner Caleb Landry Jones for Nitram.
In the TV categories, if you've been watching Clickbait or Aunty Donna's Big Ol' House of Fun on Netflix, they're both in AACTA contention. So are a wide range of other series — everything from Mr Inbetween to The Newsreader in the drama categories, and from Aftertaste to Rosehaven in the comedy fields, in fact.
Ben King/Netflix
The 2021 AACTA Awards will take place on Wednesday, December 8. Here's a rundown of the major nominations — and you can check out the full list on AACTA's website:
AACTA NOMINEES 2021
FILM AWARDS:
BEST FILM
BEST INDIE FILM
- Disclosure
- Ellie and Abbie (& Ellie's Dead Aunt)
- Lone Wolf
- Moon Rock for Monday
- My First Summer
- Under My Skin
BEST DIRECTION
- Rob Connolly, The Dry
- Roderick MacKay, The Furnace
- Stephen Maxwell Johnson, High Ground
- Justin Kurzel, Nitram
- Glendyn Ivin, Penguin Bloom
BEST LEAD ACTOR
- Simon Baker, High Ground
- Eric Bana, The Dry
- Caleb Landry Jones, Nitram
- Ahmed Malek, The Furnace
- Jacob Junior Nayinggul, High Ground
BEST LEAD ACTRESS
- Rose Byrne, Peter Rabbit 2
- Judy Davis, Nitram
- Noni Hazlehurst, June Again
- Genevieve O'Reilly, The Dry
- Naomi Watts, Penguin Bloom
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
- Michael Caton, Rams
- Baykali Ganambarr, The Furnace
- Anthony LaPaglia, Nitram
- Sean Mununggurr, High Ground
- Jack Thompson, High Ground
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
- Essie Davis, Nitram
- Claudia Karvan, June Again
- Esmerelda Marimowa, High Ground
- Miranda Tapsell, The Dry
- Jacki Weaver, Penguin Bloom
BEST SCREENPLAY
- Rob Connolly and Harry Cripps, The Dry
- Shaun Grant and Harry Cripps, Penguin Bloom
- Will Gluck and Patrick Burleigh, Peter Rabbit 2
- Jules Duncan, Rams
BEST DOCUMENTARY
- Girls Can't Surf
- I'm Wanita
- My Name Is Gulpilil
- Playing with Sharks
- Strong Female Lead
- When the Camera Stopped Rolling
TELEVISION AWARDS:
BEST DRAMA SERIES
- Clickbait
- Jack Irish
- Mr Inbetween
- The Newsreader
- Total Control
- Wakefield
- Wentworth
BEST TELEFEATURE OR MINISERIES
- A Sunburnt Christmas
- The End
- Fires
- New Gold Mountain
- The Unusual Suspects
BEST NARRATIVE COMEDY SERIES
- Aftertaste
- Aunty Donna's Big Ol' House of Fun
- Fisk
- Frayed
- Preppers
- Rosehaven
BEST COMEDY ENTERTAINMENT PROGRAM
- Dom and Adrian 2020
- Hard Quiz
- The Moth Effect
- Spicks and Specks
- The Weekly
BEST LEAD ACTOR IN A TELEVISION DRAMA
- Rudi Dharmaligam, Wakefield
- Guy Pearce, Jack Irish
- Sam Reid, The Newsreader
- Richard Roxburgh, Fires
- Scott Ryan, Mr Inbetween
BEST LEAD ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION DRAMA
- Deborah Mailman, Total Control
- Mandy McElhinney, Wakefield
- Miranda Otto, Fires
- Pamela Rabe, Wentworth
- Anna Torv, The Newsreader
BEST COMEDY PERFORMER
- Mark Samual Bonanno, Aunty Donna's Big Ol' House of Fun
- Kitty Flanagan, Fisk
- Tom Gleeson, Hard Quiz
- Broden Kelly, Aunty Donna's Big Ol' House of Fun
- Sarah Kendall, Frayed
- Nakkiah Lui, Preppers
- Luke McGregor, Rosehaven
- Celia Pacquola, Rosehaven
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A TELEVISION DRAMA
- Harry Greenwood, Wakefield
- William McInnes, The Newsreader
- Matt Nable, Mr Inbetween
- Stephen Peacocke, The Newsreader
- Justin Rosniak, Mr Inbetween
BEST GUEST OR SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION DRAMA
- Michelle Lim Davidson, The Newsreader
- Marg Downey, The Newsreader
- Harriet Dyer, Wakefield
- Rachel Griffiths, Total Control
- Noni Hazlehurst, The End