The Australian Academy Of Cinema And Television Arts (AACTA) have announced their nominations for the 3rd International AACTA awards – just like The Oscars, only attended by less famous people and judged by Australians. Hooray!
In all seriousness, however, the AACTA International awards have proven to be an exceptionally accurate pre-cursor to the US’ awards season; in 2011 and 2012, the AACTA International awards were on par with The Academy Awards in their awards for Best Film (The Artist in 2011), Best Lead Actor (Jean Dujardin in 2011, Daniel Day-Lewis in 2012) Best Lead Actress (Meryl Streep in 2011, Jennifer Lawrence in 2012), Best Director (Michel Hazanavicius in 2011) and Best Screenplay (Django Unchained in 2012). Who knew the AACTA International awards were a secret underdog to help place your bets on The Oscars?
The announcement for this year’s nominees brings two extra categories to last year’s five: Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress. An obligatory Aussie count of the nominees tells us that five Australians have been doing us proud – among them being the effortlessly flawless Cate Blanchett up for Best Actress (a shoe in, I hope), Geoffrey Rush and Joel Edgerton for Best Supporting Actor, as well as Baz for Best Direction.
Also among the nominees is our favourite bébe of 2013, Jennifer Lawrence for Best Supporting Actress; while overall, American Hustle and 12 Years A Slave lead the way in the nominations race, with American Hustle receiving nods in all seven categories.
AACTA’s CEO Damian Trewhella said, “Each year our AACTA International chapter votes to award the season’s most accomplished performers and practitioners and, as always, it’s fascinating to observe the consensus and the distinction amongst the perspectives of the Australian screen industry and that of their international counterparts.”
The AACTA International awards will be held on January 10, 2014 in Los Angeles. Find the list of nominees for the local AACTA awards here.