In a Samson and Goliath tale, the gritty crime drama Animal Kingdom shares the lead in nominations with box-office hit Mao’s Last Dancer despite the latter pulling in almost three times the box office numbers making over $15 million locally. Both films are up for seven awards at the Australian Inside Film IF Awards ceremony in November.

Animal Kingdom, which has received international critical acclaim and received the prestigious World Cinema Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, is nominated in the Best Film, Best Sound and Best Editing categories. David Michôd is nominated for Best Director and Best Script for the film, while Ben Mendelsohn and Jacki Weaver are up for Best Actor and Best Actress respectively.

Box Office giant, Mao’s Last Dancer is nominated in the Best Film, Best Music, Best Script and Best Cinematography categories with Bruce Beresford nominated for Best Director and Best Actor and Actress nominations have gone to Chi Cao and Joan Chen.

Joining these in the Best Film Category are Tomorrow When the War Began and Beneath Hill 60. Fellow Best Director nominees include Jeremy Hartley Sims for Beneath Hill 60 and Rachel Perkins for Bran Nue Day.

Acclaimed actor and former IF Award host Joel Edgerton, is also up for Best Actor for The Waiting City alongside Tomorrow When the War Began newcomer Deniz Akdeniz. Edgerton’s The Waiting City co-star Radha Mitchell is nominated in the Best Actress category as is Tomorrow When The War Began’s Caitlin Stasey.

Jane Campion’s tale of the life of romantic poet John Keats, Bright Star, is nominated in four categories including Best Sound, Best Production Design, Best Editing and Best Cinematography.

The Best Music Video category sees the return of Angus and Julia Stone whose Just A Boy video took the prize in 2008. Their video for Big Jet Plane directed by Kiku Ohe is nominated alongside Gyroscope’s Baby I’m Getting Better directed by Nick Pollack and Philadelphia Grand Jury’s The Good News directed by Luke Tierney.

The three films nominated in the Short Film category are The Wake – the story of a misfit’s unexpected arrival at the funeral of his friend’s father, the tale of finding love in unexpected places in Celestial Avenue and the dark tale of Daniel’s 21st. Best Short Animation nominees include the story of thirty-something Evelyn’s online Second Life in Evelyn Everyone, The Lost Thing based on Shaun Tan’s prize-winning children’s book and the story of Zero’s determination and courage. The nominees for Best Short Documentary are Big Fella about the effects of obesity and diabetes in indigenous communities, the story of one man’s journey to enlightenment From Dope to Dalai Lama and Little Ripper which explores the curious world of pigeon fancying.  The Best Documentary category sees nominees Lani’s Story – an exploration of a woman’s survival of an abusive relationship, Boxing for Palm Island –about Palm Island natives taking the future into their own hands through boxing and Strange Birds in Paradise – a revealing story of exiled West Papuans protesting Indonesian oppression through song.

Rising Talent Nominees for 2010 are Ariel Kleiman whose graduating film from the VCA Deeper Than Yesterday has screened at festivals throughout Australia, Craig Boreham who has received funding to develop his short film Drowning into a feature and Adrian Wills who has written and directed IF nominated short Daniel’s 21st and documentary Boxing for Palm Island. Nominated in the Independent Spirit category are surf thriller Caught Inside, tribute to cult Sydney art space and performance venue Lanfranchi’s Memorial Discotheque and the story of three sisters whose mother is dying of cancer Little Sparrows.

The IF Nominations

The AUTODESK IF Award for Best Short Animation 

EVELYN EVERYONE   Director: Kylie Plunkett      Producer: Kate Breen
LOST THING     Directors: Shaun Tan, Andrew Ruhemann     Producer: Sophie Byrne
ZERO     Director: Christopher Kezelos     Producer: Christine Kezelos

The Holding Redlich IF Award for Best Short Film

CELESTIAL AVENUE   Directors: Colin & Cameron Cairnes   Producer: Scott Alexander
DANIEL’S 21st   Director: Adrian Wills   Producer: Gillian Moody
THE WAKE   Director: Gemma Lee   Producer: Charlie Clausen

The FACB IF Award for Best Short Documentary

BIG FELLA   Director: Michael Longbottom   Producer: Lisa Duff
FROM DOPE TO DALAI LAMA   Director: Jason Raftopoulos   Producer: Jason Raftopoulos
LITTLE RIPPER   Director: Craig Boord   Producer: Craig Boord, Jarrod Boord

Best Documentary IF Award

BOXING FOR PALM ISLAND   Director: Adrian Wills   Producer: Michaela Perske
LANI’S STORY   Director: Genevieve Grieves   Producer: Darren Dale
STRANGE BIRDS IN PARADISE   Director: Charlie Hill-Smith   Producer: Jamie Nicolai, John Cherry

The SAE INSTITUTE IF Award for Best Music Video

BABY I’M GETTING BETTER – Gyroscope   Director: Nick Pollack   Producer: Anne Robinson
BIG JET PLANE – Angus and Julia Stone   Director: Kiku Ohe
THE GOOD NEWS – Philadelphia Grand Jury   Director: Luke Tierney   Producer: Cameron D’Arcy

The AFTRS IF Award for Best Direction

BRUCE BERESFORD     Mao’s Last Dancer
DAVID MICHÔD     Animal Kingdom
RACHEL PERKINS     Bran Nue Dae
JEREMY HARTLEY SIMS   Beneath Hill 60

JAMESON IF Award for Best Script

DAVID MICHÔD   Animal Kingdom
JAN SARDI    Mao’s Last Dancer
STUART BEATTIE   Tomorrow When the War Began

Events NSW IF Award for Best Actor

BEN MENDELSOHN   Animal Kingdom
CHI CAO   Mao’s Last Dancer
DENIZ AKDENIZ   Tomorrow When the War Began
JOEL EDGERTON   The Waiting City

The IF Award for Best Actress

CAITLIN STASEY   Tomorrow When the War Began
JACKI WEAVER   Animal Kingdom
JOAN CHEN   Mao’s Last Dancer
RADHA MITCHELL   The Waiting City

The SHOWTIME MOVIE CHANNELS IF Award for Best Feature Film

ANIMAL KINGDOM
BENEATH HILL 60
MAO’S LAST DANCER
TOMORROW WHEN THE WAR BEGAN

SA FILM IF Award for Best Sound

SAM PETTY, ROB MACKENZIE, PHILIPPE DECRAUSAZ   Animal Kingdom
JOHN DENNISON, TONY VACCHER, CRAIG BUTTERS   Bright Star 
ROBERT SULLIVAN, LIAM EGAN, MARK CORNISH, TONY MURTAGH   Beneath Hill 60

Dinosaur Designs IF Award for Best Music

CEZARY SKUBISZEWSKI, JIMMY CHI, KUCKLES   Bran Nue Dae 
CHRISTOPHER GORDON   Mao’s Last Dancer
JOHNNY KLIMEK, REINHOLD HEIL   Tomorrow When The War Began

CineAlta by SONY IF Award for Best Cinematography

GREIG FRASER   Bright Star
PETER JAMES   Mao’s Last Dancer
DENSON BAKER   The Waiting City

DYSON IF Award for Best Production Design

CLAYTON JAUNCEY   Beneath Hill 60
FELICITY ABBOTT   Bran Nue Dae
JANET PATTERSON   Bright Star

AVID IF Award for Best Editing

LUKE DOOLAN   Animal Kingdom
ALEXANDRE DE FRANCESCHI   Bright Star
VERONIKA JENET   The Waiting City

National Film and Sound Archive Independent Spirit IF Award

CAUGHT INSIDE
LAN FRANCHI’S MEMORIAL DISCOTHEQUE
LITTLE SPARROWS

EFilm IF Award for Rising Talent

ADRIAN WILLS
ARIEL KLEIMAN
CRAIG BOREHAM

The Media Super Out of the Box IF Award

HUGO JOHNSTONE-BURT
FIRASS DIRANI
EVA LAZARRO
KATHERINE HICKS
RICHARD DAVIES CORR

Docklands Studios Melbourne IF Award for Contribution to TV

ROB SITCH
ANDREW DENTON
BRIAN WALSH
POSIE GRAEME-EVANS
STEVE VIZARD
KIM WILLIAMS
JOHN EDWARDS
HAL MCELROY
MARK AND CARL FENNESSEY
PENNY CHAPMAN

source: IF