Australian Film Critics Association
Encyclopedia
The Australian Film Critics Association or AFCA is an Australia
n film critic organisation.
(FIPRESCI
), which comprises the national organisations of professional film critics and film journalists from around the world. FIPRESCI has members in more than 50 countries worldwide. AFCA helped to establish the first FIPRESCI jury at the Adelaide Film Festival.
AFCA’s members, several of whom contribute to internationally recognised media outlets, are professional film critics, film reviewers and film journalists, from all media forums, who provide informed discussion, analysis and comment on Australian and world cinema. The body supports both mainstream and independent cinema and highlights significant or challenging films.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n film critic organisation.
History
Formed in 1996, AFCA began as the Melbourne Film Critics’ Forum, expanding to a national organisation in 2004. In the same year, AFCA became an Australian representative of the International Federation of Film CriticsFIPRESCI
The International Federation of Film Critics is an association of national organizations of professional film critics and film journalists from around the world for "the promotion and development of film culture and for the safeguarding of professional interests." It was founded in June 1930 in...
(FIPRESCI
FIPRESCI
The International Federation of Film Critics is an association of national organizations of professional film critics and film journalists from around the world for "the promotion and development of film culture and for the safeguarding of professional interests." It was founded in June 1930 in...
), which comprises the national organisations of professional film critics and film journalists from around the world. FIPRESCI has members in more than 50 countries worldwide. AFCA helped to establish the first FIPRESCI jury at the Adelaide Film Festival.
AFCA’s members, several of whom contribute to internationally recognised media outlets, are professional film critics, film reviewers and film journalists, from all media forums, who provide informed discussion, analysis and comment on Australian and world cinema. The body supports both mainstream and independent cinema and highlights significant or challenging films.
Film Awards
On 22 January 2008, AFCA announced the results of its inaugural Film Awards for 2007. The awards span four categories comprising Best Australian Film, Best Overseas Film, Best Documentary and Best Unreleased Film (in Australia at the time of the awards). The winning and commended films granted AFCA film awards are:| Year | Best Australian | Best Overseas | Best Doco | Best Unreleased | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Winner: | Noise | No Country for Old Men No Country for Old Men (film) No Country for Old Men is a 2007 American crime thriller directed by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, and starring Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, and Josh Brolin. The film was adapted from the Cormac McCarthy novel of the same name... (USA) |
Forbidden Lie$ Forbidden Lie$ Forbidden Lie$ is an Australian documentary released in September 2007. It was directed by Anna Broinowski.-Synopsis:Forbidden Lie$ tells the story of Norma Khouri, author of the book Forbidden Love, purportedly the true story of "Dalia", a young Muslim woman in Jordan murdered by her family in an... (Australia) |
The Band's Visit The Band's Visit The Band's Visit is an acclaimed 2007 Israeli film directed by Eran Kolirin.The Band's Visit was Israel's original Foreign Language Film submission for the 80th Academy Awards, but was rejected by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences because it contained over 50% English dialogue... (Israel) |
| Commended: | The Home Song Stories The Home Song Stories The Home Song Stories is an Australian film released in 2007. Written and directed by acclaimed Tony Ayres of Walking on Water , The Home Song Stories stars Joan Chen, Joel Lok, Qi Yu Wu, Irene Chen, Steven Vidler and Kerry Walker.... |
The Lives of Others The Lives of Others The Lives of Others is a 2006 German drama film, marking the feature film debut of filmmaker Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. The film involves the monitoring of the cultural scene of East Berlin by agents of the Stasi, the GDR's secret police... (Germany) |
Deep Water Deep Water (film) Deep Water is a documentary film, produced by Jonny Persey, opening in the UK on 15 December 2006. It is based on the true story of Donald Crowhurst and the 1969 Sunday Times Golden Globe Race round the world alone in a yacht.... (UK) |
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| Commended: | Romulus, My Father Romulus, My Father (film) Romulus, My Father is a 2007 Australian drama film directed by Richard Roxburgh. Based on the memoir by Raimond Gaita, the film tells the story of Romulus and his wife Christine , and their struggle in the face of great adversity to raise their son, Raimond . The film marks the directorial debut... |
4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days (Romania) | Sicko Sicko Sicko is a 2007 documentary film by American filmmaker Michael Moore. The film investigates health care in the United States, focusing on its health insurance and the pharmaceutical industry. The movie compares the for-profit, non-universal U.S... (USA) |
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| 2008 | Winner: | The Black Balloon The Black Balloon (film) The Black Balloon is a 2008 Australian|British AFI award-winning dramedy feature film which stars Toni Collette, Rhys Wakefield, Luke Ford, Erik Thomson, Gemma Ward as well as a cast of newcomers. It is directed by first time feature film director, Elissa Down.The film was released in Australian... |
There Will Be Blood There Will Be Blood There Will Be Blood is a 2007 drama film written, co-produced, and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. The film is based on Upton Sinclair's 1927 novel Oil!. It tells the story of a silver miner-turned-oilman on a ruthless quest for wealth during Southern California's oil boom of the late 19th and... (USA) |
Man On Wire Man on Wire Man on Wire is a 2008 British documentary film directed by James Marsh. The film chronicles Philippe Petit's 1974 high-wire walk between the Twin Towers of New York's World Trade Center. It is based on Philippe Petit's book, To Reach the Clouds, recently released in paperback with the new title... (UK) |
En La Ciudad De Sylvia (Spain) |
| Commended: | The Square The Square (2008 film) The Square is a neo-noir thriller film directed by Nash Edgerton, written by his brother Joel Edgerton and Matthew Dabner, and starring David Roberts and Claire van der Boom. Based upon an original idea by Joel, the project was written and then shelved by the actor because he felt it was not... |
The Dark Knight The Dark Knight (film) The Dark Knight is a 2008 superhero film directed, produced and co-written by Christopher Nolan. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, the film is part of Nolan's Batman film series and a sequel to 2005's Batman Begins... (USA) |
Not Quite Hollywood Not Quite Hollywood Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation! is a 2008 Australian documentary film about the Australian New Wave of 1970s and '80s low-budget cinema... (Australia) |
Les Amours d’Astrée et de Céladon (France/Italy/Spain) | |
| 2009 | Winner: | Balibo Balibo (2009 film) Balibo is a 2009 Australian feature film that follows the story of the Balibo Five, a group of journalists who were captured and killed whilst reporting on activities just prior to the Indonesian invasion of East Timor in 1975. The film is loosely based on the book Cover-Up, by Jill Jolliffe, an... |
Låt den rätte komma in (Let The Right One In) (Sweden) | Of Time and the City Of Time and the City Of Time and the City is a 2008 documentary film directed by Terence Davies.The film has Davies recalling his life growing up in Liverpool in the 1950s and 1960s, using newsreel and documentary footage supplemented by his own commentary voiceover and contemporaneous and classical music... (UK) |
Un Lac (A Lake) (France) |
| Commended: | Mary & Max, Samson & Delilah | Moon Moon (film) Moon is a 2009 British science fiction drama film about a man who experiences a personal crisis as he nears the end of a three-year solitary stint mining helium-3 on the far side of the Earth's moon. It is the feature debut of director Duncan Jones. Sam Rockwell stars as the employee Sam Bell, and... (UK), Wrestler (USA), Up Up (2009 film) Up is a 2009 American computer-animated comedy-adventure film produced by Pixar, distributed by Walt Disney Pictures and presented in Disney Digital 3-D. The film premiered on May 29, 2009 in North America and opened the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, becoming the first animated and 3D film... (USA) |
Encounters at the End of the World Encounters at the End of the World Encounters at the End of the World is an American documentary film by Werner Herzog completed in 2007. The film studies people and places in Antarctica... (Germany), Capitalism: A Love Story Capitalism: A Love Story Capitalism: A Love Story is a 2009 American documentary film directed, written by and starring Michael Moore. The film centers on the late-2000s financial crisis and the recovery stimulus, while putting forward an indictment of the current economic order in the United States and capitalism in general... (USA) |
Ai no mukidashi (Love Exposure)) Love Exposure is a 2008 Japanese film written and directed by Sion Sono. The film gained a considerable amount of notoriety in film festivals around the world for its four-hour duration and themes including love, family, lust, religion and the art of upskirt photography. The first version was originally six... (Japan) |
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Writing Awards
In conjunction with its 2009 film awards, AFCA announced the results of its inaugural writing awards. The categories and winners are:| Year | Ivan Hutchinson Award for Writing on Australian Film | Award for Writing on Non-Australian Film | Award for a Review of an individual Australian Film | Award for a Review of an individual Non-Australian Film | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Winner: | Loving Samson & Delilah, Therese Davis | Fake Politics For the Real America, Martyn Pedler | Disgrace Disgrace (film) Disgrace is an Australian film set in South Africa, adapted for the screen by Anna Maria Monticelli from the 1999 J. M. Coetzee novel, Disgrace... , Alice Tynan |
2012 2012 (film) 2012 is a 2009 American disaster film directed by Roland Emmerich. It stars John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Thandie Newton, Danny Glover, and Woody Harrelson. It was produced by Emmerich's production company, Centropolis Entertainment and was distributed by Columbia Pictures... , Stephen Rowley |