Holding The Man leads AACTA Awards nominations alongside other LGBTI-themed films
Image: 'Holding The Man' is up for six AACTA Awards, including Best Film.
LGBTI stories on the big and small screen are key contenders in winning big at this year’s Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) Awards.
The film adaption of Timothy Conigrave’s 1995 memoir Holding The Man has received six nominations, including one for Best Film.
Holding the Man director Neil Armfield was nominated for Best Direction, while Ryan Corr is up for Best Lead Actor in a Film for his portrayal of Timothy Conigrave and Anthony LaPaglia is up for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal as the father of Timothy’s partner John Caleo.
Holding The Man is one of five movies vying for that coveted AACTA Award Best Film category, up against The Dressmaker, Last Cab To Darwin, Mad Max: Fury Road and Paper Planes.
The Australian film industry has recorded a record year in box office success, raking in more than $65 million.
Channel 7’s telemovie Peter Allen: Not the Boy Next Door is listed as one of the top five TV productions while Between A Frock And A Hard Place — an ABC documentary celebrating Australia’s LGBTI history with the anniversary of classic Aussie film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert — is up for .
Actor Joel Jackson, who played openly-gay music icon Peter Allen in the TV biopic, was nominated for Best Lead Actor in a Television Drama, with Ky Baldwin who played the young Peter Allen nominated for Best Guest or Supporting Actor in a Television Drama. Meanwhile, Sigrid Thornton’s portrayal of Judy Garland is up Best Guest or Supporting Actress in a Television Drama.
The AACTA Awards, which started in 2011, was created by the Australian Film Institute (AFI) and is regarded as he Australian screen industry’s “stamp of success” – the Australian equivalent of the Academy Awards or the UK’s BAFTAs.
The winner of the 5th AACTA Awards will be announced during a ceremony on Wednesday, December 9.
