ADG achievement award winners announced

Press release from the ADG

The Australian Directors Guild today announced the recipients of its four Achievement Awards to be presented next week. The awards will be presented along with a number of peer-assessed competitive awards at the ADG Awards Dinner at the Star City Astral Restaurant in Sydney on Thursday September 10, 2009. The evening will be hosted by James Valentine and tickets are available online at www.adg.org.au

Geoffrey Rush, who won an Oscar for his performance in Shine, will present the ADG’s Outstanding Achievement Award to Shine director, Scott Hicks.

Outstanding Achievement Award for an outstanding body of work (to be presented by Geoffrey Rush)

Recipient: Scott Hicks

Adelaide-based Scott Hicks is one of our most renowned and versatile directors. Best known as the director of the acclaimed independent feature film Shine, his work includes studio features such as Snow Falling On Cedars and documentaries including his recently completed Glass: A Portrait Of Philip in 12 Parts. He also works as a director of television commercials in the US and one of his commercials has just been inducted into the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art . He was nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen and Best Directing on Shine. He has just completed the Australia-UK co-production The Boys Are Back, starring Clive Owen.

 

Cecil Holmes Award for services to directors (to be presented by Tony Llewellyn-Jones)

Recipient: Paul Cox

Paul Cox, an immigrant to Australia , is one of our most prolific filmmakers having made 18 feature films and documentaries, 11 shorts and three children’s movies. He has incredible energy, persistence and vision – all qualities which are crucial to survive as a filmmaker.  Fiercely independent, he protects his vision of his films, which is almost always achieved with comparatively small budgets. He is loved by actors and numerous younger directors for whom he has been a strong example and a guide.

 

Michael Carson Award for excellence in TV drama production

Recipient: Ken Cameron

Ken Cameron’s career has spanned more than three decades. Ken has directed some of Australia’s most iconic series and films and has won accolades – from 1989’s Logie winning Bangkok Hilton, 1991 AFI and Logie winning mini-series Brides of Christ and AFI winning two-part series My Brother Jack to his work in the USA, where he directed Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All for CBS starring Diane Lane and Donald Sutherland. Ken has directed episodes for Australian television series: The Strip, The Alice, Satisfaction, MDA, Stingers, Stringer, White Collar Blue, Police Rescue and Special Squad, US and telemovies such as Miracle at Midnight, Dalva, Halifax f.p., The Clean Machine and Crime of the Decade, and dramatised documentaries Joh’s Jury and Police Crop. Ken was also the writer and director for feature films The Good Wife, Monkey Grip and Fast Talking, which received four AFI Award Nominations including Best Screenplay and Best Director and the 1982 Australian Film Critics’ Circle Award for Best Australian Film.

First Assistant Directors Award (to be presented by Peter Duncan)

Recipient: PJ Voeten

PJ Voeten‘s first feature film job was as a runner on Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. This was the start of a relationship with Kennedy Miller, where he worked with the some of the best of the Australian film industry. Graduating to First Assistant Director, he worked with directors Peter Duncan, Shirley Barrett, Cherie Nolan and Samantha Lang on their debut feature films. Mini-series Blue Murder and features Happy Feet and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor represent some of the extremes of his career so far.