AustLit logo

AustLit

Academy Awards
Subcategory of Awards International Awards
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

Notes

  • Annual awards presented by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Latest Winners / Recipients

Year: 2018

winner (Best Live Action Short Film) form y separately published work icon The Eleven O'Clock Josh Lawson , ( dir. Derin Seale ) Sydney : FINCH , 2016 14383239 2016 single work film/TV

A psychiatrist and his patient (who believes he is the psychiatrist) examine one another.

Year: 2010

winner (Best Animated Short) form y separately published work icon The Lost Thing Shaun Tan , ( dir. Andrew Ruhemann et. al. )agent Melbourne : Passion Pictures Australia , 2010 Z1700980 2010 single work film/TV fantasy

'A boy discovers a bizarre looking creature while out collecting bottle tops at the beach. Realising it is lost, he tries to find out who owns it or where it belongs, but is met with indifference from everyone else, who barely notice its presence, each unwilling to entertain this uninvited interruption to their day to day lives. For reasons he does not explain, the boy empathises with the creature, and sets out to find a "place' for it".'

Source: The Lost Thing website, http://www.thelostthing.com/

Sighted: 21/06/2010

winner (Best Picture) form y separately published work icon The King's Speech David Seidler , ( dir. Tom Hooper ) United Kingdom (UK) : See Saw Films , 2010 Z1740823 2010 single work film/TV

Year: 2007

winner (Best Animated Feature Film of the Year) form y separately published work icon Happy Feet Warren Coleman , John Collee , George Miller , Judy Morris , ( dir. George Miller et. al. )agent Australia : Kennedy Miller Entertainment , 2006 Z1827788 2006 single work film/TV children's fantasy

Mumble, a young penguin living in the Antarctic, is the only penguin in his colony who is unable to sing: all other penguins attract mates by singing their 'heartsong'. But Mumble can do something that no other penguin has ever been able to do: tap dance. And with this talent, he can not only attract his soulmate but also stop the over-fishing that is endangering the penguin population.

Year: 2003

winner (Best Short Film, Animated) form y separately published work icon Harvie Krumpet Adam Elliot , ( dir. Adam Elliot ) Australia : Melodrama Pictures , 2003 Z1575863 2003 single work film/TV humour fantasy

A claymation film telling the story of Harvie Krumpet, an ordinary man seemingly cursed with perpetual bad luck. From being born with Tourette's Syndrome, to getting struck by lightning, to having a testicle removed, to developing Alzheimers disease: Harvie's troubles seem unending! Yet Harvie learns many lessons in life and enjoys its many fruits. He finds love, freedom, nudity, and ultimately the true meaning of what it is to be human.

(Source: National Film and Sound Archive record.)

Award announced in 2004.

Year: 1994

winner (Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium) form y separately published work icon Schindler's List Steven Zaillian , ( dir. Steven Spielberg ) United States of America (USA) : Universal Pictures , 1993 Z218299 1993 single work film/TV

Adapted from Thomas Keneally's account of a Czech businessman and Nazi Party member who tried to make his fortune during the Second World War by exploiting cheap Jewish labour but ended up risking his life and becoming bankrupt in order to save more than a thousand Jewish Poles from the Holocaust.

Oskar Schindler arrives in Krakow (Poland) not long after Germany invades the country. The Nazis' relocation of Jewish citizens has already begun, but their ultimate objective is not yet fully understood by most civilians. Schindler acquires a factory for the production of army mess kits but, with no previous experience of running such an enterprise, he gains the support of Itzhak Stern, a functionary in the local Judenrat (Jewish council) who also has contacts with the underground Jewish business community in the ghetto. They lend him the money for the factory in return for a small share of its products, for trade on the black market. At Stern's suggestion, Schindler hires Jewish Polish workers instead of Catholic Polish workers because they cost nothing: Jewish workers receive nothing because their wages go to the Reich.

When Amon Göth arrives in Krakow to initiate construction of Paszów labour camp nearby, the SS clears Krakow Ghetto, sending in hundreds of troops to empty the cramped rooms and shoot anyone who protests or is uncooperative, elderly, or infirm. Schindler watches the massacre from the hills overlooking the area, and is profoundly affected. He is nevertheless careful to befriend Göth and, with Stern's advice, turns to bribing Göth and other key officials in order to continue enjoying the SS's support and protection. The commandant is a vicious and sadistic man who enjoys shooting Jewish people as target practice from the balcony of his villa overlooking the prison camp he commands.

Schindler gets Göth to agree to build a sub-camp at Paszów for Schindler's workers. The initial motive is to keep his workers safe from the depredations of the guards. When an order arrives from Berlin commanding Göth to exhume and destroy all bodies from the Krakow Ghetto massacre, dismantle Paszów, and ship the remaining Jewish prisoners to Auschwitz, Schindler prevails upon Göth to let him keep 'his' workers. With the Final Solution now fully underway in occupied Poland, Schindler and Stern assemble a list of workers that should keep them off the trains to Auschwitz.

Works About this Award

Wow! This Is So Metaphorical! Dan Hogan , 2021 single work autobiography
— Appears in: Meanjin , Autumn vol. 80 no. 1 2021;

'Filmmaker Bong Joon-Ho stands with four knights in the winners’ room. The knights are much shorter than him, standing at an imperial 13.5 inches or metric 34.29 centimetres tall. Unlike Bong, the knights are nude and electroplated in 24-karat gold, their crotches and navels provided a lean modesty by giant downward-pointing swords, hilts held in two hands against their bellies.' (Introduction)

Oscar Imposter i "Marilyn, a treble-clef poured", Julie Manning , 2020 single work poetry
— Appears in: Overland [Online] , March 2020;
Why Hacksaw Ridge Should Win the Best Picture Oscar Paul MacInnes , 2017 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 24 February 2017;
'Mel Gibson’s gore-laden war story is not just a crowdpleasing tale of American bravery, it’s a unique film about faith and suffering.' (Introduction)
Oscars 2017 : Tanna and Lion Bring Heart to Hollywood in Landmark Year for Australian Film Luke Buckmaster , 2017 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 24 February 2017;
'This year, for the first time in history, two Australian films have been nominated for best picture at the Academy Awards: Lion and Hacksaw Ridge. Tanna can be considered a third, if you include best foreign-language film in the mix.' (Introduction)
Fury Roadshow in a Class of Its Own Garry Maddox , 2016 single work
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 3 March 2016; (p. 7)
X