It's Award Season in Australia and in the last two weeks, filmmakers across the country have been honoured for their efforts. This year has been a good year for Australian film and that fact was evident at the Lexus Inside Film Awards, AFIs and Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards.

The Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards were held mid-November and LOOK BOTH WAYS, written and directed by Sarah Watt and produced by Bridget Ikin was awarded Best Film. LOOK BOTH WAYS also picked up awards for Best Director for Sarah Watt, Best Actor in a Lead Role for William McInnes, Best Original Screenplay for Sarah Watt and Best Editor for Denise Haratzis ASE.

The winners of the seventh annual Lexus IF (Inside Film) Awards were announced in a star-studded live television broadcast on SBS. The event took place on Wednesday the 24th November and was held at Luna Park. .THE PROPOSITION picked up four awards from nine nominations including the SHOWTIME IF Award for Best Feature Film. Nominated for seven awards, Look Both Ways won three awards, walking away with Best Script, Best Direction, and Best Editing for Denis Haratzis ASE.

The L’Oréal Paris 2005 AFI Craft Awards presented by Digital Pictures, were held in Melbourne on Friday 25th November at the Waterfront City Pavilion at Melbourne Docklands. Winners in the feature film categories included THE PROPOSITION for Original Music Score, Production Design, Costume Design and Cinematography. Alexandre de Franceschi ASE and John Scott ASE won the Complete Post AFI Award for Best Editing for their work on LITTLE FISH.  The AFI Award for Best Editing in a Non-Feature Film went to ASE member James Bradley for his work on MR. PATTERNS.

With all that has been said and the criticism that has flowed due to the split awards at the AFIs this year, Guild President Peter Whitmore  said that he thought the "AFI had done an enormous amount of work and had achieved a great result in presenting the AFI awards with a well run and entertaining 2 nights" and that most people he had spoken to felt the same. "Russell Crowe was humourous and his stamina to hold it together for the two nights was a marathon effort.... while the Awards were great and the effort involved in running them was both impressive and successful there was still a fundamental flaw in structure. The split is still an issue and will need to be addressed next year following a review and consultation".

The Australian Screen Editors Guild would like to congratulate our members Denise Haratzis ASE, Alexandre de Franceschi ASE, John Scott ASE and James Bradley for their wins.



Emma McCleave.