2008 Australian Film Institute Awards

50th Australian Film Institute Awards
5–6 December 2008
Best Film	The Black Balloon
Best Direction	The Black Balloon - Elissa Down
Best Actor in a Lead Role	William McInnes - Unfinished Sky
Best Actress in a Lead Role	Monic Hendrickx - Unfinished Sky
Best Supporting Actor	Luke Ford - The Black Balloon
Best Supporting Actress	Toni Collette - The Black Balloon

The 50th Annual Australian Film Institute Awards ceremony, honouring the best in film and television acting achievement for the year 2008 in the cinema of Australia, took place on the 5–6 December 2008. During the ceremony, the Australian Film Institute presented Australian Film Institute Awards (commonly referred to as AFI Awards) in 40 categories including feature films, television, animation and documentaries. It was hosted by Stephen Curry of TV1's The King.

The nominees for Best Documentary, Best Short Fiction Film and Best Short Animation were announced on 7 August whilst all the other nominees were announced at the Nominations Announcement in Sydney on 29 October. The Black Balloon had the most nominations with a total of 11 including Best Film.

Contents 1 Winners of major awards 1.1 Film 1.1.1 Feature films 1.1.2 Directing 1.1.3 Acting 1.1.4 Writing 1.1.5 Additional Awards 1.2 Television 1.2.1 Series 1.2.2 Directing 1.2.3 Acting 1.2.4 Writing 2 Multiple nominations 2.1 Films 2.2 Television 3 References

Winners of major awards

This is a breakdown of winners of major awards categories only. For a complete list of nominees and winners, see 50th Australian Film Institute Awards nominees and winners.

Film

Feature films

Award	Winner	Producer
Best Film	The Black Balloon	Tristram Miall

Directing

Award	Winner	Film
Best Direction	Elissa Down	The Black Balloon

Acting

Award	Winner	Film
Best Actor in a Lead Role	William McInnes	Unfinished Sky
Best Actress in a Lead Role	Monic Hendrickx	Unfinished Sky
Best Supporting Actor	Luke Ford	The Black Balloon
Best Supporting Actress	Toni Collette	The Black Balloon

Writing

Award	Winner	Film
Best Original Screenplay	Elissa Down and Jimmy the Exploder	The Black Balloon
Best Adapted Screenplay	Peter Duncan	Unfinished Sky

Additional Awards

Award	Winner	Film
Best International Actor	Heath Ledger	The Dark Knight
Best International Actress	Cate Blanchett	Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Young Actor Award	Danielle Catanzariti	Hey, Hey, It's Esther Blueburger
Byron Kennedy Award	Chris Lilley	Summer Heights High
Reader's Choice Award	Hugh Jackman	Australia
Australia's Favourite Film Award	The Castle	Working Dog Productions

Television

Series

Award	Winner	Producer
Best Comedy Series	Summer Heights High	Chris Lilley
Best Drama Series	Underbelly	Greg Haddrick
Best Telefeature, Mini Series or Short Run Series	East West 101	Steve Knapman

Directing

Award	Winner	Series
Best Direction in Television	Peter Andrikidis	Underbelly

Acting

Award	Winner	Series
Best Lead Actor in a Television Drama	Gyton Grantley	Underbelly
Best Actress in a Television Drama	Kat Stewart	Underbelly
Best Guest or Supporting Actor in a Television Drama	Damian Walshe-Howling	Underbelly
Best Guest or Supporting Actress in a Television Drama	Madeleine West	Underbelly

Writing

Award	Winner	Series
Best Screenplay on Television	Santo Cilauro, Tom Gleisner and Rob Sitch	The Hollowmen

Multiple nominations

Films

The following films received multiple nominations.

• 11 nominations:
  • The Black Balloon
• 10 nominations:
  • Unfinished Sky
• 7 nominations:
  • The Jammed
  • The Square

Television

The following television series received multiple nominations.

• 8 nominations:
  • Underbelly
• 6 nominations:
  • East West 101
• 3 nominations:
  • Summer Heights High
  • The Hollowmen
  • H2O: Just Add Water
• 2 nominations:
  • The Librarians
  • Rush

References

AACTA Awards Australian Film Institute (AFI) Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) Feature film awards Best Film Best Direction Best Adapted Screenplay Best Original Screenplay Best Actor Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Best Supporting Actress Best Cinematography Best Costume Design Best Editing AFI Members' Choice Award Best Original Score Best Production Design Best Sound Best Film– International Best Actor– International Best Actress– International Best Direction– International Best Screenplay– International Television awards Best Comedy Series Best Drama Series Best Children's Series Best Children's Animation Best Telefeature, Mini Series or Short Run Series Best Light Entertainment Series Best Comedy Performance Best Actor – Drama Best Actress – Drama Best Guest or Supporting Actor – Drama Best Guest or Supporting Actress – Drama Best Director Best Screenplay Non-feature film awards Best Feature Length Documentary Best Documentary Under One Hour Best Documentary Series Best Short Animation Best Short Fiction Film Best Cinematography – Documentary Best Director – Documentary Best Editing – Documentary Best Screenplay in a Short Film Best Sound – Documentary Special awards Byron Kennedy Award Raymond Longford Award Best Young Actor Best Visual Effects Screen Content Innovation Award Outstanding Achievement in Television Screen Craft Outstanding Achievement in Short Film Screen Craft Retired awards Best Documentary Best Television Documentary Best Sponsored Documentary Best Experimental Film Global Achievement Award Best Foreign Film International Award Excellence in Filmmaking Jury Prize International Best Actor International Best Actress Ceremonies 1958 1959 1960 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974-75 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Note that because of variable scheduling of the ceremony, the eligibility period has not always been consistent. Accordingly, ceremonies are listed here by the year in which films were released.