LITTLE FCCAS: THE 2013 FILM CRITICS CIRCLE OF AUSTRALIA AWARDS
Tuesday, March 19, 2013 at 10:45PM Hosted with a ‘fun-uncle’ vibe by the organisation’s president Rod Quinn at Sydney’s Paddington RSL Club, the 2013 Film Critics Circle of Australia (FCCA) honours were split amongst Kieran Darcy-Smith’s Wish You Were Here, Cate Shortland’s Lore, Wayne Blair’s The Sapphires and Peter Templeman’s Not Suitable for Children.
Blue Tongue Film’s Wish You Were Here (pictured, above; cast members Antony Starr, Joel Edgerton, Felicity Price and Teresa Palmer), a drama chronicling the ill-fated adventures of a group of young holidaying eastern suburb well-to-do types, scored Best Picture honours for producer Angie Fielder, a Best Actor trophy for Joel Edgerton and FCCA kudos for Best Screenplay and Best Editing. With much of the cast and crew absent, it was left to Fielder to accept all but Jason Ballantine’s cutting nod.
Mirroring the recent Oscar moment, the Best Supporting Actor gong was shared between the film’s Antony Starr and Not Suitable For Children’s Ryan Corr. The charismatic Corr got the night’s biggest laugh when he suggested that, in response to the AACTA awards being called ‘The AACTA’, the FCCA trophy should adopt its own acronymic moniker (just try it…).
Cate Shortland’s long-in-development follow-up to Somersault, the German-set World War 2 drama Lore, took home the coveted Best Director gong, as well as Best Performance by a Young Actor for lead Saskia Rosendahl (pictured, left).
Box-office winner The Sapphires nabbed Best Cinematography for Warwick Thornton and Best Music Score for Cezary Skubiszewski. In addition to Corr’s win, co-star Sarah Snook surprised many when she snared a Best Actress nod for Not Suitable for Children ahead of The Sapphires Deborah Mailman and Wish You Were Here’s Felicity Price.
Adding to the left-field choices was Rebecca Gibney’s Supporting Actress win for PJ Hogan’s critically-divisive dramedy, Mental. Gibney seemed genuinely moved by the recognition and proved to be a good sport when asked, at the last moment, to present the Best Documentary honour, won by Ian Darling’s Paul Kelly: Stories of Me.
Other presenters included entertainer Paul Capsis (“I was asked to do this, like, five minutes ago”), actor/director Jeremy Sims, actor Steve Le Marquand and sponsor Foxtel executive James Bridges.
