‘The Tall Man’ is out on DVD from Madman.
By Rama Gaind
A swag of SBS program (now available on DVD from Madman) are among nominations for the inaugural Australian Academy Cinema Television Arts Awards (Samsung AACTA Awards – formerly the AFI Awards) which were announced earlier this month.
The program are East West 101, Rockwiz and Immigration Nation, as well as The Tall Man, coming to DVD, 8 February, 2012.
The Tall Man has taken out four nominations in the feature-length documentary category including Best Feature Length Documentary.
Based on Chloe Hooper’s award-winning book, and from the makers of First Australians, The Tall Man is the story of Cameron Doomadgee, a resident of the tropical paradise of Palm Island who swore at a police officer one morning and lay dead in a prison cell 40 minutes later. It is also the story of that policeman – the tall, enigmatic Christopher Hurley and the struggle to bring him to trial.
Review of The Tall Man
A convincingly sad story, this film did not receive the attention that it was its due.
Adapted for the screen by Tony Krawitz, The Tall Man vividly hones in on life in the Palm Island community. In so doing, it draws outrage over the investigation into the death of Cameron Doomadgee, who was taken into custody and on entering the police station supposedly tripped. He was found dead with horrific injuries in his cell. The death of Cameron Doomadgee in the Palm Island police station in 2004 was tragic.
Many a court case has dealt with the numerous accounts of how he sustained those injuries.
This is an important film, in a fine documentary style, that has been dealt with sensitively.
The Tall Man was also recently awarded the prestigious Walkley Award for Excellence in Documentary. The Walkley Foundation introduced this new award category for Australia’s most highly regarded media accolades in 2011, as a part of the celebrations in the centenary of Australian journalism.
Other titles
Immigration Nation: The Secret History of Us, SBS’ in-depth exploration of our untold immigration story and the dramatic saga of how modern Australia came to be, has also picked up a nomination in the Best Documentary series category.
In the television category, the third series of the rivetting Sydney-based crime drama, East West 101 (which has taken out numerous AFI Awards in the past), has received four nominations in total, including Best Television Drama Series and Best Lead Actor in a Television Drama.
Meanwhile, Australia’s longest-running music trivia series, and also previous AFI Award winner, Rockwiz, took out a nomination in the Best Light Entertainment Television Series.
The winners will be announced at a red carpet ceremony to be held in Sydney and broadcast on the Nine Network on January 31, 2012.
