By Rama Gaind
Madman Entertainment – Australia’s leading independent home entertainment and theatrical distribution and rights management company – continues to be at the top of its game with more Oscar-nominated films in its portfolio.
In the nominations for the 83rd Academy Awards on February 27, there’s a host of prestigious nods for Madman distributed and sub-distributed releases.
Australian actress Jacki Weaver has received a ‘Best Supporting Actress’ nomination for her stellar performance in Animal Kingdom after already having received multiple high-profile international award nominations, worldwide critical acclaim and an AFI Award for ‘Best Actress’.
Following numerous short animation awards in 2010, and most recently, the prestigious AFI Award for the same category, The Lost Thing, co-directed by world-renowned Australian author and illustrator Shaun Tan, has appeared amongst the nomination list for ‘Best Short Film (Animation)’.
Meanwhile, in the ‘Best Actor’ category, Javier Bardem has received a nomination for his powerful role in the March 24 Madman Theatrical release Biutiful, which has also been recognised in the ‘Best Foreign Language Film’ category. In addition, Dogtooth and Outside The Law [Hors-La-Loi] have also received nominations in the ‘Best Foreign Language Film’ category.
In the ‘Best Documentary Feature’ category, Exit Through The Gift Shop, the incendiary debut by Banksy – the notorious British street artist – is in the running for a gong alongside Palace Films’ Gasland, the eye-opening account of the devastating environmental impact of hydraulic fracturing (‘fracking’) and National Geographic’s Restrepo, the harrowing true story of Second Platoon’s operations in Afghanistan, which plays out like a real-life version of 2010 Oscar winner, The Hurt Locker.
Also coming in 2011 from Madman, nominated in the ‘Best Animated Feature’ category, is The Illusionist, the new feature from director Sylvain Chomet (The Triplets of Belleville) based on an unproduced script by Jacques Tati.
This year’s list of nominations represents the largest-ever potential slate of Oscars for films distributed and sub-distributed by Madman. The 2011 Academy Awards ceremony will take place at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles on February 27, 2011.
The complete list of award nominations for Madman distributed films is as follows:
- Best Actor in a Leading Role – Javier Bardem, Biutiful
- Best Actress in a Leading Role – Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine (Palace Films)
- Best Actress in a Supporting Role – Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom
- Best Animated Feature Film – The Illusionist
- Best Short Film (Animation) – The Lost Thing, Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann
Best Documentary Feature:
- Exit Through The Gift Shop, Banksy
- Gasland, Josh Fox (Palace Films)
- Restrepo, Tim Hetherington
Best Foreign Language Film:
- Biutiful (Mexico)
- Dogtooth (Greece)
- Outside The Law [Hors-La-Loi] (Algeria)
Best Costume Design – I Am Love, Antonella Cannarozzi
