2008 Australian Film Institute Awards

50th Australian Film Institute Awards
Date	5–6 December 2008
Highlights
Best Film	The Black Balloon
Best Direction	Elissa Down; The Black Balloon
Best Actor	William McInnes; Unfinished Sky
Best Actress	Monic Hendrickx; Unfinished Sky
Supporting Actor	Luke Ford; The Black Balloon
Supporting Actress	Toni Collette; The Black Balloon

The 50th Annual Australian Film Institute Awards for film and television acting achievement in the cinema of Australia in 2008 were presented in a ceremony on 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.

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

Best Original Screenplay	Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Film The Black Balloon – Tristram Miall The Jammed – Dee McLachlan, Andrea Buck The Square – Louise Smith Unfinished Sky – Cathy Overett, Anton Smit	Best Direction Elissa Down – The Black Balloon Peter Duncan – Unfinished Sky Nash Edgerton – The Square Dee McLachlan – The Jammed
Elissa Down, Jimmy Jack – The Black Balloon Cathy Randall – Hey, Hey, It's Esther Blueburger Dee McLachlan – The Jammed Joel Edgerton and Matthew Dabner – The Square	*Peter Duncan – Unfinished Sky, based on the film The Polish Bride* (1998) by Karim Traïdia and Kees van der Hulst** Stephen Vagg – All My Friends Are Leaving Brisbane, based on the play All My Friends Are Leaving Brisbane by Stephen Vagg
Best Lead Actor	Best Lead Actress
William McInnes as John Woldring – Unfinished Sky Guy Pearce as Harry Houdini – Death Defying Acts David Roberts as Raymond Yale – The Square Rhys Wakefield as Thomas Mollison – The Black Balloon	Monic Hendrickx as Tahmeena – Unfinished Sky Noni Hazlehurst as Penelope Lombard – Bitter & Twisted Emma Lung as Crystal – The Jammed Veronica Sywak as Ashley – The Jammed
Best Supporting Actor	Best Supporting Actress
Luke Ford as Charlie Mollison – The Black Balloon Joel Edgerton as Billy – The Square Anthony Hayes as Greg "Smithy" Smith – The Square Erik Thomson as Simon Mollison – The Black Balloon	Toni Collette as Maggie Mollison – The Black Balloon Saskia Burmeister as Vanya – The Jammed Maeve Dermody as Lee – Black Water Leeanna Walsman as Indigo Samvini – Bitter & Twisted
Best Cinematography	Best Editing
Robert Humphreys – Unfinished Sky Denson Baker – The Black Balloon Geoffrey Simpson – The Tender Hook Haris Zambarloukos – Death Defying Acts	Veronika Jenet – The Black Balloon Rodrigo Balart – Black Water Anne Carter, Maryjeanne Watt – The Jammed Suresh Ayyar – Unfinished Sky
Best Original Music Score	Best Sound
Antony Partos – Unfinished Sky Michael Yezerski – The Black Balloon François Tétaz, Ben Lee – The Square Chris Abrahams – 'The Tender Hook	Andrew Plain, Anne Breslin, William Ward – Unfinished Sky Ben Osmo, Paul Pirola – The Black Balloon Liam Egan, Tony Murtagh, Phil Judd, Des Kenneally – Hey, Hey, It's Esther Blueburger Liam Egan, Tony Murtagh, Phil Judd, Gary Wilkins – The Tender Hook
Best Production Design	Best Costume Design
Gemma Jackson – Death Defying Acts Steven Jones-Evans – The Children of Huang Shi Pete Baxter – The Tender Hook Laurie Faen – Unfinished Sky	Cappi Ireland – The Tender Hook Shareen Beringer – Hey, Hey, It's Esther Blueburger Susannah Buxton – Death Defying Acts Wenyan Gao & Kym Barrett – The Children of Huang Shi

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

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