Wrapping Up: The 2009 Outstanding Achievement Dinner

Rochelle Siemienowicz
AFI Editor

To view Geoffrey Rush’s acceptance speech, click here.

Tucked beside the Exhibition Building on the banks of the Yarra, the new Melbourne Convention Centre may have been a tricky venue to find for first-time visitors and taxi drivers. But once guests glided up the escalators into the foyer on Saturday night (1 August), it was obvious that this was an evening for celebration. Film industry professionals, producers, sponsors, and the media were there to raise their glasses to the recipient of the 2009 AFI Raymond Longford Award. Who would it be this year, the 41st recipient of the AFI’s highest honour for lifetime achievement?

There was also excitement about the announcement of the 2009 AFI Award for Screen Content Innovation. Four nominated productions held their breath, each of them worthy contenders, with a demonstrated ability to dip into the new media toolbox to engage and enrich audiences. And of course, last but not least, the final revelation would be the contending feature films for this year’s AFI Awards

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After champagne, canapés and photos in the foyer, the 400 guests were ushered inside to their tables. AFI Chairman Morry Schwartz gave a warm welcoming speech, full of optimism. The word ‘renaissance” may even have been mentioned. Schwartz called for new giants – both creative and entrepreneurial – to walk in the footsteps of pioneer Raymond Longford, a filmmaker whose local triumphs (like The Sentimental Bloke) were made the face of Hollywood dominance.

Then that mischievous Mistress of Ceremonies, Julia Zemiro, took over, recovering elegantly from a brief mishap with disappearing notes. She gleefully noted that this new event had a ‘Christmas in July’ feel, a wintry feast to celebrate a renewed friendship between the AFI and the Melbourne International Film Festival.

Actor and short filmmaker Nathan Phillips (Balibo, Message from the CEO) then took to the stage to present the AFI Award for Screen Content Innovation. Clips were shown of the nominated productions: Forlorn Gaze, a pseudo documentary series about a pretentious emo band; Gallipoli: The First Day – a 3D interactive website devoted to Anzac Cove, its surrounds and its stories; Scary Girl – a very cute and deliciously creepy game site for big kids; and Scorched – a what-if disaster movie and interactive drama about a world that’s running out of water.

And the winner was: Gallipoli: The First Day!

Producer Astrid Scott received the award on behalf of herself, Sam Doust and Meena Tharmarajah. On stage she was thrilled to be inaugural winner of a new “category that recognises the changing nature of our screen culture.” She thanked her team, and all those involved at ABC Innovation, and spoke about the inspiration for the Gallipoli project – the fact that it’s impossible to understand the wartime events at Gallipoli without understanding the physical terrain; that a 3D rendering suddenly takes the modern viewer into a deeper personal understanding of history.

After some soulful entertainment from singer Damien Leith, accompanied by Indie Star on the fiddle, it was time for the 2009 AFI Raymond Longford Award announcement.

When theatre, film and opera director Neil Armfield began to speak about great friend and long-time collaborator Geoffrey Rush it was clear that here was our winner: the soulful clown, the grand courtier, the chameleon, the actor’s actor, already celebrated with so many awards. Armfield praised Rush’s ability to creatively “mine into every moment,” and to “take us all, as audience members, from the basest, funniest pie-in-the-face moment of raucous comedy up to the highest moment of human revelation.”

As anyone within the industry knows, when Geoffrey Rush gives a speech it is wonderful entertainment. Strangely, few actors seem to prepare properly for the podium, perhaps saving themselves for stage or screen. But Rush gives to his audience, whether his performance is on camera or not. There’s bound to be humour – metaphors stretched to their comic limits, sterling word-smithery and of course proper voice projection. And so it was. His speech inspired and challenged those in the industry to keep aiming high, despite the dumbing down of popular culture; to keep puttering along the back roads of artistic integrity and unprofitable specialization, not just for the love of it, but because this was the path to true excellence. You can read a full transcript of Rush’s wonderful acceptance speech here.

This left the final revelation for the evening: the feature films in contention for the 2009 AFI Awards. A clips package compiled from all 26 films was screened to a rapt audience. It was clear that here was a year of cinematic output to be proud of; a year full of films that demanded and deserved an audience. In the parlance of the night, it was a “bumper crop.” You can see the full list here.

The final part of proceedings involve a speech by Gavin Jennings, Minister for Innovation,  who congratulated the AFI on its wisdom in realigning the Awards season with MIFF, the festival out of which the Australian Film Institute first emerged, and also, significantly, the event at which the first Raymond Longford Award was announced, back in 1968.

And in a surprise treat, another speech from Geoffrey Rush, this time in his role as MIFF patron. He asked us to imagine him wearing his two hats, and in his inimitable style, he mimed these – “a sturdy Akoubra for the AFI” and for his “MIFF millinery in these controversial times, a turban with quite a few pheasant-tail feathers.” “Charge your glasses to this partnership,” he said. “You may want to throw rice. But keep in mind, at this stage they’re just dating.”

Dessert and coffee were served. Julia Zemiro outed herself as host of the televised AFI Awards Ceremony later in the year, and subversively noted that she’ll be just the fourth female host in the role – following in the footsteps of Magda Szubanski, Mary Coustas and Sigrid Thornton. We’ll be looking forward to it immensely.

Mingling and dancing continued well into the night as The Swinging Sidewalks band struck up the notes of the Pink Panther theme.

And so the 2009 AFI Awards season was launched: a great night for a great year in Australian film and television.