Other best film nominations include Dead Europe, Mystery Road, Satellite Boy and The Turning.

Scroll down for full list

Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby and Kim Mordaunt’s The Rocket lead the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television (AACTA) Award nominations: 14 and 12 respectively, it was announced today.

Luhrmann’s adaptation of F Scott Fitzgerald 1925 novel was made on a Hollywood-sized budget by a very experienced director while festival hit The Rocket, which tells the story of a boy trying to prove he isn’t cursed, was filmed in Laos by a writer/director who had not previously made a dramatic feature.

The Rocket and The Great Gatsby are pitted against each other for the prestigious best film award, for best director and in three of the four acting categories.

The best actor award, for example, could go to Leonardo DiCaprio for his performance in The Great Gatsby or to Sitthiphon Disamoe, a one-time street kid who plays the 10-year-old boy Ahlo who is at the heart of The Rocket.

The other best film nominees are the anthology film The Turning (seven nominations), Mystery Road (six), Dead Europe (five) and Satellite Boy (two).

Ivan Sen, director of Mystery Road, and all 18 directors of The Turning have also been nominated in the category for best direction.

The Great Gatsby has five nominees in the four acting categories and The Rocket and The Turning have three each.  

Jane Campion’s Top of the Lake has earned the most nominations in the television categories.

The awards will be presented in Sydney: some at a lunch on January 28 and others at an evening ceremony on January 30. During today’s event it was announced that the AACTA Awards – formerly the Australian Film Institute Awards – would stay in Sydney for another three years.

Feature film nominees

Best Film

  • Dead Europe: Emile Sherman, Iain Canning, Liz Watts
  • The Great Gatsby: Baz Luhrmann, Catherine Martin, Douglas Wick, Lucy Fisher, Catherine Knapman
  • Mystery Road: David Jowsey
  • The Rocket: Sylvia Wilczynski
  • Satellite Boy: David Jowsey, Julie Ryan And Catriona Mckenzie
  • The Turning: Robert Connolly, Maggie Miles and the individual chapter producers

Best Direction

  • Baz Luhrmann, The Great Gatsby
  • Ivan Sen, Mystery Road
  • Kim Mordaunt, The Rocket
  • All directors, The Turning

Best Original Screenplay

  • Colin Cairnes & Cameron Cairnes, 100 Bloody Acres
  • Morgan O’Neill, Tim Duffy Drift
  • Ivan Sen, Mystery Road
  • Kim Mordaunt, The Rocket

Best Adapted Screenplay

  • Christopher Hampton, Adoration
  • Louise Fox, Dead Europe
  • Baz Luhrmann, Craig Pearce The Great Gatsby
  • All writers, The Turning

Best Lead Actor

  • Leonardo Dicaprio, The Great Gatsby
  • Sitthiphon Disamoe, The Rocket
  • Ewen Leslie, Dead Europe
  • Hugo Weaving, The Turning

Best Lead Actress

  • Rose Byrne, The Turning
  • Carey Mulligan, The Great Gatsby
  • Tasma Walton, Mystery Road
  • Naomi Watts, Adoration

Best Supporting Actor

  • Marton Csokas, Dead Europe
  • Joel Edgerton, The Great Gatsby
  • Thep Phongam, The Rocket
  • Angus Sampson, 100 Bloody Acres

Best Supporting Actress

  • Elizabeth Debicki, The Great Gatsby
  • Isla Fisher, The Great Gatsby
  • Mirrah Foulkes, The Turning
  • Alice Keohavong, The Rocket

Best Feature-Length Documentary

  • I Am A Girl, Rebecca Barry
  • Once My Mother, Rod Freedman
  • Red Obsession, Warwick Ross
  • Shadow Of Doubt, Eve Ash

The television, short film, documentary and feature film craft nominees can be found by clicking here.