‘Silver Linings Playbook’ Wins 5 Australian Academy Intl. Awards

The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) today announced the winners of the 2nd AACTA International Awards, recognising international excellence across five categories: Best Film, Best Direction, Best Screenplay, Best Actor and Best Actress.

Winners were announced at the 2nd AACTA International Awards Ceremony in Los Angeles, with Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe and Australian Film Institute Award winning actor Russell Crowe leading a line-up of outstanding Australians presenting Awards at the Ceremony including, Jacki Weaver and Scott Hicks.

Funny, brave and humane, Silver Linings Playbook was the big winner at the AACTA International Awards, winning Best Film for producers Donna Gigliotti, Bruce Cohen and Jonathan Gordon; Best Direction for David O. Russell; and Best Lead Actress for Jennifer Lawrence. Additionally, two awards for Silver Linings Playbook determined by the Australian Film Institute | AACTA Board of Governors were presented to Robert De Niro as best supporting actor and to Jacki Weaver as best supporting actress.

The offbeat comic drama sees Lawrence playing a reckless young widow who befriends a bipolar schoolteacher (Bradley Cooper) who is obsessing about his ex-wife. Rounding out the film’s stellar cast are Robert De Niro, Jacki Weaver and Chris Tucker.

The AACTA International Award for Best Lead Actor was presented to Daniel Day-Lewis for his virtuosic performance as Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg’s historical drama. Set in 1865, Lincoln centers on the final four months in the life of the 16th President of the United States, in which he battled for constitutional reform to abolish slavery.

Hot on the heels of his Golden Globe win for Best Screenplay for Django Unchained, writer and director Quentin Tarantino today won the AACTA International Award for Best Screenplay for his scripting of the fast-paced and talkative epic western. Set in America’s Deep South, Django Unchained follows a freed slave (Jamie Foxx) and a bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz) as they go on a quest to free his wife (Kerry Washington) from the grips of a cruel plantation owner (Leonardo DiCaprio).