The annual South Australian Screen Awards has celebrated the achievements of local filmmakers with Sara West’s short film Mutt winning big.
Mutt won four awards: Best Directing (Sara West), Best Male Performance (Oscar Redding), Best Female Performance (Jordan Cowan), and Best Cinematography (Maxx Corkindale), the latter having won the same award in 2017 for his work on Smashed. Mutt’s producer Jodie Kirkbride picked up the gong for Emerging Producer, while actor/producer Jordan Cowan took home the Carclew Young Filmmaker Award.
Cinematographer Ernie Clark won the inaugural Mercury Award: dedicated to celebrating one individual’s outstanding achievement and contribution to the South Australian film industry. Clark started his film career in Melbourne as a 17-year-old, working in the Camera Department in 1971. In 1986 Ernie shot a miniseries for the South Australian Film Corporation, and Adelaide has been his home ever since. Some of the notable Film and TV projects Clark has worked on include The Water Diviner, Wolf Creek 2, Deadline Gallipoli and Red Dog. In 2006, Clark was inducted into the Australian Cinematography’s Society (ACS) and has been the President of the SA branch of the ACS since 2008.
Receiving both Best Film and Best Documentary was Mira Soulio’s documentary Robert McFarlane: The Still Point [main image], which follows the life of prolific Australian documentary photographer and photojournalist Robert McFarlane.
Other winners on the night included Lucy Campbell and Peter Ninos’ web series, The Big Nothing which won Best Drama, a very competitive category. Best Music Composition was awarded to Cezary Konarski for his work on the highly anticipated zombie apocalypse horror film, Zoe by Director Nick Crowhurst.
Small Town P.D picked up the gong for Best Sound Design (Josiah Allen & Indianna Bell).
