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The six big questions about the Oscars this year

Australia has at least one contender in 13 out of the 23 categories when the nominations are announced.

Garry Maddox

Before the nominations have even been announced next week, we already know a lot about the Academy Awards this year. There will be a lot of love for the musical La La Land, the gay coming-of-age drama Moonlight and the family drama Manchester by the Sea. And with plenty of strong African-American and English-Indian performances on top of the push to make the Academy membership more diverse, there is absolutely no chance of another all-white line-up of acting nominees.

Last year was exceptional for Australian film with Mad Max: Fury Road winning six Oscars. And when the nominations are announced this time round, it looks like another surprisingly strong year.

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Here are the six big questions from an Australian perspective …

How will Lion and Hacksaw Ridge go?

Both Garth Davis' emotional tale about an Indian-Australian man tracking down his birth mother and Mel Gibson's intense drama about an unlikely war hero are excellent chances for a best picture nomination. And this is not just a parochial Australian saying that. On the Gold Derby Hollywood awards website, 26 out of 28 pundits predict Lion will be nominated, with 25 out of 28 going for Hacksaw Ridge.

Lion has a strong chance of four nominations all up, including Luke Davies for best adapted screenplay, Nicole Kidman for best supporting actress and Dev Patel for best supporting actor. There are lesser hopes in four more categories – best director, cinematography, editing and score.

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Hacksaw Ridge is firmly in the running for five nominations including Andrew Garfield for best actor, Andrew Knight and Robert Schenkkan for best adapted screenplay plus best sound editing and sound mixing. Gibson is also some chance for a best director nod – two slots seem to be open behind certainties Damien Chazelle (La La Land), Barry Jenkins (Moonlight) and Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea) – with the film also having a shot at best cinematography, editing and possibly production design.

It seems outrageous for a country that makes only 20 to 30 films a year but Australians have an interest in 13 out of the 23 Oscar categories.

Is Mel Gibson really back in town?

There are still sceptics in Hollywood but since the first burst of acclaim for Hacksaw Ridge, Gibson has been cast in a high-profile film (The Professor and the Madman opposite Sean Penn), won best director at the Hollywood Film Awards, been nominated as best director at the Golden Globes and signed up with Hollywood agent CAA – the first time he's been represented since he was famously ditched by another agent for anti-Semitic remarks in 2010. The Oscar nominations and funding for his next film will indicate whether he is finally back in the game.

Is Hacksaw Ridge really an Australian film?

Plenty of people have asked this question given it's directed and produced by Americans, stars a Brit and tells a story about an American war hero. But Hacksaw Ridge was financed and shot in this country as an Australian film. Being eligible for the 40 per cent tax rebate known as the producer offset allowed it to be made. So in the complicated world of film production, that makes in Australian. And outside those key roles, the cast and crew are largely Australian.

Why is Hacksaw Ridge a contender for best adapted screenplay at the Oscars when it won best original screenplay at the AACTA Awards?

According to a spokeswoman for the film-makers, Hacksaw Ridge - as strange as it sounds - falls within a grey area of qualifying for both categories. It was initially developed as an original story about real life war hero Desmond Doss but producer Bill Mechanic also holds the rights to the 2004 documentary The Conscientious Objector, about Doss' heroics. It's possible that someone in Hollywood saw adapted screenplay as a better chance for a nomination given the strength of the original scripts for La La Land, Manchester by the Sea and Hell Or High Water.

Can the country finally land a best foreign-language film nomination?

There have been a batch of official entries over the years, including Samson & Delilah, Lore and The Rocket, but the Vanuatu tribal romance Tanna has reached the shortlist of nine films. There seem to be only two certainties in a famously chaotic category to predict – Germany's Toni Erdmann and Denmark's Land of Mine – so directors Bentley Dean and Martin Butler must have a decent chance of landing one of the other three slots.

Are any other Australians a chance?

While there are often unexpected nominations, Joel Edgerton has a fair shot at a best actor nod for the inter-racial romance Loving. There are two certainties – favourite Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea), Ryan Gosling (La La Land) plus probably Denzel Washington (Fences) – with Edgerton well in the mix for a nomination alongside Garfield (both Hacksaw Ridge and Silence), Viggo Mortensen (Captain Fantastic), Michael Keaton (The Founder) and possibly Tom Hanks (Sully). And while they are outsiders, the team from The Dressmaker hope they have a chance for a nod for best costumes and best hair and make-up. 

Let the games begin ...

Critics favour The Daughter in awards nominations

The Daughter (from left) Ewen Leslie, Odessa Young and Sam Neill.

In The Daughter (from left): Ewen Leslie, Odessa Young and Sam Neill. Photo: Mark Rogers

Hacksaw Ridge dominated the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards before Christmas but the country's critics have a different take on last year's best film. The nominations for the Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards are led by Simon Stone's timbertown drama The Daughter with 10. Mel Gibson's war drama follows with nine nominations followed by Ivan Sen's outback western Goldstone with eight. All three are up for best film alongside two pics directed by women – Rosemary Myers' coming of age fantasy Girl Asleep and Sue Brooks' wheatbelt drama Looking For Grace. But Brooks missed joining the others with a best director nomination, pipped by Matthew Saville for the deadpan suburban comedy A Month of Sundays. The awards are at Sydney's Paddington Woollahra RSL on February 21.

Red Dog: True Blue to open Berlin's children's section

Levi Miller (Mick) and the young kelpie in Red Dog: True Blue.

Levi Miller and the kelpie friend in Red Dog: True Blue.

It was always going to be a challenge opening on Boxing Day against a batch of Hollywood family films but Red Dog: True Blue has reached a respectable $6.3 million after its third weekend in cinemas. It will finish a long way short of Red Dog's exceptional $21.4 million in 2011 but Kriv Stenders' return to canine storytelling has won plenty of fans despite mixed reviews. It is also getting international attention with selection for Sundance and now on opening night of Generation Kplus, the children's section, at the Berlin International Film Festival next month. Also screening at the Berlinale are the Australian features Emo The Musical and Smashed, the documentaries Casting JonBenet, Monsieur Mayonnaise and Wolfe, anthology film Wutharr, Saltwater Dreams and short After the Smoke.

OJ documentary gets marathon screening

A scene of OJ Simpson captured in OJ: Made In America.

OJ Simpson in OJ: Made In America. Photo: ESPN

A special free screening of the acclaimed documentary O.J: Made In America - all 7.5 hours accompanied by a coffee cart and refreshments for dedicated viewers - will be a highlight of the Australian International Documentary Conference in March. Producer-director Ezra Edelman will introduce the marathon session - one of six screenings that have been announced for the conference at the Australian Centre For The Moving Image in Melbourne. Another highlight is Cane Toads, Interrupted, a screening of Mark Lewis' cult classic about cane toads from 1988, with the director interrupting with live commentary about making the film and its international success. And producer John Battsek, whose films include One Day in September and Searching for Sugar Man, will take part in a Q&A; session with a screening of his 2011 documentary Fire In Babylon, about the champion West Indies cricket team of the 1970s and '80s.

Twitter @gmaddox

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