Left: Still from 'Jasper'. Right: Still from 'In My Blood It Runs'
The Australian Academy Cinema Television Arts (AACTA) recently announced the nominees for the 2019 AACTA awards.
The AACTA Awards (formerly the AFI Awards) have honoured screen excellence in Australia for over 60 years, since the first AFI Awards were held in 1958.
Media Arts and Production alumni, Maya Newell and Alessandra Grasso, were both recognised in their respective nominations.
Maya Newell, in the category of Best Documentary for ‘In My Blood It Runs’, produced and directed the film which provides a rare insight into the world of 10-year old Dujuan, an Arrernte/Garrwa boy living in Alice Springs.
Alessandra Grasso, in the category of Best Short Animation for ‘Jasper’, produced the short animation about the dream of flight, exploring new ways to blur the lines between analogue and digital visual effects.
The animation was part of a research project with the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and was produced as a collaboration between the UTS Animal Logic Academy and the Faculties of Engineering & IT and Design, Architecture & Building.
The peer-assessed AACTA Awards are a world-class marker of screen excellence alongside the Oscars® and the BAFTAs, and are the only Australian industry body to honour practitioners across all crafts and industry sectors, including feature film, documentary, short film, television, online, visual effects and animation.
The nominations continue the long history of Media Arts punching above our weight, and it's always exciting to see our students get the recognition they richly deserved.
Dr Gregory Ferris, Lecturer and Professor Rachel Landers, Head of Media Arts and Production
The two major 2019 AACTA Awards, which will be presented by Foxtel events, will both be held in Sydney this December.