Nominees for 2022 Australian Directors’ Guild Awards Revealed

The nominees for the 2022 Australian Directors’ Guild Awards have been announced.

Event organisers said it’s a breakthrough year at the Awards, with women dominating the major feature film categories for the first time ever.

Five out of the seven directors nominated for Best Direction in a Feature Film (Budget $1 Million or Over) are women, and four of the six nominees in the Best Direction in a Debut Feature Film category are also women.

In addition, Sian Davies has received three nominations for her work across drama, comedy and children’s programs. She has been nominated for Best Direction in a TV or SVOD Drama Series Episode for “The Twelve”, Best Direction in a TV or SVOD Comedy Series Episode for “Spreadsheet”, and Best Direction in a Children’s TV or SVOD Drama Series Episode for “Surviving Summer”.

Stef Smith has also received three nominations in three different categories. She is in the running for Best Direction of Commercial Content for “Baroque in Bloom” – Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Best Direction in an Online Series Episode for “It’s Fine, I’m Fine“, and for Best Direction in an Interactive or Immersive Project for “Moving Portrait Series”.

At this year’s event, the ADG will also announce the recipient of the ‘JC’ John Clabburn Award.

The Award came into being last year to posthumously honour first AS Clabburn who passed away earlier that year. It will now be used to recognise significant contributions in support of Australian directors and the craft of directing, and go to a first AD or any screen practitioner who the ADG members feel has consistently embodied Clabburn’s spirit of collaboration and passionate support for the craft of directing.

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Alaric McAusland, executive director of the ADG, said: “We’ve had record numbers of entries across numerous categories this year, this demonstrates increasing industry engagement in our awards as well as acknowledgement of their prestige and their importance in recognising a director’s craft. Because of this, we’ve taken the decision this year to extend our nominee lists across our TV and SVOD Drama Series, Student and Short Film categories. The significantly increased numbers and quality across our Short Film categories this year is particularly thrilling to see and a strong indication of the terrific emerging storytelling talent we have here in Australia.”

The 2022 Australian Directors’ Guild Awards will be held on Dec. 8 at 3:00 p.m. at the Actors Centre Australia in Sydney. Tickets are available here.

The full list of nominees is below.