At a star studded event at Sydney’s Pavilion restaurant, internationally acclaimed actor David Wenham, Director Jeremy Sims and Packed to the Rafters star Jessica McNamee joined this year’s awards host Eddie Perfect to announce the nominees for the 2009 Inside Film Awards.

Samson & Delilah led the pack with nominations in eight categories, closely followed by Balibo with nominations in seven categories and Mary & Max with nominations in four categories. These nominations came in a year of huge competition with 191,433 ratings being recorded, more than three times the number recorded last year.

It was a great year for the indigenous film community with audiences embracing both indigenous culture and stars. Along with Samson & Delilah’s success, the short film category was also dominated by indigenous talent. The nominees in this category are the Deborah Mailman directed Ralph, Jacob produced by Darren Dale and Aunty Maggie and the Womba Wakgun directed by Leah Purcell.

Back in Sydney to begin a second decade in 2009 the Inside Film Awards celebrate and champion Australian film and creative talent as decided by the general public. This year’s Inside Film Awards are on Wednesday 18th November at Sydney’s Luna Park.

For tickets and to check out all the nominees, you should click here .

Two Flat Whites have had the pleasure in interviewing some wonderful Australian film identities which include Allanah Zitserman, Warwick Thornton, Adam Elliot, Clare Bowen, Dan Castle and Tony Mason. Simply click on the ‘previous interviews’ tab on Two Flat Whites.

Warwick Thornton loves the nervousness and adrenaline in putting together a film. Warwick has won a number of awards including Best Emerging Talent; he also won Best Short Film at the 2007 Inside Film (IF) awards in Queensland as well as the 2008 Best Short Film award at the prestigious Berlin International Film festival for his short film ‘Nana’. Warwick Thornton is currently preparing for his first feature film to hit the big screen, Samson and Delilah which features in cinemas around the country on the 7th May 2009.

Where did you grow up & where do you hang your hat?

Alice Springs

In your own words, what do you do?

Work to fill my fridge.

Where did you learn your craft?

On the job at CAAMA in Alice Springs. Then studied Cinematography at AFTRS in Sydney.

Who inspires you?

Inspiring people.

Childhood Memories:

TV Show – Captain Harlock, Astro Boy

Hobby – Moto cross desert racing

Food – Soya chicken

Fear – High places. Low places.

People – Drunks & dope heads.

Defining moment – Realising I can do whatever the fuck I want.

Schooling memories, chore or cherished?

Chore: Evil teachers
Cherish: Angel teachers

Where is the most beautiful place in Australia you have visited?

Coober Pedy

From the hours of 9am to 5pm, what do you get up too?

Get up, have a coffee, take my daughter to school. Work a bit, make lunch, wander ‘round. Work a bit more, sometimes. Pick my daughter up from school.

You seem to have a passion in making movies about your community & sharing this on the big screen. What messages do you want people to digest?

No messages – just that we all belong on the same planet and should look out for each other.

Love is the most important thing. And survival. It was really important in Samson & Delilah that they survived through their love for each other and that they saved themselves and solved their own problems.

Who are your favourite film personalities? And is there anyone we should keep a look out for in Australia?

I don’t really have favourite film personalities. The little girl in My Year Without Sex is pretty cool.

Where can people see your work?

In cinemas from May 7th – Samson & Delilah.

For love or money?

I love money.

What future endeavors are in the pipeline?

Breath, eat, drink.

Shooting and directing a doco series Art & Soul about Aboriginal art with Hetti Perkins.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Alive, happy, older.

If you could invite 3 people to chat over coffee, who would they be & why?

My wife Beck, daughter Luka and producer Kath and all their split personalities.

Coffee or Tea?

Bushells Leaf Tea, two white sugars and powdered milk.

You can also check out our film reviews written by two of our young writers.

Samson & Delilah – Film Review by Hayley Van Es

Samson & Delilah – Film Review by Ryan Nance

Writer/Director Warwick Thornton is from the Katej people of Central Australia and grew up in Alice Springs.  His passion is to document his people’s stories and share them on a big screen.  He makes movies about his community, for his community.  While Thornton’s short-films have received numerous accolades from international film festivals, ‘Samson & Delilah’ is his debut feature-length film.

‘Samson & Delilah’ follows a straight narrative, with a beginning, middle, and end – or three acts.  The first shots of the film are centred on an adolescent Aboriginal boy, Samson (played by first-time actor Rowan McNamara), as he wakes up in his makeshift single-mattress bed.  The blazing Central Australian sun is streaming into his room, and his radio, tuned to an Indigenous country music station, is bursting with song praising the beautiful new day.  Samson adorns himself in a radiant yellow checked shirt, sweeps his sun-bleached matted hair from his face, and reaches for his morning mug.  These images are all quite delightful, so when we then see Samson engulf his entire mouth and nose in the mug, and inhale deeply, the depressing reality shatters this illusion.  Inside the mug is not freshly brewed coffee, as one may have thought, but greasy, grotty petroleum.  This opening montage sets the tone for the film, and informs the audience that there will be no rose-coloured glasses approach.

Despite this grim introduction, Thornton’s film is still best labeled as a (very raw) love story.  Samson’s clumsy and juvenile displays of affection are directed towards Delilah (also a first-time acting performance, played by Marrisa Gibson) – a girl around the same age, who lives with and cares for her elderly grandmother (Mitjili Naparangka Gibson).  At first, Delilah shrugs off Samson’s persistent advances, although her grandmother cackles at what she sees as an inevitable romance.  It is not until Delilah by chance spots Samson dancing in the middle of the night that she sees something in him that sparks an unconditional love.  Even as a voyeuristic audience member, there is a real feeling of intimacy in watching the half-naked young man express himself free of all inhibition.  Perhaps this outpouring of pure freedom is what ignites Delilah’s senses, and gives her a vision of hope for a brighter future.  In any case, it is a really profound moment and one that will be forever etched into the history of memorable scenes from great Australian films.

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