The 1968 Australian Film Awards (known retroactively as the Australian Film Institute Awards) ceremony, presented by the

Australian Film Institute The Australian Film Institute (AFI) was founded in 1958 as a non-profit organisation devoted to developing an active film culture in Australia and fostering engagement between the general public and the Cinema of Australia, Australian film indu ...

(AFI), honoured the best feature and non-feature films of

1969 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...

, and took place on 2 December 1969 at National Library Theatre, in

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory until 1938, is an internal States and territories of Australia, territory of Australia. Canberra, the capital city of Australia, is situated within the territory, an ...

Australian Prime Minister The prime minister of Australia is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Australia. The prime minister is the chair of the Cabinet of Australia and thus the head of the federal executive government. Under the principles of responsibl ...

John Gorton Sir John Grey Gorton (9 September 1911 – 19 May 2002) was an Australian politician, farmer and airman who served as the 19th Prime Minister of Australia, prime minister of Australia from 1968 to 1971. He held office as the leader of the leade ...

hosted the ceremony. During the ceremony the Australian Film Institute presented two gold, nine silver and bronze prizes, four special awards and certificates for twelve honourable mentions. ''

Bullocky A bullocky is an Australian English term for the driver of a bullock team. The American term is bullwhacker. Bullock drivers were also known as teamsters or carriers. History Bullock teams were in use in Sydney in 1795 when they were used ...

'' and '' The Die-Hard Legend of Lasseter's Lost Golden Reef'' both received gold prizes and '' Jack and Jill: A Postscript'', which won a silver prize became the first feature film to ever win an award from the AFI. When the Australian Film Institute established the

Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) is a professional organisation of film and television practitioners in Australia. The academy's aim is "to identify, award, promote, and celebrate Australia's greatest achievements i ...

(AACTA) in 2011, the awards became known as the

AACTA Awards The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards, known as the AACTA Awards, are presented annually by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA). The awards recognise excellence in the cinema of Australia, film and ...

Ceremony

The ceremony was held on 2 December 1969, at the National Library Theatre, located in

. It was hosted by the

19th 19 (nineteen) is the natural number following 18 and preceding 20. It is a prime number. Mathematics Nineteen is the eighth prime number. Number theory 19 forms a twin prime with 17, a cousin prime with 23, and a sexy prime with 13. ...

Prime Minister of Australia The prime minister of Australia is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Australia. The prime minister is the chair of the Cabinet of Australia and thus the head of the Australian Government, federal executive government. Under the pr ...

. During the Ceremony Gorton made a speech, praising the

(AFI) for " ..conveying the more refined aspects of Australian life and for projecting an image of the nation as something other than '

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

kangaroos or Ned Kelly's'". One hundred and fifty-four films were submitted for competition and the winning films were judged by a jury composed of film critics, Colin Bennett and Lindsey Browne, and film director

David Bairstow David Leslie Bairstow (1 September 1951 – 5 January 1998) was an English cricketer, who played for Yorkshire and England as a wicket-keeper. He also played football for his hometown club Bradford City. He is the father of England internation ...

. Of the submitted films, the jury noted that there was a " ..continuing advance in professional competence across the spectrum of the 154 entries .. and that "

Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural ''Grands Prix'') most commonly refers to: * Grand Prix motor racing, a form of motorsport competition ** List of Formula One Grands Prix, an auto-racing championship *** Monaco Grand Prix, the most prestigious ...

material remains illusive in the competition - but perhaps not for long. Australian film talent is obviously gathering momentum."

Winners

During the ceremony the Australian Film Institute handed out two Golden Reel awards, nine silver and bronze prizes and four special awards. Awards were given to films from eight categories which included documentaries, advertising, teaching, children's, public relations, experimental, travel and general. Recipients of the awards included

Gil Brealey Gilbert John Brealey (9 April 1932 – 1 April 2018) was an Australian television and film director, producer and writer. Brealey was born in Melbourne, and studied at the University of Melbourne, where he made his first amateur films around t ...

and Venture Films for their documentaries ''

'' and '' The Die-Hard Legend of Lasseter's Lost Golden Reef'', which both received the Golden Reel prize. Silver prize winning film '' Jack and Jill: A Postscript'' was the first

feature film A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (Film, motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole present ...

to receive an award from the AFI, which went to Phillip Adams and Brian Robinson. It is also considered the first feature film to win in the

Best Film The following is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various films, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Bes ...

category of the

. Special medallions were presented for technical achievements in

optical effects Compositing is the process or technique of combining visual elements from separate sources into single images, often to create the illusion that all those elements are parts of the same scene. Live-action shooting for compositing is variously ...

photography Photography is the visual arts, art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is empl ...

editing Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written language, written, Image editing, visual, Audio engineer, audible, or Film editing, cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing p ...

and

cinematography Cinematography () is the art of motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography. Cinematographers use a lens (optics), lens to focus reflected light from objects into a real image that is transferred to some image sen ...

. Twelve films from the competition received a certificate of honourable mention.

Ceremony

Winners

Prizes

Special awards

Honourable mention

References

Further reading