Great Gatsby sweeps Australian film awards

This film publicity image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Carey Mulligan as Daisy Buchanan, left, and Leonardo DiCaprio as Jay Gatsby in a scene from “The Great Gatsby.” The film will be shown at the Cannes Film Festival running from May 15 to May 26. AP photo

SYDNEY – Baz Luhrmann’s glitzy adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel “The Great Gatsby” swept the board at Australia’s annual film and television awards ceremony.

The Hollywood-backed movie, filmed almost entirely in Sydney, won 13 Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) gongs, including best film, best actor for Leonardo DiCaprio and best director for Australian Luhrmann.

“It doesn’t happen to me that often, this kind of thing,” Luhrmann told the audience on Thursday evening, which included luminaries such as Oscar favourite Cate Blanchett and Academy president Geoffrey Rush.

“You have no idea what it is like to be acknowledged in your country, thank you, thank you, thank you,” added the director, who was also an award-winner for his 1992 film “Strictly Ballroom”.

Rose Byrne won the best actress award for “The Turning” while two-time Oscar nominee Jacki Weaver was honoured with the Raymond Longford Award – the highest recognition the AACTA can bestow.