Australian film award goes to Yılmaz Erdoğan

ISTANBUL

The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) award-winners were announced Jan. 29. Actor and director Russell Crowe’s film “The Water Diviner” won the Best Film award, while Turkish actor Yılmaz Erdoğan, who plays a Turkish officer in the film, won the Best Supporting Actor award. 

The film, which shared the award with Jennifer Kent thriller “The Babadook,” focuses on a father from New Zealand-born Crowe’s adopted homeland of Australia who travels to Turkey in 1919. Following shooting in Australia, the Turkish scenes of the film were shot in Istanbul and the Aegean district of Fethiye’s Kayaköy.

The film was released in Turkey in the end of December last year and has been seen by more than 1 million people so far.

“Charlie’s Country,” “Predestination,” “The Railway Man” and “Tracks” were the other four films nominated in the best film category.

Crowe was also nominated for best actor, but was the top prize was given to David Gulpilil, who plays Charlie in “Charlie’s Country,” a story of indigenous dispossession.