Every year the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) dishes out its most prestigious award: the Longford Lyell Award. This award is regarded as the country’s highest screen accolade.
This year the recipient will be Bryan Brown, a veritable Australian legend whose acting career began in the heady years of the Australian film industry’s renaissance in the 1970s.
His many films include Newsfront, The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, Breaker Morant, Gorillas in the Mist, Cocktail, Two Hands, Along Came Polly and Australia.
“It’s an honour – thank you to the Academy,” Brown said in response to the announcement from AACTA. “I’m an Australian telling Australian stories and I love it.”
First presented in 1968, the Longford Lyell Award is named after Australian film pioneer Raymond Longford and his professional and personal partner, Lottie Lyell. Their most famous collaboration is the Australian silent film The Sentimental Bloke.
The award will be presented to Brown at the 2018 AACTA Awards Ceremony, held on Wednesday 5 December at The Star Event Centre in Sydney. It will telecast at 8:30pm on Channel 7.
