The 2nd AACTA Awards kicked off today with a luncheon appropriately enough at the Star Casino in Sydney. The rain pelted down in weather blown down from the tornadoes in Queensland.
Producer Al Clark was presented with the prestigious Raymond Longford Award, also bestowed upon Pat Lovell producer of Gallipoli and Picture At Hanging Rock, who died last Saturday.
Clark was lauded by former employer Richard Branson and Stephan Elliott, director of the iconic Priscilla Queen of the Desert, which Mr Clark produced.
The highlight was MC Adam Elliot, who reminisced about winning an Oscar for Harvie Krumpet. He said that having ten seconds left in his acceptance speech, he gave a plug to its screening on SBS, which was known to the American audience as a Nederlands porn channel.