Ruby Rose, Sarah Snook and Dacre Montgomery Selected as 2019 Australians in Film Awards Honorees

Australians in Film (AiF) is excited to announce the initial 2019 honorees for the 8th AiF Awards Gala and Benefit Dinner, an annual fundraising event celebrating Australian talent in the entertainment industry. This year's event will take place at Intercontinental Los Angeles on Wednesday, October 23, 2019.

Fresh off the announcement of her casting as Kate Kane in The CW's Batwoman, actress Ruby Rose will receive the Create NSW Annette Kellerman Award which celebrates a screen industry figure who has been a trailblazing role model for Australian women. Sarah Snook (HBO's Succession), Dacre Montgomery (Netflix's Stranger Things) and director Anthony Maras (Hotel Mumbai) will each be honored with the Screen Australia Breakthrough Award, which recognizes Australian screen talent who have had major international presence over the past year. Warner Bros' President Worldwide Physical Production, Bill Draper will receive the Ausfilm International Award for his contribution to the Australian film industry.

The fundraising event will be hosted by Australian singer-songwriter, comedian, writer and actor, Eddie Perfect, best known for his performance in critically acclaimed series Offspring and more recently for his Tony-nominated work on Broadway, writing the score for Beetlejuice.

The Create NSW Annette Kellerman Award was first awarded to Rebel Wilson in 2016. Since then, the Emmy-nominated director of THE HANDMAID'S TALE Kate Dennis and comedian Hannah Gadsby (Nanette) have both been recipients.

Of her recognition, Rose said: "I am so proud to receive this award. As an Australian woman who also had to carve her own path to get to where I am today, I can only imagine the barriers Annette Kellerman had to break to accomplish what she did. Thank you to AiF for this incredible honor."

Snook, Montgomery and Maras will join previous breakthrough honorees including Margot Robbie, Chris Hemsworth, Elizabeth Debicki, Joel Edgerton, Katherine Langford, Keiynan Lonsdale and Mia Wasikowska. "We Aussie filmmakers are truly blessed to have bodies like Screen Australia and Australians in Film in our corner," said Maras. "I am so grateful for the support Screen Oz has offered since my very first short film, so honoured to receive this Breakthrough Award, and so thankful to AiF for getting our work out to the wider world."

Snook commented: "Being a recipient of an AiF Breakthrough Award feels like being given a dignified pat on the back from a bunch of your mates, and a bunch of people you look up to that you wish were your mates. I absolutely love being part of such a vibrant, unified community, and am so proud of what Australian's continue to achieve on the international stage. It's an honour for AiF to recognise my small contribution to that this year."

Of his recognition, Montgomery said: "I am beyond words, humbled and flattered at the acknowledgement of my pursuit to be a part of this amazing industry. Upon hearing this, I took the news to my ten year old self. Smiling from ear to ear, I doubt he would have believed it. But, he had a dream. I have a dream. I believed in myself. Thank you AIF - for this, this is a testament to those who believe in themselves unequivocally. That anyone can go out there and make their dream a REALITY. So, go out there and get it!"

Bill Draper will be presented with the Ausfilm International Award for his contribution to the Australian screen industry. Draper has been responsible for productions such as Aquaman, The Great Gatsby, Happy Feet 1 & 2, Where the Wild Things Are, Fool's Gold, Queen of the Damned and The Matrix trilogy shooting in Australia and Gravity, Crazy Rich Asians and IT Chapter 2 completing visual effects working with Australian VFX studios, to name a few.

"My first venture to Australia was in 1998 to see if we could make The Matrix not knowing whether the infrastructure or crew base could accommodate a large scale and technical film," said Draper. "I was quickly dissuaded of my concerns and pleasantly surprised as the Australian industry was more than up to the challenge. That experience kicked off a wonderful relationship both personally and professionally between Warner Bros. and Australia that more than 20 years and almost 40 projects later it is stronger than ever. Australia has firmly established itself as one of the premier production centres in the world."

The 8th AiF Awards Gala and Benefit Dinner is presented by Ausfilm, Screen Australia and Create NSW and proudly supported by media partners Vogue and GQ Australia, together with Qantas, AiF's official airline and hotel partner, The Standard Hollywood. Beverage partners include Penfolds, Bird in Hand and Little Creatures.

The awards support AiF's non-profit mission to usher Australian talent into the international market and provide educational and career development programs including the highly successful creative work sharing space, Charlie's in Hollywood.

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