2004 Australian Film Institute Awards

The 46th Annual Australian Film Institute Awards, were a series of awards presented by the Australian Film Institute. The awards celebrated the best in Australian feature film, television, documentary and short film productions of 2004. The event was held at the Regent Theatre, Melbourne, on 29 October 2004 and a highlights program televised on ABC two days later on Sunday evening.

Winners and nominees

The nominations were announced on 1 October 2004. Leading the feature film nominees was Somersault with 15 nominations in 13 categories. Marking Time, a miniseries inspired by the real-life experiences of Afghan refugees and their hosts in a rural town gained the most television nominations with 10, followed by sitcom Kath & Kim with 7 nominations.
Cate Shortland's debut feature Somersault, about a teenage girl learning some hard lessons about love in Jindabyne took 13 awards, winning in every category, including best film and beating the previous record of eight wins shared by Lantana in 2001 and Newsfront in 1978. In the television category the ABC miniseries Marking Time won seven awards out of its 10 nominations, including best miniseries, best direction, best screenplay, and best leading and supporting actor and actress.

Feature Film

Best Film	Best Direction
Somersault – Anthony Anderson * Love's Brother – Jane Scott, Sarah Radclyffe * The Old Man Who Read Love Stories – Julie Ryan and Michelle de Broca * Tom White – Alkinos Tsilimidos, Daniel Scharf	Cate Shortland – Somersault Jan Sardi – Love's Brother* Khoa Do – The Finished People* Alkinos Tsilimidos – Tom White*
Best Original Screenplay
Somersault – Cate Shortland *Love's Brother – Jan Sardi The Finished People – Khoa Do, Rodney Anderson, Joe Le and Jason McGoldrick Tom White – Alkinos Tsilimidos
Best Lead Actor	Best Lead Actress
Sam Worthington – Somersault Dan Spielman – One Perfect Day* Kevin Harrington – The Honourable Wally Norman* Colin Friels – Tom White*	Abbie Cornish – Somersault *Olivia Pigeot – A Cold Summer**** Leeanna Walsman – One Perfect Day Chloe Maxwell – Under The Radar
Best Supporting Actor	Best Supporting Actress
Erik Thomson – Somersault Nathaniel Dean – Somersault* Hugo Weaving – The Old Man Who Read Love Stories* Dan Spielman – Tom White*	Lynette Curran – Somersault *Hollie Andrew – Somersault**** Loene Carmen – Tom White Rachael Blake – Tom White
Best Cinematography	Best Editing
Somersault – Robert Humphreys ACS *Love's Brother – Andrew Lesnie *One Perfect Day – Gary Ravenscroft *Tom White – Toby Oliver	Somersault – Scott Gray *One Perfect Day – Gary Woodyard The Old Man Who Read Love Stories – Tania Nehme Tom White – Ken Sallows ASE
Best Original Music Score	Best Sound
Somersault – Decoder Ring *One Perfect Day – David Hobson *The Old Man Who Read Love Stories – Graham Tardif *Thunderstruck – David Thrussell and François Tétaz	Somersault – Mark Blackwell, Peter Smith and Sam Petty *One Perfect Day – Glenn Newnham, Jack McKerrow and Paul Pirola Thunderstruck – Peter Smith, Peter Townend and Wayne Pashley Tom White – James Currie, Michael Bakaloff, Peter Walker and Tristan Meredith
Best Production Design	Best Costume Design
Somersault – Melinda Doring *Love's Brother – Paul Heath *One Perfect Day – MacGregor Knox, Patrick Bennet and Joseph Kiely *Tom White – Dan Potra	Somersault – Emily Seresin *Love's Brother – Anna Borghesi *One Perfect Day – Katie Graham *Tom White – Jill Johanson

Non-feature film

Best Documentary	Best Direction in a Documentary
The President Versus David Hicks – Curtis Levy *Helen’s War: Portrait of a Dissident – Sonja Armstrong and Anne Pick Lonely Boy Richard – Denise Haslem and Rose Hesp The Men Who Would Conquer China – Nick Torrens	Anna Broinowski – Helen's War: Portrait of a Dissident Faramarz K. Rahber – Fahimeh’s Story* Cathy Henkel – The Man Who Stole My Mother’s Face* Bentley Dean and Curtis Levy – The President Versus David Hicks*
Best Short Fiction Film	Best Short Animation
Lennie Cahill Shoots Through – Paul Oliver *Floodhouse – Miro Bilbrough So Close To Home – Jessica Hobbs The Scree – Paul McDermott	Birthday Boy – Sejong Park *Footnote – Pia Borg *It’s Like That – Southern Ladies Animation Group *Lucky For Some – Robert Stephenson
Best Screenplay in a Short Film	Best Cinematography in a Non-Feature Film
Danielle Maclean – Queen of Hearts *Sejong Park – Birthday Boy**** Miro Bilbrough – Floodhouse Madeleine Blackwell – So Close To Home	Ian Batt – Inside Australia Kim Batterham – Floodhouse* Tim Hudson – My Sister* David Parer – Platypus: World’s Strangest Animal*
Best Editing in a Non-Feature Film	Best Sound in a Non-Feature Film
Jane St Vincent-Welch – The Men Who Would Conquer China *Janet Merewether – Palermo: 'History' Standing Still**** Denise Haratzis – So Close To Home David Cole – Truckies Don’t Eat Quiche	David Bridie, John Patterson and Tony Vaccher – Land of the Morning Star Andrew Duffield, Liam Egan and Phil Judd – Big Men; Bigger Dreams: Australian Wrestlers* James Lee, Chris McKeith and Megan Wedge – Birthday Boy* Andrew Plain and Liam Price – Good Luck Jeffrey Brown*

Multiple nominations

The following films received multiple nominations.15 nominations: Somersault12 nominations: Tom White8 nominations: ''One Perfect Day''