Bring Her Back has dominated at the 2026 Aacta (Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts) awards, winning 10 of 16 nominations, while Jacob Elordi has continued his recent awards buzz by taking home best lead actor for his performance in The Narrow Road to the Deep North.
Bring Her Back, Danny and Michael Philippou’s horror-thriller about a sinister foster mother, emerged as the most awarded film of the night with 10 wins. This marks a major milestone for the Adelaide brothers, surpassing the eight awards they won for their 2024 global breakout, Talk to Me.
Bring Her Back won best direction, best film, best leading actress in a film for Sally Hawkins and almost every technical category, including cinematography, editing, original score, sound, costume design, hair and makeup, and casting.
Fresh from his Critics’ Choice Movie awards win for his portrayal of the Creature in Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, Elordi won best lead actor in a drama for his portrayal of army surgeon Dorrigo Evans in the screen adaptation of Richard Flanagan’s Booker prize-winning novel The Narrow Road to the Deep North.
Elordi, who is now in the running for an Oscar, Bafta and Screen Actors Guild award for his Frankenstein performance, also took home the audience choice award for favourite Australian actor. Currently on a publicity tour for the film Wuthering Heights, scheduled for global release next week, Elordi accepted his awards via a pre-recorded video link.
Margot Robbie, his Wuthering Heights co-star and fellow Queenslander, won favourite Australian actress.
The Narrow Road to the Deep North was the standout television production this year, winning nine Aacta awards from 12 nominations, including best supporting actress for Heather Mitchell.
Netflix miniseries Apple Cider Vinegar, about wellness fraudster Belle Gibson, initially looked to dominate with 20 nominations, the most for a TV show this year – but in the end it only took home two awards: best miniseries and best casting.
The third and final season of ABC series The Newsreader finished off with four wins, including best drama series, best lead actress in a drama for Anna Torv and best supporting actor in a drama for Daniel Henshall, taking the show’s total Aactas wins to 15.
Bump won best narrative comedy series, while Miranda Tapsell won best acting in a comedy for her performance in Top End Bub.
SBS’s three-part docudrama series The People vs Robodebt – which includes Guardian reporter Christopher Knaus as a key voice – won two awards, for best documentary or factual program and best direction in nonfiction television. Grand Designs Australia won best lifestyle program, Play School: All Together won best children’s program, and Hard Quiz won best comedy entertainment program and best comedy performer for its host Tom Gleeson.
Gleeson chose to dedicate his best comedy entertainment award to the chair of the ABC, Kim Williams.
“Finally, a bald, middle aged white man is in charge again, and he inspires me because you can’t be what you can’t see,” he said, before taking a jibe at the Liberal party’s current woes.
In the film categories, The Correspondent, a dramatisation of the trial and imprisonment of journalist Peter Greste in Egypt, earned Richard Roxburgh best lead actor in a film. The film, directed by Kriv Stenders, also won best screenplay and best production design.
The best supporting film actor categories went to Deborah Mailman for her role as Rosie in the comedy Kangaroo, and the late Julian McMahon for his role in the psychological thriller The Surfer, starring opposite Nicolas Cage. McMahon died of cancer last year at the age of 56.
Journey Home, David Gulpilil won best documentary film, while animated comedy Lesbian Space Princess won best indie film.
The Aacta award ceremony, held in the Gold Coast on Friday, was hosted by comedian Celeste Barber, with presenting guests including Succession duo Sarah Snook and Brian Cox, Boy Swallows Universe’s Phoebe Tonkin, and Stranger Things actor Dacre Montgomery.
Snook, who has been collecting accolades in the West End and Broadway for her post-Succession role in The Picture of Dorian Gray was also recognised with Aacta’s trailblazer award.
Presenting the award, Cox described Snook as “the real deal”, followed by a series of pre-recorded tributes to the actor, including Predestination co-star Ethan Hawke and Succession’s “cousin Greg”, Nicholas Braun, who mischievously suggested a fifth season might be on the way.
Snook also took out the award for best international actress in a series for All Her Fault.
Veteran film-maker Bruce Beresford, director of films including Breaker Morant, Driving Miss Daisy and The Adventures of Barry McKenzie, was recognised with the Longford Lyell lifetime achievement award. Bryan Brown presented the award with video tribtes by Morgan Freeman, Kyle MacLachlan, Susie Porter and Shane Jacobsen.
