by Nadine Whitney
Catherine Martin has won more major screen awards than any other Australian. She overtook the prolific and feted designer Orry-Kelly (Casablanca) at the Academy Awards for the most Oscars given to an Australian costume designer.
Although most famous for her dazzling costuming, Martin is also responsible for some of the greatest production and set design in Australian film, winning international awards for her work with husband Baz Luhrmann on such films as The Great Gatsby, Moulin Rouge!, and Romeo + Juliet.
The Longford Lyell Award was instituted in 1968 and named after Australian silent film pioneers, director/screenwriter Raymond Longford and his wife, actress and screenwriter Lottie Lyell. The two are best known for their collaborations on such essential films as 1919’s The Sentimental Bloke which Longford directed and co-wrote with Lyell (who also starred) and 1920’s On Our Selection which Longford directed and also co-wrote with Lyell. They also set up their own independent production company and were a true force in Australia’s emerging screen industry until the tragic early death of Lottie in 1925.
Catherine Martin said: “I am humbled and honoured to be this year’s recipient of the Longford Lyell Award. To be recognised by one’s peers in one’s home country is profoundly meaningful.
“Australia, with its myriad filmmaking opportunities and wonderful talents, has been extraordinarily fertile soil for my body of work, and for this I am truly grateful.
“The award also resonates with me personally as its namesakes were, as Baz and I am, both partners in life and art. Baz and I often joke that we are just getting started, so I hope this ‘lifetime achievement award’ is not a full stop, but a comma; heralding the beginning of new and exciting creative adventures to be shared with both long-time collaborators and new artists alike, in front of and behind the camera.”
AACTA CEO, Damian Trewhella said, “For over three decades, Catherine Martin has been injecting colour and life onto our screens through visionary artistry and experimental designs. Receiving the Byron Kennedy Award from the Australian Film Institute in 1999, and now the Longford Lyell Award twenty-three years later exemplifies the dedication she has for her craft. Catherine is held in the highest regard by her peers and audiences globally, and the Australian Academy is proud to honour her for her relentless work and outstanding contribution to the industry.”
Martin and Luhrmann’s first collaboration on a feature film was for Strictly Ballroom in 1992 for which she won two Australian Film Institute Awards (AFI) for Best Production Design and Best Costume Design. They then went on to create the second of the Red Curtain Trilogy Romeo + Juliet, for which Catherine was nominated for an Oscar for Best Production Design.
In 2001, Catherine designed the sets and co-designed the costumes with Angus Strathie for Moulin Rouge! and took home two Oscars. Catherine won Broadway’s 2003 Tony Award for Best Scenic Design of a Musical for her work on Luhrmann’s Broadway adaptation of La Bohème.
In 2008, Martin reunited with Nicole Kidman (who starred in Moulin Rouge!) on the visually breathtaking Australia for which she won two shared AFI Awards for Best Production Design and Best Costume Design with Eliza Godman, and was nominated for an Oscar for costume design.
Martin oversaw the construction of 42 sets over 14 weeks on The Great Gatsby, earning her two more Oscars, two BAFTAs and two AACTA Awards for Costume Design and Production Design which she shared with Beverly Dunn.
2022 saw the release of Elvis, the larger-than-life biopic of the King, Elvis Presley, which is nominated for 15 AACTA Awards including for Best Film, Best Direction, Best Lead Actor and Martin is nominated for Best Costume Design and Best Production Design alongside Karen Murphy and Beverley Dunn.
The Longford Lyell Award is the highest honour that the Australian Academy can bestow upon an individual and recognises a person who has made a truly outstanding contribution to the enrichment of Australia’s screen environment and culture. Previous winners have included Peter Weir, George Miller, Fred Schepisi, Cate Blanchett, Jacki Weaver, and David Gulpilil.
The Longford Lyell Award will be presented at the 2022 AACTA Awards which will be broadcast on 10 on Wednesday 7 December at 7:30pm and will be encored on Foxtel’s Fox Docos, Saturday, December 10 at 7:30pm. The broadcast will also be available to stream on demand via Foxtel, Binge and AACTA TV.
