Russell Crowe’s The Water Diviner and Yılmaz Erdoğan win at the Australian Oscars

Russell Crowe & Yılmaz Erdoğan star in historical drama on the aftermath of the Battle of Gallipoli

NEWS/GLOBAL

Russell Crowe’s directorial debut The Water Diviner was voted joint Best Film at the Australia Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) Awards, held in Sydney, on Thursday night. Yılmaz Erdoğan, who starred in the film, won Best Supporting Actor.

Written by Andrew Anastasios, The Water Diviner is an historical drama set in the aftermath of World War I. An Australian father travels to Turkey to try to find his three missing sons who had signed up to fight for the Allies against the Ottoman Turks in the Battle of Gallipoli (Çanakkale) in 1915-16. Crowe plays the father Joshua Conor, while Erdoğan takes up the role of Major Hasan.

The film, which has several Turkish actors including Cem Yılmaz and former Bond girl Olga Kurylenko, has been well received by the critics. It uniquely seeks to portray both the Turkish and Australian perspectives about the Battle of Gallipoli, which claimed over 110,000 lives and resulted in some 230,000 persons wounded.

Erdoğan celebrates with The Water Diviner crew at the
AATCA Awards in Sydney. Photo: AATCA

A successful writer, director and actor in Turkey, this was the first time Erdoğan had appeared in an English-language film and also the biggest budget production of his career. He beat three others, including Robert Pattinson, to win the AACTA Best Supporting Actor award on Thursday. On receiving his trophy, Erdoğan told the Sydney crowd “Thank you mate”, demonstrating the good Aussie traits he had picked up during filming.

The Water Diviner was up against five other contenders. It went on to share the AACTA 2015 Best Film honours with The Babadook. Crowe joined the awards via video-link as he was on set filming in Los Angeles.

The film opens in the UK on 3^rd April 2015. See the trailer here.