Horror and Streamers Rule the 2026 AACTA Awards as YouTube Twins Take Top Film Prize

Horror, streamers and global stars dominate 2026 AACTA Awards on the Gold Coast

Baz Luhrmann was on stage at HOTA – Home of the Arts – to hand out Australia’s top film prize when the horror kids from YouTube took the night’s biggest bow.

Danny and Michael Philippou, the Adelaide-born twins who built a following with low-budget stunts on their RackaRacka channel, walked away with best film for their folk horror thriller “Bring Her Back” at the 2026 AACTA Awards on Friday. Hosted by comedian Celeste Barber, the ceremony capped a five-day screen festival on the Gold Coast and underscored how horror, global streamers and internationally mobile stars now sit at the center of Australia’s screen industry.

The 15th Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards, held Feb. 6 at HOTA, honored film, television, documentary and online work released over the past year. Organizers bill the AACTAs as the country’s premier screen awards, a domestic counterpart to the Oscars and BAFTAs. This year’s winners list pointed to a darker, more exportable slate of stories, and to an industry increasingly financed and distributed by global platforms.

“Bring Her Back” leads a new horror wave

“Bring Her Back” was the night’s dominant film, converting 10 wins from 16 nominations and making the Philippou brothers the most awarded filmmakers of the ceremony. Along with best film, the movie took best direction in film, best lead actress in film for Sally Hawkins, and a sweep of craft categories including casting, cinematography, costume design, editing, original score, sound, and hair and makeup.

The film follows Laura, a grieving foster mother who turns to supernatural means to reconnect with her dead daughter, unleashing violent consequences. Hawkins’ win marked a rare top acting prize for a horror performance anchored in middle-aged domestic grief rather than a conventional “final girl” role.

The result extends the momentum of the Philippous’ 2024 breakout “Talk to Me,” which won eight AACTA awards and was distributed internationally by U.S. specialty label A24. Their latest haul pushes horror further into the mainstream of Australian prestige cinema.

Industry recognition for genre work extended beyond the film categories. Producers Kristina Ceyton and Samantha Jennings, whose Causeway Films banner has backed “The Babadook,” “The Nightingale” and “Talk to Me,” received the Byron Kennedy Award for “innovative and risk-taking” contributions to Australian screen storytelling.

Streamers dominate drama as policy shift looms

On the television side, global streaming platforms underwrote many of the night’s biggest winners.

Prime Video’s miniseries “The Narrow Road to the Deep North,” a five-part adaptation of Richard Flanagan’s Booker Prize-winning novel about Australian prisoners of war forced to build the Thai-Burma “Death Railway” in World War II, won nine awards from 12 nominations. The series took best lead actor in a drama for Jacob Elordi’s performance as army surgeon Dorrigo Evans, best supporting actress in a drama for Heather Mitchell, and a suite of craft prizes including cinematography, direction, editing, production design, original score, costume design and sound.

The ABC’s newsroom drama “The Newsreader,” which wrapped its third and final season last year, won best drama series. Star Anna Torv was named best lead actress in a drama and Daniel Henshall best supporting actor, while the show also collected best screenplay in television, bringing its overall AACTA tally to 15 across its run.

Netflix’s “Apple Cider Vinegar,” a drama based on disgraced wellness influencer Belle Gibson, entered the night as the most nominated production with 20 nods but secured only best miniseries and best casting in television.

The awards came as global streamers have become the dominant financiers of Australian scripted television. Recent figures from national agency Screen Australia show streaming services accounted for about 73% of spending on local drama in the past year, amid government plans to introduce minimum Australian content obligations for major platforms. The federal government has proposed requiring streamers to invest at least 10% of their local expenditure or 7.5% of their Australian revenue in Australian content.

Home-country recognition for global stars

Elordi’s win was one of the night’s most closely watched acting races. The 28-year-old Brisbane-born actor, who first gained international attention in Netflix’s “The Kissing Booth” films and later in HBO’s “Euphoria,” is now an awards-season fixture for his role as the Creature in Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein.” He has been nominated for an Academy Award, three BAFTAs and two Golden Globes.

At home, Elordi’s AACTA trophy was for television, not film. He was named best lead actor in a drama for “The Narrow Road to the Deep North” and also picked up the fan-voted Audience Choice Award for favorite Australian actor. Unable to attend in person because he is promoting Emerald Fennell’s new film adaptation of “Wuthering Heights” overseas, Elordi accepted his awards via pre-recorded video.

The best lead actor in film award went instead to Richard Roxburgh for his performance in “The Correspondent,” a drama based on the imprisonment of Australian journalist Peter Greste in Egypt. Greste accepted the award on Roxburgh’s behalf and used the moment to highlight the risks facing media workers worldwide.

“Since Kate Peyton died, over a thousand journalists have been killed on the job, and many more have been imprisoned,” Greste said, referring to his BBC colleague who was shot in Somalia in 2005. “This film is a reminder of the importance of press freedom and the dangers that come with holding power to account.”

Lifetime honor for Bruce Beresford, trailblazer award for Sarah Snook

The ceremony also bridged generations of Australian screen talent.

Director Bruce Beresford received the Longford Lyell Award, the academy’s highest individual honor, given for outstanding contributions to Australia’s screen environment and culture. Beresford, 85, was a key figure in the Australian New Wave, directing films including “Breaker Morant,” “The Adventures of Barry McKenzie,” “Puberty Blues” and “Black Robe” before a long career in Hollywood with works such as “Tender Mercies,” “Crimes of the Heart,” “Driving Miss Daisy,” “Double Jeopardy,” “Mao’s Last Dancer” and “Ladies in Black.”

Presenting the award, long-time collaborator Bryan Brown joked that their latest film together, “The Travellers,” came about because “no one else is old enough” for the role. In his acceptance speech, Beresford said he was “quite stunned” by the retrospective of his career.

“I can’t remember making all those films,” he said, drawing laughter from the audience, before quipping that he and Brown planned to work together again “in another 40 years.”

Video tributes from Morgan Freeman, Tommy Lee Jones, Angourie Rice and other colleagues underscored Beresford’s dual status in Australian and international cinema.

Actor Sarah Snook was named this year’s AACTA Trailblazer, an award recognizing Australians forging influential paths in the global industry. The Adelaide-born performer, trained at the National Institute of Dramatic Art, has won an Emmy and two Golden Globes for her role as Shiv Roy on HBO’s “Succession,” as well as Olivier and Tony awards for her one-woman stage adaptation of “The Picture of Dorian Gray.”

Her former “Succession” co-star Brian Cox walked onstage to the show’s theme music to present the honor, calling Snook “the real deal; the absolute real deal” and “one of the best screen partners I’ve ever had.”

In an emotional speech, Snook said the recognition was “an incredible honor” and spoke about the dissonance between her public and private lives.

“I do sometimes feel like I’m living two lives,” she said. “One at home in tracky dacks, and another putting on makeup and standing here.”

She thanked “the many Australians” who had gone before her, saying she stood on their shoulders, and paid tribute to her husband, actor Dave Lawson, calling him her “reason for being” and “a wonderful pair of gumboots – sturdy and safe.”

Snook also won best international actress in a series for the thriller “All Her Fault.”

Documentaries confront power and reckon with the past

Nonfiction storytelling had a visible presence across the awards.

SBS’s “The People vs Robodebt” won best documentary or factual program and best direction in nonfiction television. The series revisits the federal government’s “Robodebt” welfare compliance scheme, which used automated data-matching and was found unlawful by a royal commission in 2023, causing financial and psychological harm to thousands of Australians.

In feature documentary, “Journey Home, David Gulpilil” was named best documentary and also won best original score in a documentary. The film follows the late Yolŋu actor David Gulpilil as he returns to Country in the final years of his life. “Yurlu | Country,” another First Nations-focused work, received best sound in a documentary.

The awards’ in-memoriam segment, introduced by critic Margaret Pomeranz, honored recent losses in the Australian screen community. Actor Julian McMahon, who died last year, was posthumously named best supporting actor in film for “The Surfer.” His wife, Kelly McMahon, accepted the award and dedicated it “to all Australians.”

Gold Coast looks to screen tourism future

Beyond the trophies, the AACTA Festival and awards have become a key element of Queensland’s strategy to promote the Gold Coast as a production hub. The state government and organizers estimated this year’s event would generate about 4.85 million Australian dollars in economic activity.

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate has described the festival as an “internationally recognized event” that helps position the city as a “global screen destination.” AACTA chief executive Damian Trewhella said the winners “showcase the strength of our industry and the stories that continue to resonate locally and globally.”

Fan-voted audience choice awards reflected the pull of international franchises on Australian viewers. Favorite TV show went to “Stranger Things” Season 5 and favorite film to “Wicked: For Good.” Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi were named favorite Australian actress and actor, with Robert Irwin voted favorite media personality.

As Barber returned to the stage barefoot with a glass of champagne to usher “Bring Her Back” into the AACTA history books, the scene summed up a shifting landscape. Australian horror now sits at the top of the country’s most prestigious awards, prestige dramas are funded and streamed by global platforms, and the industry’s brightest talents work as easily in London, New York or Hollywood as they do at home on the Gold Coast.