It's that time of year again. Australian cinema audiences are busy catching up on this year's finest films in preparation for the AFI awards presentation. The AFI awards are Australia's equivalent to the Academy Awards, though AFI membership is open to all cinephiles, instead of being restricted to a 'by invitation only' elitist tradition.

This year, perhaps more than any other in recent memory, is packed to the brim with innovative, quality films. Films that reveal that Australian cinema has once and for all left its traditional, conservative, literary-based cinematic tradition behind - making way for a series of deeply psychological, groundbreaking voices to be heard.

The best of the best this year, in terms of nominations received, is the scathing drama The Boys with 13 nominations. Ana Kokkinos' brilliant feature debut, Head On fared well, with 9 nominations. It also receives my vote for the Best Film of the Year. Hugo Weaving's psychological star vehicle The Interview also received 9 nominations.

Gillian Armstrong proved that she could still stir up critical recognition with Oscar & Lucinda, while her period adaptation of a Peter Carey novel failed to have such an effect on audiences. Her film received 7 nominations in all, just one more than Radiance. In the Winter Dark gained 3 nominations, closely followed by Dance Me to My Song, Amy and Dead Letter Office with 2. Terra Nova, A Little Bit of Soul each received one nomination, while The Sound of One Hand Clapping rounded out the elite list with a nomination for Costume Design.

The masterful L.A. Confidential, unfairly ignored by the commercially-driven Academy Awards, has been nominated as Best Foreign Film. While it is in good company - Scorsese's brilliant Kundun has also been nominated, it will almost certainly take out the prestigious award.

The categorised nominations as they stand are as follows:

Good luck to all concerned. It's been a great year for Australian cinema!