AACTA Awards honour Sam Neill as Deborah Mailman takes out early gong — but Netflix is on the agenda - ABC News

Sam Neill wears a suit, holding up his hands.

The 2019 AACTA awards have kicked off in Sydney, with the industry honouring veteran actor Sam Neill, as controversy surrounding the inclusion of a Netflix biopic dominates the red carpet chatter.

The Australian stars of film and TV walked down the red carpet in Sydney this afternoon, with films such as Rachel Griffiths's directorial debut, Michelle Payne biopic Ride Like A Girl, as well as The Nightingale and Top End Wedding some of the nominees set to battle it out for the top gong.

But it is the inclusion of Netflix-backed Henry V biopic The King — which collected four preliminary awards on at the industry craft event on Monday — that has sparked the biggest controversy.

The King received only a limited theatrical release before it dropped on streaming service Netflix.

It was not shot in Australia but qualifies because key creatives, including actor-producer Joel Edgerton and director David Michod, are Australian.

Damon Herriman, who was an early winner as best actor for the film Judy and Punch, said The King's nomination was a "tricky one".

"It [the movie] does have a lot of Australians involved in the creative side and some Australian money," he said on the red carpet before the event.

"It becomes a grey area, but I guess they have to nail down exactly what does qualify as an Australian film, but I'm not an expert."

Neill was earlier this week honoured with the Australian screen industry's highest accolade, the Longford Lyell Award, in recognition of his illustrious screen career.

Speaking on the red carpet before today's ceremony, he said the debate surrounding The King was a fight "I don't want to have a dog in".

Neill is the 15th man to win the award in the past 20 years and the first New Zealander.

Early AACTA award winners:

The Nightingale (best direction, best screenplay)
Deborah Mailman (best lead actress in a TV drama - Total Control)
Old People's Home for 4-year-olds, ABC (best documentary or factual program)
You Can't Ask That, ABC (best factual entertainment program)

Because the awards celebrate Australian film, he suggested — tongue in cheek — someone had made a "terrible mistake".

"Maybe it wasn't me in the films at all, maybe it was Hugo Weaving, who knows," he said.

"But I've devoted a great deal of my life to Australia, and Australian film, so I'm very chuffed."

His most recent credits are Taika Waititi's Hunt for the Wilderpeople and Thor: Ragnarok, and Warwick Thornton's 2018 AACTA best film winner Sweet Country.

This year Neill appeared in Rachel Ward's Sydney Film Festival opening night movie Palm Beach, and as Payne's father in Ride Like A Girl.

A jubilant female jockey is surrounded by happy people at a horse racing meet.

Early AACTA winners include Deborah Mailman, who took out the best actress category for her starring role as a Queensland senator in ABC political drama Total Control.

Mailman has now won six AACTA awards, including best guest or supporting actress in a television drama last year for her work on ABC TV's Mystery Road, making her one of Australia's most celebrated actresses.

"I love it, I'm so proud of it," she said of the series on the red carpet earlier.

"It's my first lead role in a TV series, so that's why."

Earlier, Miranda Tapsell, who is nominated as best actress for Top End Wedding, talked about the Get Krack!n episode — which she is also nominated for, but did not win — where she starred with fellow Indigenous actor Nakkiah Lui.

Miranda Tapsell on the red carpet in Sydney today

"It [Get Krack!n] is the most insightful comedy for a long time," she said.

"For the Kates [Kate McCartney and Kate McLennan] to give me and Nakkiah a voice, it shows their grace, humility and power to give other women — particularly Aboriginal women — a chance like that."

Other winners so far include: