10 February 2010
CONGRATULATIONS
Great to be able to kick off our first bulletin with good news about Australian films on the world stage.
Academy Awards: Congratulations to all the Australians nominated for a 2010 Oscar®: Luke Doolan and Drew Bailey (Best Live Action Short - Miracle Fish), Janet Patterson (Best Costume Design - Bright Star), and producer Carolynne Cunningham (Best Picture - District 9). Find out more about Australian success at the Oscars.
Sundance Film Festival: Congratulations also to the teams behind the feature Animal Kingdom (writer/director David Michôd producer Liz Watts) and the short Young Love (writer/director Ariel Kleiman) for taking home awards at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. More details.
Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival: And congratulations to the Glenn Owen Dodds' team (writer Trent Dalton, director Frazer Bailey, producer Bec Dakin) on winning the International Prix Canal+ award.
AUSTRALIAN TALENT SHOWCASED AT BERLIN
The 2010 Berlin International Film Festival starts this week, running 11-21 February. One of the major events on the international film industry calendar, the festival celebrates its 60th anniversary this year and Australia is strongly represented across the board.
Four Australian films were selected for the festival:
- action thriller Red Hill, from writer/producer/director Patrick Hughes - Official Selection, Panorama Special section.
- Bran Nue Dae, directed by Rachel Perkins - Generation 14Plus section - a showcase for young people aged 14 years and over.
- short film Franswa Sharl, directed by Hannah Hilliard - Generation KPlus section, targeting the youngest cinemagoers aged four years and over.
- short film First Contact, from writer/director Rima Tamou and producer Pauline Clague, part of the omnibus film Embargo Project - selected for the festival Forum Expanded program.
The feature Cut Snake was selected from 354 submissions for the Berlinale Co-production Market. The film, currently in development, is being written by Blake Ayshford, will be produced by Michael McMahon with Tony Ayres attached as director.
Four up-and-coming film practitioners - Adrian Francis, Polly Staniford, Violeta Ayala and Zen Rosenthal - are representing Australia at the Berlinale Talent Campus.
More details.
OPPORTUNITY TO MEET EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY DIRECTOR
Marion Döring, Director of the European Film Academy, will give an insight into the work of the academy and filmmaking in Europe in a talk at Screen Australia's Sydney office in partnership with the Goethe Institute - European Cinema and Its Role in a Globalising World. Tuesday 2 March 2010, 5.30pm.
Free but RSVP essential to marketing@screenaustralia.gov.au. More details.
NEW VIDEO RESOURCE FOR SCREEN BUSINESSES
Late last year, Screen Australia's Enterprise Program external assessors, Ian Jones and Jonathan Olsberg, spoke to Sandy George about the changing Australian and international film and television industries. You can now watch videos of this session on the Screen Australia website, covering topics including:
- Screen industries and the global financial crisis
- Development opportunities
- Mitigating development risks
- Financing trends
- Made for the web business models
- UK and Aus practitioner relations
Watch the videos.
2009 BOX OFFICE
Screen Australia's analysis of the 2009 box office was released late last month.
The 418 films screened in Australian cinemas in 2009 grossed $1.09 billion, making last year's total box office the highest on record. Of those films, 50 were Australian, accounting for $54.8 million or 5.0 per cent of the total, according to Screen Australia analysis of Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia (MPDAA) data.
Mao's Last Dancer was the top-grossing Australian film in 2009, with Bruce Beresford's adaptation of Li Cunxin's best-selling memoir achieving $15.0 million over the last three months of the year. Baz Luhrmann's Australia followed, cementing its position as the second-highest grossing Australian film of all time by adding a further $10.6 million to its cumulative box office total of $37.6 million. The science fiction feature Knowing, directed by Alex Proyas, placed third with $7.6 million. Charlie & Boots claimed fourth position taking $3.9 million, followed by Warwick Thornton's critically acclaimed feature debut Samson & Delilah, which grossed $3.2 million at the Australian box office.
"Australian audiences embraced the diversity of stories produced by Australian filmmakers in 2009. Reports show that 1.4 million more Australians went to the cinema to see Australian films in 2009 than 2008 - a 45 per cent increase on the previous year," said Ruth Harley, Screen Australia Chief Executive.
Read the full details.
A note on definitions: Australian share of the box office is calculated based on the results for projects under Australian creative control, including those that are 100 per cent foreign financed, as well as projects where creative control is shared between Australian and foreign partners with a balanced mix of Australian and foreign elements in the key creative positions ('co-productions').
The classification of projects under these definitions is undertaken by Screen Australia's Strategy & Research Unit, and once determined, the classification flows through all project-related outputs of the Unit. This includes the National Survey of Feature Film and TV Drama Production, and the online statistics compilation Get the Picture, as well as reporting on box office and DVD share.
The classification is unrelated to whether or not a project has been certified as eligible for the Producer Offset, as the Strategy & Research Unit does not have direct access to this information. Administration of the Offset is governed by the secrecy provisions of the Tax Act and only the taxpayer, in this case the production company, can share information about their tax affairs, including the Offset status of their projects.
SCREEN AUSTRALIA ON THE ROAD IN MARCH
Ruth Harley and key staff will be on the road around the capital cities from 1 March for a series of industry forums. The sessions will aim to start discussing issues which may be canvassed in the Federal Government's upcoming review of the effectiveness of Government support measures for the independent screen production industry, including the Producer Offset. We're also keen to talk about co-productions as part of our review of the Official Co-production Program.
Exact dates and venues will be announced shortly.
POSITIONING FILMS IN TODAY'S MARKETPLACE
Screen Australia will be hosting a one-day seminar for emerging and experienced producers on positioning films in the current competitive marketplace. A line up of international and local speakers will give different perspectives on how the buyers really think.
The seminar will run in both Sydney and Melbourne in late March. Full details to be announced shortly.
VINCENT SHEEHAN SELECTED FOR ACE IPA
After a call for applications late last year, producer Vincent Sheehan of Porchlight Films has been selected by Ateliers du Cinema Europeen (ACE) to attend their ACE International Program (ACE IPA) in France and Switzerland, 14-21 March 2010. He will participate in an eight-day residential workshop for independent film producers, designed to encourage co-productions between Europe and the rest of the world and build an international network of producers. During the workshop Vincent will focus on his feature project Valve, to be directed by Andrew Lancaster and written by Liz Doran. More details.
SCREEN AUSTRALIA SUPPORTED EVENTS
February 2010 highlights include the Australian International Documentary Conference (AIDC, 24-26 February) and Movie Extra Tropfest (21 February).
Screen Australia is represented in three sessions at this year's AIDC.
- Head of Production Investment Ross Matthews and Producer Offset Program Manager Michele McDonald will talk about Making Co-productions and the Producer Offset Work for You - Tricks of the Trade (Thursday 25 Feb, 10.30am).
- CEO Ruth Harley will offer her insights into Australian independent documentary production and Screen Australia's role, a year on from her first session at AIDC in 2009 (Friday 26 Feb, 10.30am)
- Ruth's session will be followed by a practical look at doing business with Screen Australia - Behind the Screen (Australia), with Head of Production Investment Ross Matthews, Head of Marketing Kathleen Drumm and Legal Manager Martien Coucke (Friday 26 Feb, 11.45am).
The latest update of Documentary Production in Australia: A Collection of Key Data will be released in time for the conference, and we'll also have an exhibition stand where you can pick up printed material, make an enquiry or leave a message for Screen Australia staff.
Full program available on the AIDC website.
PROGRAM DEADLINES
Marketing
19 February - Broadening Audiences (film festivals, national touring programs and screening programs and major, standalone national awards events)
26 February - Market Escalator events (workshops, master classes, seminars, conferences or special events designed to increase marketing, distribution and exhibition knowledge and skills)
1 March - Cannes Travel Grants
Production Investment
20 April - Production Investment applications for the July Board meeting.
Please note: many Screen Australia funding programs do not have deadlines and are not assessed in rounds. Please check the website for application details for specific programs.
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