ScreenACT Newsletter

Welcome

Welcome to the July 2006 edition of the ScreenACT Newsletter: a source of information from the ACT Government for the local Film, Television and Digital Media industry and enthusiasts. We welcome your feedback and news.

In this Issue

• From the Editor
• Deadline for August 2006 Newsletter
• Online version of ACT & Capital Region Industry Directory now available
• ScreenACT and AIE sponsorships for mid-year intensive training for games & film
• ScreenACT congratulates the winners of CITs FAT Awards
• ScreenACT congratulates local filmmakers screened at SNOWYfest
• Public Liability Insurance
• Thoughts on the art & craft of shor
• SNOWYfest winners
• Canberra Shorts
• National Film and Sound Archive Cinémathèque at Electric Shadows Cinemas
• NIDA on tour in Canberra
• The 3rd annual Canberra Games Festival – Culture Art Identity
• ACT Filmmakers Network Briefing Sessions Program 2006
• FNI(A) Video Journalist/Documentary making seminar
• 2006 ATOM Awards call for entries
• Home Brewed Call for Entries
• INSITE Competition for Unproduced Screenplays
• Festival of Liberti
• FNI(A) Achievement Awards call for entries
• Ztudio 3 Minute Opportunity 2006
• 2006 Inside Film Awards Call For Entries from Filmmakers and Scriptwriters
• Australian Film Television & Radio School (AFTRS) National Screening Tour
• Indigenous filmmaker funding opportunity
• AFC July/August funding deadlines

The 2005-06 financial year ended with some exciting achievements for the local screen sectors.

The Canberra Institute of Technology celebrated the emerging filmmaking talents of first and second year Communication, Media and Music students at its annual FAT Awards. SNOWYfest screened 23 films from local filmmakers as part of its Capital Region category and the runner-up for Best Film was former Canberran, Leon Ford.

ScreenACT partnered with local 3D animation and games development training organisation, AIE, to provide four sponsored positions in the July intake of its Certificate IV in 3D Animation for Games and Film.

Regular local screening event, Canberra Shorts, secured a new sponsor from the private sector, Mortgage Australia Group. More private sector investment in the screen industry is a great way to ensure industry growth and sustainability and should be encouraged.

This month sees a visit to Canberra by the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) with a series of short courses for participants of all ages.

The 3rd Annual Canberra Games Festival will be held later in the month, with a theme of Culture, Art and Identity. As part of the festival, AIE and WACOM Technology will be presenting Game On! on 26 July, a free schools event designed to promote awareness of the thriving Australian games, film and 3D animation industries. Separate sessions will be held for primary and secondary students. This free event follows on from the success of the Australian Game Developers Conference Schools and Computer Games Summit, held in November last year in Melbourne. ScreenACT and Micro Forte Pty Ltd together supported 15 ACT teachers to attend that event, which generated some fantastic feedback. Based on the response to the Summit, we hope Game On! attracts a lot of interest from local schools and gives students a taste of the possibilities for a career in the digital media sector.

The Opportunities and Competitions section of this newsletter includes some exciting opportunities for scriptwriters with unproduced screenplays and, on a writing theme, we have also included some thoughts on the importance of “story” for producing a great short film.

Also included in this newsletter is some general information about public liability insurance, which filmmakers should plan for in their production budgets.

Article submissions are due by COB 25 July 2006.
ScreenACT welcomes news stories, upcoming events and other items of interest from subscribers for inclusion in our newsletter.

Please ensure all articles are accurate and have been proofread prior to submission. ScreenACT holds no responsibility for the publication of inaccurate information submitted to it by external parties and reserves the right to edit and/or refuse articles at its discretion.

Articles should be submitted by email to screenact@act.gov.au with “Newsletter Item” in the subject line.

ScreenACT has made a short-form version of the ACT & Capital Region Industry Directory available online for the information of visiting productions and the local industry. The short form directory can be viewed at: http://www.screenact.act.gov.au/filming/Industry_Directory_temp.html.

Listings for the online directory have been taken from those who submitted registration forms to ScreenACT last year. ScreenACT has made an effort to check that details submitted are still current. However, if you are aware that your details have changed since registering for the hard copy directory last year, please check the listing and advise ScreenACT of any changes by email to: screenact@act.gov.au with "Industry Directory Correction" in the subject line.

The hard copy version distributed at the ScreenACT launch event in August 2005 is no longer available due to certain problems with its content – any old versions should not be relied on. We apologise for the delay in revising the directory because of resourcing issues. A searchable online version of the directory with more extensive listing information was in development, but has been put on hold until further notice. We will notify you if the searchable directory is to go ahead, as soon as further information comes to hand.

If you are not listed in the short form directory and would like to be listed, email ScreenACT at screenact@act.gov.au with your details, including professional credits if seeking to be listed in a production category. ScreenACT will review all submissions before adding them to the online directory and may check credits.

ScreenACT, together with AIE, Australia’s leading 3D animation and games development training organization, are pleased to announce four co-sponsored positions for the July intake of the Certificate IV in 3D Animation for Games and Film at AIE’s Canberra campus.

Four sponsorships valued at $1400 each were made available to successful eligible applicants in the areas of:
Women seeking careers in the Games, Film and related creative digital industries, or
Students from disadvantaged backgrounds; or
Practitioners in another field looking to re-train in 3D animation.

In the Certificate IV students learn and apply the range of skills in 3D content production essential to the games, film, television, design and other 3D industries. Completion of this course is an essential foundation to help students decide on future training directions & industry destinations, and leads into Diploma of Computer Game Development or Diploma of Screen.

ScreenACT would like to congratulate the four successful applicants: Prokopios Varvatsoulis, Amelia White, Helena Morback and Orion Calvett.

More information on the courses can be found at the AIE website: www.aie.act.edu.au.

The Canberra Institute of Technology’s 9th Annual Film and Television (FAT) Awards were held at The National Museum of Australia on Thursday 15 June in front of a crowd of over 300 people.

The prestigious Golden FAT was awarded to Tim Chartier for his film Sleeping Awake, a film about a young man who finds himself in a strange dreamlike world where he is talking to himself about his future directions.

Other student films to receive awards included:
Best Soundtrack, ‘The final fold’ by Ciara Rumble
Best Script, ‘King of the Castle’ by Trenton Smith
Best Direction, ‘Ulladulla’ by Karen Roberts
Best Editing, ‘The final fold’ by Ciara Rumble

Best Cinematography, ‘Dreams can come true’ by Elke Hawke
Best Documentary, ‘Sex’ by Emily O’Connor
Audience Choice, ‘Sleeping Awake’ by Tim Chartier

ScreenACT congratulates each of the winners and the 75 students who submitted short films for the awards and hopes to see more of their work screened in festivals across Australia in future years.

ScreenACT was the proud sponsor of the award for Best Script, presented to Trenton Smith. Trenton received a copy of Robert McKee's Story, a 12-month membership to the ACT Writers Centre and a 12-month subscription to Inside Film magazine, courtesy of ScreenACT. We wish Trenton well with his future writing endeavors.

ScreenACT would like to congratulate runner-up in the Best Film category of the SNOWYfest International Film Festival, director Leon Ford, for his film The Mechanicals. Leon is a former Canberran, having spent his school years here.

ScreenACT would also like to congratulate the following local filmmakers who were finalists in SNOWYfest’s Capital Region category and screened at Thredbo over the weekend of June 16-18:

Bunny & Rabbit (Director: David Doepel, Producers: David Doepel & Andrew Foster)
Chasing Parallels (Director: Christian Doran, Producers: Soren Jensen & Christian Doran)
Every Thing Ruined (Director: Scott Murden, Producer: Brendan Sloane)
Everyday Things (Director: Douglas Kirk, Producers: Heather Spong & Bobby Farquhar)
Hypothetically Speaking (Director/Producer: James Hunter)
In Bad Taste (Director: David Easteal, Producer: Matt Fallon)
Just a Crack (Directors/Producers: Sam Burns-Warr & Jordan Prosser)
Members of the Board (Director: James Lane, Producer: DM Travers)
Not your average Joe (Director: Ben Wade, Producers: Adam Grant & Ben Wade)
One for the Road (Director: David Doepel, Producers: David Doepel & James Moller)
Our community (Director: Sean Kennedy, Producer: Frances Peters-Little)
Pre-School (Director/Producer: Belinda Barancewicz)
Rondo (Director: Rohan Taylor, Producers: Jacinta Britton & Michael Easter)
Seven Days with Seven Dogs (Director/Producer: Billie Dean, Producer: Andrew Einspruch)
Silent Night (Director: Douglas Kirk, Producer: Bobby Farquhar)
Something to Sing About (Director: Nathan Luff, Producer: Carissa Buckland)
Spin City (Director/Producer: Patrick J Gallagher)
Tallagandra Lane (Director: Scott Holgate, Producers: Ian Thomson & Scott Holgate)
The Car Park (Directors/Producers: Brent & Scott Holgate)
The Milkman (Director: Duane Fogwell, Producer: Gaz Benson)
The night before the morning after (Director/Producer: Scott Maybury, Producer:Lillace Mary)
The Unsung Joys Of Canberra (Director/Producer: Simon Phegan)
Whingeing Bastard (Director/Producer: Susie Prest)

When organising locations for a production, it is not only important to consider permitting requirements, but also your potential legal liability for any damage to property or injury to persons coming into contact with your production. Certain insurances are required by law throughout the period of a film production to protect against this.

Most public authorities within the ACT and NSW require public liability insurance cover for a minimum of $10 million to cover any loss, damage and/or injury caused by anyone employed or contracted by the Production Company. A copy of the independent filmmaker or production company’s current Certificate of Currency is usually required as evidence of the production’s insurance cover.

Within the ACT, public authorities such as Roads ACT or the National Capital Authority may also require a risk profile or risk management plan as part of the permitting process, depending on the size of the production. The ACT Government’s risk advisory website (www.insuranceriskadvice.act.gov.au) provides information to help organisations establish risk management frameworks, including examples of risk management plans.

Public liability insurance protects you and your business against the financial risk of being found liable to a third party for death or injury, loss or damage of property or “pure economic” loss resulting from your negligence. It can also cover your legal costs associated with defending a claim, even if you are not found to be negligent or liable for an incident giving rise to loss, damage, death or injury. However, public liability insurance may not cover legal liability in relation to certain other risks, such as liability for loss arising out of the use of a motor vehicle, which would need to be insured under separate policies.

Cover provided by public liability insurance is usually offered on an Australia-wide basis but can be extended to include overseas shoots.

Other types of insurance may also be relevant to your production, including Negative Risk, Multi-Risk for equipment, props and sets, travel insurance, Film Producer's Indemnity and Errors and Omissions.

An insurance agent can assist you to assess your risk and recommend appropriate insurance based on your production budget. Industry directories, such as The Production Book and Encore Directory, list insurance underwriters and brokers that provide insurance for the film industry. ScreenACT keeps copies of both of these directories in its office for use of members of the local industry. A time can be arranged for viewing the directories by contacting ScreenACT on 02 6205 0587 or by email at screenact@act.gov.au.

The information provided above has been sourced from the following:

The Arts Law Centre of Australia (www.artslaw.com.au)
Australian Film Commission (www.afc.gov.au)
business.gov.au (www.business.gov.au)
Cinesure (www.cinesure.com.au)
Film Insurance Underwriting Agencies Pty Ltd (www.fiua.com.au)
National Capital Authority (www.natcap.gov.au)
Roads ACT Special Events Handbook (www.roads.act.gov.au)
ACT Government Risk Advisory Service (www.insuranceriskadvice.act.gov.au)

Members of the ScreenACT team attended the SNOWYfest International Film Festival over the weekend of 16-18 June in Thredbo. It served as a reminder of the most important element for a great short film, or any film for that matter - the story itself.

New filmmakers just starting out often get frustrated about competing with filmmakers that have access to all the best equipment, but no matter what the production values of your film, it is the story that has to shine through! You can hire the best actors and top of the line crew and equipment, but without a good story, the film will fail! And telling a story in only 5 or 30 minutes is a hard ask of anyone - often harder than writing a feature script. Many short films show great promise only to let the audience down in the final scene. Nail the story in a short film and see where it takes you.

The winner of the SNOWYfest Best Film category was Binta & the Great Idea, an example of a beautiful story told exceptionally well. Entered by a Spanish filmmaker, the film was the festival's first international winner and the organisers of SNOWYfest say it is probably the best short film they have ever seen. The judges obviously agreed.

A mistake that aspiring filmmakers sometimes make is to attend a festival screening simply to watch their own film screened and to gauge people's reaction to their work. While it is a fundamental lesson in short filmmaking to see how an independent audience reacts to your work, it is equally, if not more, important to the ongoing development of your craft and skills to watch as many quality short films as you can. If you are not immersing yourself in the craft and taking the opportunity to learn from other filmmakers, how do you expect to develop as a filmmaker?

Robert McKee, screenwriter and author of Story, says much the same in his world-renowned Story Seminar. He recommends developing the craft of scriptwriting by reading as many of the great screenplays as you can get your hands on and learning/developing the craft from them. Many classic screenplays like Casablanca and Chinatown can be purchased or simply downloaded from the internet. Given the regard for McKee's work, ScreenACT included Story as part of the prize for Best Script sponsored by ScreenACT at the recent CIT FAT Awards.

So, for anyone who wants to be a great short filmmaker or thinks they already are one, remember: Don't be complacent about your work, but look at it with a critical eye in the context of the work of others. See how your work stands up against work from as wide a region as possible. Take every opportunity to watch short films, from all over the world. There are some amazing short films out there, from which you can learn all sorts of techniques to take your own work from good to great. And most importantly, the story is the key.

If you are interested in developing your skills in scriptwriting, try contacting the ACT Writers Centre (www.actwriters.org.au) or Australian Writers Guild (www.awg.com.au) for information on where to start.

Thredbo turned in great skiing and boarding conditions, and clear blue skies for the running of SNOWYfest 2006, which screened at Thredbo from June 16-18. And this year produced the festival’s first international winner. The SNOWYfest winners for 2006 are as follows:

Kosciuszko-Thredbo Prize for Best Film, Binta & The Great Idea (Spain)
(Director: Javier Fesser, Producer: Luis Manso, Manuel García)

Best Film Runner Up, The Mechanicals
(Director: Leon Ford, Producer: Nicole O'Donohue)

Best Capital Region Film, The Milkman
(Director: Duane Fogwell, Producer: Gaz Benson)

Capital Region Runner Up Our Community
(Director: Sean Kennedy, Producer: Frances Peters-Little)

Judges were blown away by the quality of films this year and the final scoring was very close. The organisers would like to thank all those who entered in 2006 and particularly those who came along to the festival.

Current information can be found at www.snowyfest.com.

July’s edition of Canberra Shorts sees more movie trivia and short films, including a selection of finalists and winners from SNOWYfest 2006. Giveaways and prizes this month include the renowned screenwriting bible from the screenwriting workshop, STORY by Robert McKee. Submissions from local filmmakers are welcome at anytime. Entry is free and entry forms can be found at www.canberrashorts.com.

Canberra Shorts is proudly supported by Electric Shadows & RONIN FILMS, The ACT Filmmakers Network, Holy Grail Restaurant & Bar, the Academy of Interactive Entertainment, Mortgage Australia Group, and the SNOWYfest International Film Festival.

Electric Shadows Cinemas, City Walk, Canberra, admission by subscription
Unless noted, all films 18+ only

NFSA Cinémathèque at Electric Shadows Cinemas screens a new season of works in July, A Band of Outsiders: the Cinematic Underworld of Jean-Pierre Melville. Iconic French director Melville made 13 films across his 25-year career. Most famous is his series of richly mannered 'Serie noirs' and 'Policer' French genre films, but Melville's work also included a number of powerful and moving non-genre films, based on his own involvement in the French Resistance.

NFSA Cinémathèque will screen Army of the Shadows, Melville’s dream-like, semi-autobiographical film transposing his gangster-noir to a Resistance setting; Les Enfants terribles, a claustrophobic drama about the relationship between two siblings, based on Jean Couteau's famous novel; Le Doulos - Melville directs Jean-Paul Belmondo in a noir tale of self-defined morality in the criminal underworld; and The Samurai, Melville’s tour-de-force and one of the most influential works of crime cinema, starring Alain Delon.

ARMY OF THE SHADOWS (unclassified 18+) screens 8 July, 2.00pm
LES ENFANTS TERRIBLES (PG) screens 15 July, 2.00pm
LE DOULOS (unclassified 18+) screens 22 July, 2.00pm
THE SAMURAI (PG) preceded by JEAN-PIERRE MELVILLE: PORTRAIT IN NINE POSES (unclassified 18+) screens 29 July, 2.00pm

Presented in association with the Sydney International Film Festival and the Melbourne Cinémathèque.

The full program is now online at: www.nfsa.afc.gov.au/cinematheque.

Monday 17 July – Sunday 23 July, Daramalan College, Cowper St, Dickson
Course prices available on NIDA website

The National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) trains Australia’s most talented people to become the world’s best entertainment professionals. NIDA’s graduates include Cate Blanchett, Mel Gibson, Hugo Weaving, Baz Luhrmann, Jacqueline McKenzie, Miranda Otto and many more.

The tour provides community access to NIDA’s expertise by bringing short courses to capital cities and regional centres across Australia. NIDA Open Program’s short courses are fun and challenging, with expert tutors, many of whom are NIDA graduates, on hand to extend and develop creative skills and give an insight into industry careers.

With weeklong and weekend classes for participants from 9 years old to adults, NIDA on Tour has something for everyone interested in the dramatic arts.

For more information or to make a booking, please contact NIDA Open Program on (02) 9697 7626 or by email at: open@nida.edu.au. For full program details or to download a PDF application form, visit: www.nida.edu.au.

18 – 31 July 2006

The 3rd annual Canberra Games Festival starts in less than two weeks time and is shaping up to be the best Festival yet. Current program highlights include the LazyBoyz Lan Tournaments, the 14th ANU Chess Festival, the Canberra Games Festival Trivia Night and GAME ON! AIE Schools Day. More exciting events will be announced in the coming weeks.

The new theme - Culture Art Identity - celebrates the positive contribution that games have made to our society and recognises the increasing acceptance of games, both as a valid form of entertainment and as a genuine artistic medium.

For more information visit www.canberragamesfestival.com or contact Peter Henderson - Event Coordinator at email: peterh@ieevents.com.au; phone: 6162 5108, or facsimile: 6242 5090.

Commencing 7pm, Wednesday 19 July

The ACT Filmmakers Network is presenting five briefing sessions between July and December 2006. Each session focuses upon one aspect of innovation in the production development process to support an increase in professional knowledge for film/television and cross media exploitation of productions. The sessions will profile the command structure, production chain, technologies and processes of developing productions.

The briefing sessions are:

Wednesday 19th July - Developing the Production Proposal - the pre-production process, and the mechanics of development.

Wednesday 23rd August - Chain of Title - to cover the legal requirement to developing the production - nationally and internationally.

Wednesday 27th September - Interactivity - the interrelationship of film/television and the interactive component of content for websites, IPOD, RSS and mobile phones devices.

Wednesday 25th October - Documentary - What do the broadcasters want in a good documentary?

Wednesday 29th November - Cinematographer and High Definition Video - How is cinematography being affected by HD technology in film and digital environments?

More details are available at: www.actfilmnet.org.au. For further information, contact the ACT Filmmakers Network by phone: 02 6162 5160 or e-mail: admin.actfilmmakers@netspeed.com.au.

7pm, Monday 24 July, National Film and Sound Archive Theatre, McCoy Circuit, Acton, Free admission

SBS Award Winning Journalist, Chris Hammer, will speak about video journalism/ documentary making, and present some of his work.

Chris Hammer returned to Dateline in 2005 after a four-year break. During a 20-year career in journalism, Chris has divided his efforts between reporting international events and three 'tours of duty' covering Federal Politics from Canberra's Press Gallery. He undertook his first international assignment for Dateline back in 1992, traveling to Scandinavia. Since then Chris has reported from more than 30 countries on six continents, with highlights including reports from the Caucusas, Japan, Bosnia, Cambodia and Brazil. He has a bachelor's degree in Journalism from Charles Sturt University and a master's in International Relations from the ANU.

Chris intends concentrating on the Pacific and Australian Foreign and Defence policy.

Enquiries to Nora Preston on 0407 601 662 or (02) 6161 1596 or email: fni_a@yahoo.com.au.

Entry Deadline: 12pm, 12 July, Judging: August, Finalists notified: Mid-September, Awards ceremony: 10 November

The ATOM Film, Television and Multimedia Awards recognise the achievements of Australian and New Zealand professional educators and students in 36 categories.

The awards are open to students, production companies, independent filmmakers, educational bodies and producers and celebrate the very best of Australian and New Zealand product.

The awards and the presentation ceremony are designed to facilitate networks between Media students and industry professionals, making it unique among a host of other media-related awards.

Australian Teachers of Media Inc is the professional association for teachers of media. Membership of ATOM is available to qualified teachers in any discipline, members of the film, television and multimedia industries, and people supporting the general aims of the organisation.

Download the call for entries at the ATOM Awards website: www.atomawards.org or call the ATOM Awards office on 03 9534 9986.

Entry deadline: 21 July

Entries close for the 2006 Home Brewed International Film Festival on 21 July. The winners of the 0-10 minute and 10-30 minutes category will each receive $5000 cash.

Up to 8 hours of short films will be selected for screenings across the country including Sydney, Melbourne, Bowral, Wollongong, Canberra and Lake Crackenback. Home Brewed will screen in Canberra on 6 October. Go to www.homebrewed.com.au for further details.

Entry deadline: 31 July

The Australian Writers' Guild (AWG) and the Adelaide Film Festival AFF are calling for entries to the third AWG/AFF INSITE Competition for Unproduced Screenplays.

Entry to INSITE is open to all financial AWG members with the winning screenplay to receive a rehearsed public reading during the Adelaide Film Festival 2007 (February 22-March 4 2007). The reading will be directed by a leading Australian director and cast with professional actors. The writer will be brought to Adelaide to participate during rehearsals and will work closely throughout the rehearsal process with the director and actors. A shortlist of screenplays will also be sent for reading to a number of Australian producers and distribution companies.

Actors that have participated in the INSITE rehearsed readings include Aden Young, Rhys Muldoon, Luke Carroll and Ernie Dingo.

New members are encouraged to enter. Full information, entry forms and AWG membership applications are available from www.awg.com.au.

The biennial Adelaide Film Festival celebrates and explores contemporary screen culture with a unique program of screenings and special events including the premier of films commissioned by the festival.

All media enquiries to Stephen Asher, Communications Manager, Australian Writers' Guild at comms@awg.com.au or 02 9281 1554 ext. 222 or Adele Hann, Associate Director of the Adelaide Film Festival on 08 8271 1029.

Entry deadline: 15 August

The “Festival of Liberties” film festival is calling for entries. A selection team will choose 20 films for viewing at the festival that will take place in Brussels in November. Entries can be feature length or can be documentaries with a 26-minute length minimum.

Entries should reflect the theme of the festival, being the liberties and rights of the human being.

For further information on submissions and the festival, contact Rudi Barnet via email at: rudi.barnet@skynet.be.

Entries deadline: 24 August; Early entry deadline 12 July 2006; Judging: September; Awards Ceremony: November

The FNI(A) Annual Awards early entry prize closes 12 July 2006. Entries are open to all genre, and filmmakers from Australia or overseas.

Achievement Awards will be awarded for each genre, Documentary, Feature, Short, Animation, for the Best and Most Original Newcomer, and the Best Original Film/Original Score.

For entry forms and enquiries email: fni_a@yahoo.com.au or phone 02 6161 1596 or 0415 296 472. Visit the website at: www.geocities.com/fni_a/.

Entry deadline: 31 August


ZTudio, the production arm of Stacey Testro International, has announced that entries for the ZTudio 3 Minute Opportunity 2006 are open. This unique opportunity aims to discover, develop and produce a feature film. Filmmakers are asked to submit a feature script, with three minutes of footage to demonstrate the story, set the tone and visual style, and show ZTudio the project’s marketing potential.

Writers, directors or writer/director teams can visit www.ztudio.com for more information. The successful project will be announced at SPAA Fringe 2006.

Enquiries: Emma Woolley, (03) 9645 9181 or email emma@ztudio.com.

Entry Deadline: 28 July

The Inside Film (IF) Awards has announced that the Glendfiddich Independent Spirit IF Award and the ZTudio What IF? Award for Best Unproduced screenplay are open for entries.

The Glenfiddich Independent Spirit IF Award recognises an individual or a team of no more than three key creatives who, despite highly limited resources and/or challenging circumstances, have demonstrated the creativity, tenacity and independence of vision required to make a compelling film of any length or genre.
The emphasis is on rewarding emerging filmmaker/filmmakers who have shown originality in their approach to content, style, development and production techniques. Entries that challenge the status quo are particularly welcome. The winner (if from interstate) will be flown to Sydney to accept their award during the television broadcast.


The winner will receive: $12,000 worth of post-production services, courtesy of The Lab Sydney, the 2007 edition of The Production Book, free entry into the short course of their choice at the Australian Film Television and Radio School and a 12-month subscription to IF Club.

The Ztudio What IF? Competition for Best Unproduced Screenplay aims to discover a writer and script with enormous potential. The award winner will be a screenwriter who has been enthusiastic and proactive in getting their screenplay developed, but has not yet been successful in getting this work from script to screen. The winner is flown to a country of their choice to meet with agents and/or producers to pitch their script and themselves.

For further enquiries please contact the IF Awards office on 02 9318 4400 or e-mail polly@if.com.au.

Application forms can be downloaded from the IF Awards website: www.ifawards.com.

Tuesday 29 June – Wednesday 23 August, Various locations around Australia
Free admission

Film lovers will have the chance to see work from Australia’s hottest young filmmakers when AFTRS launches its annual National Screening Tour on June 29. The AFTRS National Screening Tour will take a collection of the best films produced by 2006 AFTRS graduates around the country.

The National Screening Tour will include free recruitment seminars detailing how to apply for Australia’s top screen and broadcast training institution. Applications for AFTRS open July 21.

The Sydney screening is the nearest for those in the ACT and Capital Region. The AFTRS has advised that unfortunately they are unable to bring the tour to the ACT this year. The Sydney screening will be held at 6.30pm on Thursday 29 June, followed by a seminar at 8.00pm at the Palace Academy Sydney Cinema 300, 3A Oxford Street, Paddington. For enquiries, contact the AFTRS on 02 9805 6611.

For more information on the National Screening Tour, seminar dates in other states and application forms visit www.aftrs.edu.au.

Application deadline: 4 August
NIDF 9 is an initiative of the Indigenous Branch of the AFC and Indigenous Screen Australia, in association with the Film Finance Corporation Australia (FFC), SBSi and the relevant state funding agencies.

NIDF 9 will comprise two 52-minute documentaries designed to bring important Indigenous stories to the screen, authored and crafted by Indigenous people.

The aim of NIDF 9 is to provide an opportunity for Indigenous filmmakers to work on longer-format documentaries. The selected projects will be well crafted, based on strong ideas, exhibit a high level of creative ambition and demonstrate the possibility of being financed for production. Each project must have Indigenous Australians in key creative roles (minimum writer and director). Indigenous producers are strongly encouraged to apply.

The writer, director and producer (if attached) must each have at least one, preferably two, short documentary credit/s of minimum 26 minutes duration that has/have been broadcast. Credits must be in roles in which applicants are applying (ie the director must have a directorial credit etc).

Applications will be accepted from any Australian State or Territory.


Detailed information about selection criteria and assessment can be downloaded from the website: www.afc.gov.au/funding/indigenous/documentary/nidf9/fund_76.aspx.

For further information, email indigenous@afc.gov.au.

FILM DEVELOPMENT
7 July New Screenwriters Program (NSP)
Strand L - Shooting Time-Critical Material
14 July Strand G - Short TV Drama Series and Animation Production (25-55 mins)
21 July Strand B - Seed Feature Funding
28 July General Development Investment (GDI)
4 August Strand I - IndiVision Low-budget Feature Production
11 August Strand L - Shooting Time-Critical Material
Strand V - Interactive Digital Media Early Development
Strand W - Interactive Digital Media Matched Investment Development Funding
18 August Strand S - Animation Development

INDIGENOUS
4 August NIDF 9

INDUSTRY AND CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT
14 August ICD Interactive Media Fund
New Projects Fund

TRAVEL GRANTS
1 August For attending MIPCOM: Television Market, Cannes
Type B (Producers with market experience)
Type C (Producers developing market experience)


Note that several Film Development strands are undergoing major changes from 1 July 2006. The new Film Development Funding Guidelines 2006 is now available on the AFC website at: www.afc.gov.au/funding/fd/default.aspx. Applicants can contact AFC Film Development administration staff with specific queries on phone: 02 9321 6444.