Digital media and film - News and events

Events | Featured projects | Announcements

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Events

Australian Broadcasting Summit 2010

23–24 March 2010

Celebrating its 8th year, the Australian Broadcasting Summit 2010 comes during a time of great change and opportunity for the industry. Digital adoption is accelerating, and the challenges of audience fragmentation, a tighter advertising climate and increased competition from new media are all contributing to a new broadcasting environment. This summit is considered the annual meeting place for key influencers in Australia's broadcasting industry and features a two day conference on television broadcasting media, and a one day conference on radio. 

Grant Stevens, Burst - Perth

12 February – 5 April 2010

This trilogy of new video works by Brisbane artist Grant Stevens is in response to his time in Los Angeles. Screened together for the first time, If Things Were Different (2009), Crushing (2009), and Really Really (2007) expose the deep ambivalence of the human condition. The works oscillate between the fanciful and romantic to the abrasively cynical by drawing on tropes of Hollywood film, advertising or bad day-time TV. They purposefully mishandle media devices of editing, framing, cropping, and incorporating text or muzak. Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts.

Elastic Reality: Australian Animation in the 21st Century - Canberra

December 2009 – May 2010

Celebrating Australian's successes in the field of animation, Elastic Reality is a collection of images taken from the films of Australia's most prominent creators of animation. Representing a variety of animation types the exhibition includes work from Yoram Gross, Bruce Petty, Sarah Watt, Sejong Park, Adam Elliot and George Miller. Animation has developed rapidly since the beginning of filmmaking with digital technologies' mass storage capabilities enabling startling reproduction techniques compared to the traditional, labour intensive, style of making tens of thousands of individual drawings to produce a film. National Film and Sound Archive.

4th Dungog Film Festival - Dungog, New South Wales

27–30 May 2010

Set in tiny Dungog, this four-day annual event presents Australian film content and is a launch pad for filmmakers. The festival includes seminars, master classes, treasures from the past, special events and live script performances.

Mary and Max: the Exhibition - Melbourne

2 March – 6 June 2010

Mary and Max: the Exhibition goes behind-the-scenes of the miniature plasticine world of Oscar-winning director and writer Adam Elliot's Mary and Max (2009). The film chronicles an unlikely pen-pal friendship between lonely eight-year-old Mary Daisy Dinkle and Max Jerry Horowitz, who has Asperger Syndrome and loves chocolate hot dogs. From the manicured lawns of Mount Waverley to the New York city skyline, this exhibition allows viewers to see these wonderful creations up close. Items on display include character models, costumes, sketches, sets, storyboards, props (meticulously crafted miniature hand-blown wine glasses, a working typewriter, light bulbs) and footage of the animators at work. Australian Centre for the Moving Image.

Sydney Film Festival 2010 - Sydney

2–14 June 2010

The 57th Sydney Film Festival brings new films to Sydney from around the world. As well as brand new features from over forty countries, the festival screens short films, Australian films, documentaries and archive titles, many of which are recently restored. The festival hosts a number of awards to recognise excellence in filmmaking, including the Dendy Awards for Australian Short Films and the Official Competition, which celebrates 'courageous and audacious filmmaking'.

Little Big Shots - Melbourne

9–14 June 2010

Little Big Shots is Melbourne's International Film Festival for kids. Now in its sixth year, it includes around 80 films from over 20 countries. The festival allows children to see international material that would never otherwise make it to Australia. A 10-member children's jury will vote on their favourite films in two categories: the best Australian adult-made film and the best Australian child-made film. The winning films will be screened at the Little Big Shots. An Australia-wide tour of the festival follows. Various locations.

Revelation Perth International Film Festival - Perth

8–18 July 2010

The Revelation Perth International Film Festival developed from a range of alternative and independent screen culture activities and experiments to what is regarded as one of Australia's most unique annual screen activities. Taking place in cinemas, bars and clubs around the country this strange brew embraced live music, performance, movies and all manner of strange and unusual activity. The Astor Theatre.

Melbourne International Film Festival - melbourne

23 July – 8 August 2010

Melbourne International Film Festival 2010 (MIFF) hosts a feast of cinematic delicacies from over 50 countries for 17 days each winter, with a range of parties and special events. In addition to screening films from around fifty countries, MIFF showcases new Australian cinema and emerging and established local filmmaking talent.

d/Lux/MediaArts: Face to Face - Cairns and Bundaberg, Queensland

19 March – 16 May 2010; 14 July 2010 – 29 August 2010

Featuring works by 14 Australian artists, this exhibition includes a range of media including digital photography, video and interactive installation all of which provide a unique and engaging perspective on how digital technologies are reshaping our understanding and experience of contemporary identity. Cairns Regional Gallery; Bundaberg Art Centre.

Featured projects

Games Industry Skills website and project - national

January 2010

This site promotes the Creative Benchmarker Survey and Workers Survey, and a national project on the digital games industry workforce in Australia. The project aims to identify and evaluate skill sets and occupations required for employment in the Australia's digital games industry, and to measuring the extent, source and impact of skills deficiencies. The project invites stakeholders to express their views in relation to any aspect of it.

Announcements

16th Annual AIMIA Awards Winners Announced

5 March 2010

The Australian Interactive Media Industry Association (AIMIA), Australia's peak industry body for digital and interactive content, honoured the 25 winners of its 16th Annual AIMIA Awards.  Best Children's Winner was Budd:e E-security Education Package by Roar Film and the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy.  Best Cross-Platform Winner was Tourism Queensland – Best Job in the World with Creative Development by Sapient Nitro.  Best Cultural or Lifestyle Winner was Gallipoli: The First Day by ABC Innovation. 

Three Australians on final Oscar nomination shortlist

February 2010

Three Australians were named in the Oscar nominations ceremony held at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills, making it through to the final shortlists in their categories. Janet Patterson was nominated for best costume design, for her work in Jane Campion's period drama Bright Star. Patterson's Oscar nomination for costume design on Bright Star is the fourth of her career. She was nominated in 1998 for Oscar and Lucinda, in 1997 for The Portrait of a Lady and 1994 for The Piano. Luke Doolan and Drew Bailey were also nominated for live action short film for their movie Miracle Fish. Warick Thornton's Samson & Delilah made the Oscars shortlist of nine films in the foreign language category but it failed to make the final five.

Sundance Film Festival selects Bran Nue Dae

10 December 2009, opening Australia 14 January 2010

Bran Nue Dae will have its USA premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, a high profile independent film festival. Filmed in Western Australia, the musical road-movie Bran Nue Dae is a new Australian film set in Broome. The film follows the journey of a young man, in the summer of 1969, on the run from his mission. Written by Rachel Perkins, Reg Cribb and Jimmy Chi, the film was produced by Robyn Kershaw and Graeme Isaac with cinematography by Andrew Lesnie. The cast includes Jessica Mauboy, Geoffrey Rush, Ernie Dingo, Missy Higgins, Ningali Lawford-Wolf and Broome locals Rocky McKenzie and Stephen Baamba Albert. Bran Nue Dae opens in Australia from 14 January 2010.

Australian Film Institute (AFI) Awards 2009 - national

12 December 2009

The annual AFI Awards recognise Australian achievements in film and television. In 2009, Samson & Delilah triumphed, taking out top honours including best film, best direction and best original screenplay in a total of seven AFI awards. The film's two stars, Marissa Gibson and Rowan McNamara were joint winners of the AFI young actor award. Meanwhile, Balibo took out the award for best adapted screenplay. Key grip Ray Brown was honoured with the Byron Kennedy Award, which is presented for outstanding creative enterprise within the film or television industry.

Key online resources

• Australian Centre for the Moving Image
• Australian Network for Art and Technology (ANAT)
• Metro Screen
• UNESCO Young Digital Creators (YDC) Educator's Kit
• ScreenWest

Collection resources and online publications

• australianscreen
• Australian film reviews by Urban Cinefile
• Inside Film

Institutions and government organisations

• National Film and Sound Archive
• Australian Film Institute Award Winners
• Australian Film, Television and Radio School
• Open Channel
• VCA School of Film and TV
• Screen Australia

Peak bodies and associations

• Australian Cinematographers Society
• Australian Screen Editors Guild
• Australian Writers' Guild
• The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance
• Screenrights: copyright collection agency for rights holders in film and television
• Game Developers' Association of Australia

People

• Popcorn Taxi
• Friends of the ABC
• Flickerfest
• Holy Smoke Articles - Oz fx: in effect, the best

Featured websites/projects

• Women in Film and Television NSW
• Flickerfest Filmmakers Resource

Other resources

• Reskin - wearable technology
• Australian Computer Society
• Mobile Enterprise Growth Alliance (mega)
• National ICT Australia
• Multimedia Victoria
• Tech News Review