The cream of South Australian screen talent will tonight celebrate another strong year for the South Australian film industry at the South Australian Film Corporation (SAFC) annual showcase.
“While these are challenging times for screen production nationally, South Australia can be proud of a highly impressive number of productions made over the last twelve to eighteen months, many of which have attracted accolades and awards, providing proof of a vibrant and highly energised local industry,” said SAFC CEO, Richard Harris.
“The Showcase is our way of celebrating these achievements, and our ongoing partnerships with the people that really matter – the filmmakers. From the writers, directors and producers through to our amazing South Australian crews, sound teams, and visual effects wizards. Tonight is about all of them.”
In the last twelve months, five features – including the locally produced Swerve, as well as other films such as Red Dog, Road Train, Oranges and Sunshine, and The Place Between, have been shot in South Australia, along with a swag of shorts films, documentaries and digital media projects, many of which will be showcased tonight. Feature films being showcased include Road Train, Lou, Disgrace, The Boys are Back with a sneak preview of the highly anticipated Australia China co-production by AMPCO films The Dragon Pearl.
Documentaries being showcased include Scott Hicks’ award winning documentary series Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Part; Gillian Armstrong’s Love, Lust & Lies; Shalom Almond’s latest feature Chasing Shadows and Craig Lahiff’s documentary Politics, Power, Justice and the Media: Controversies of the Stuart Case which was recently nominated for an Atom award.
Short films being showcased include the multi-award winning shorts The Kiss, The Mystery of Flying Kicks and Bad Language, Elephantiasis which recently premiered at MIFF, The Garden by Jennifer Jones and Sharyn Pancione, to name just a few.
The past twelve months have been an exciting timeg, with many of the films showcased in 2009 going on to win awards, entering prestigious festivals, and finding audiences. An unprecedented five South Australian Corporation Films were entered into the Toronto International Film Festival, while SAFC films received 24 nominations at the AFI awards. After winning an AFI Award, the Cat Piano, made by the People’s Republic of Animation went on to be shortlisted for Academy Award nomination.
The South Australian Film Corporation continues to produce and develop exciting new initiatives to support and nurture the local industry. These include FilmLab, the low budget filmmaking initiative, providing four filmmaking teams professional and career development opportunities designed to support their progression from short to long form and TV MiniLab a series of workshops by industry leaders in television production and broadcasting, created with the aim of developing a sustainable television production industry for South Australia. A joint interstate television internship developed in partnership with Channel 7, is also helping to increasing South Australian expertise in TV drama production.
The SAFC also continues to partner with the Adelaide Film Festival Investment Fund which in 2009 included Samson and Delilah and in 2011 will premiere another exciting slate of new films, combining with SAFC production funding to increase the level of production overall in the state.
The SAFC is poised to move to the new $42.9m purpose-built film and screen centre at Glenside in mid 2011. The centre will deliver much needed infrastructure for the SA film industry and will be a creative hothouse for the local film industry, enabling ever greater growth and strength for South Australian sector.
Exciting times for the South Australian film industry!
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