Screen Australia has promoted Angela Bates to head of First Nations following the departure of Penny Smallacombe in May.
Bates steps into the role after almost three years as development and investment manager for the First Nations department, during which time she supported titles such as Looky Looky Here Comes Cooky, the second season of Total Control, the third season of Little J & Big Cuz, as well as Indigenous initiative Cook 2020: Our Right of Reply, and the pilot of the First Nations Creator Program.
She has more than two decades of experience in the media sector as a TV producer, writer, journalist, and documentary filmmaker, with her career including multiple roles at Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (Caama radio), Sydney’s Koori Radio, Sbs’s Living Black program, and Nitv.
While at Nitv, she was the inaugural executive producer for Nitv National News, where she set up the first...
Bates steps into the role after almost three years as development and investment manager for the First Nations department, during which time she supported titles such as Looky Looky Here Comes Cooky, the second season of Total Control, the third season of Little J & Big Cuz, as well as Indigenous initiative Cook 2020: Our Right of Reply, and the pilot of the First Nations Creator Program.
She has more than two decades of experience in the media sector as a TV producer, writer, journalist, and documentary filmmaker, with her career including multiple roles at Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (Caama radio), Sydney’s Koori Radio, Sbs’s Living Black program, and Nitv.
While at Nitv, she was the inaugural executive producer for Nitv National News, where she set up the first...
- 9/24/2021
- by Sean Slatter
- IF.com.au
Mark Coles Smith is set to take the baton from Aaron Pedersen and play a young Jay Swan in Mystery Road: Origin, ABC/Bunya Productions’ latest instalment in the crime drama franchise.
Set in 1999, the series will see Constable Jay Swan as young charismatic officer at his new station. Fresh from the city and tipped for big things, Jay might be the new copper, but he’s not new to this town. His estranged father Jack lives here, as does the woman who will change his life forever, Mary.
Mystery Road: Origin will explore how a tragic death, an epic love, and the brutal reality of life as a police officer straddling two worlds, form the indelible mould out of which will emerge Detective Jay Swan.
“Audiences have long been intrigued with the enigmatic detective,” said producer Greer Simpkin.
“Now we peel back the layers of Jay Swan, to discover...
Set in 1999, the series will see Constable Jay Swan as young charismatic officer at his new station. Fresh from the city and tipped for big things, Jay might be the new copper, but he’s not new to this town. His estranged father Jack lives here, as does the woman who will change his life forever, Mary.
Mystery Road: Origin will explore how a tragic death, an epic love, and the brutal reality of life as a police officer straddling two worlds, form the indelible mould out of which will emerge Detective Jay Swan.
“Audiences have long been intrigued with the enigmatic detective,” said producer Greer Simpkin.
“Now we peel back the layers of Jay Swan, to discover...
- 8/23/2021
- by Jackie Keast
- IF.com.au
Rarriwuy Hick leads the ensemble cast of Bunya Productions’ drama True Colours (formerly Copping It Black), now shooting in the Northern Territory’s Macdonnell Ranges for Sbs and Nitv.
The four-part series stems from an original concept from Arrernte singer-songwriter Warren H. Williams, who also stars, and co-creator, writer and director Erica Glynn.
Hick plays Detective Toni Alma, assigned to investigate a suspicious car accident in Perdar Theendar, the Indigenous community she left as a child and has had little to do with over the years. The beauty of Indigenous art and the sometimes-devious practices in the global art market take the detective on an epic hunt for a killer.
Starring alongside Hick are Luke Arnold, Erroll Shand, Emilie de Ravin, Trisha Morton-Thomas, Ben Oxenbould and Miranda Otto.
The series will also include a range of fresh faces such as Kumalie Riley, Kurt Abbott, Sabella Turner, Natalie Peperill, Warren ‘Wazza’ Williams,...
The four-part series stems from an original concept from Arrernte singer-songwriter Warren H. Williams, who also stars, and co-creator, writer and director Erica Glynn.
Hick plays Detective Toni Alma, assigned to investigate a suspicious car accident in Perdar Theendar, the Indigenous community she left as a child and has had little to do with over the years. The beauty of Indigenous art and the sometimes-devious practices in the global art market take the detective on an epic hunt for a killer.
Starring alongside Hick are Luke Arnold, Erroll Shand, Emilie de Ravin, Trisha Morton-Thomas, Ben Oxenbould and Miranda Otto.
The series will also include a range of fresh faces such as Kumalie Riley, Kurt Abbott, Sabella Turner, Natalie Peperill, Warren ‘Wazza’ Williams,...
- 8/4/2021
- by Jackie Keast
- IF.com.au
Outgoing Screen Australia head of First Nations Penny Smallacombe is set to join Bunya Media Group as a producer.
Smallacombe will produce a number of the company’s upcoming projects, including Sbs drama series Copping It Black, working with directors Erica Glynn and Steven McGregor, who both penned the script with Danielle Maclean.
While at Screen Australia, Smallacombe helped shepherd to screen several Bunya Productions projects, including ABC series Mystery Road, Warwick Thornton’s Sweet Country and Ivan Sen’s Goldstone, as well as helping to facilitate Bunya Talent Hub LA.
Smallacombe, a Maramanindji woman from the Northern Territory, tells If she has loved Bunya’s “big, bold” output over the past few years, and considers it a privilege to join the team. She is keen to use her new role to continue to bring authentic First Nations stories to screen, particularly from exciting new talent.
“They’re a trusted...
Smallacombe will produce a number of the company’s upcoming projects, including Sbs drama series Copping It Black, working with directors Erica Glynn and Steven McGregor, who both penned the script with Danielle Maclean.
While at Screen Australia, Smallacombe helped shepherd to screen several Bunya Productions projects, including ABC series Mystery Road, Warwick Thornton’s Sweet Country and Ivan Sen’s Goldstone, as well as helping to facilitate Bunya Talent Hub LA.
Smallacombe, a Maramanindji woman from the Northern Territory, tells If she has loved Bunya’s “big, bold” output over the past few years, and considers it a privilege to join the team. She is keen to use her new role to continue to bring authentic First Nations stories to screen, particularly from exciting new talent.
“They’re a trusted...
- 5/26/2021
- by Jackie Keast
- IF.com.au
Production in and around Sydney, Australia has started on “Preppers,” a comedy series about the end of the world.
Directed by Steven McGregor (“Black Comedy”), “Preppers” follows a young Aboriginal woman whose world crumbles around her after experiencing a personal, cataclysmic event. Escaping the fallout, she finds herself at the center of a mismatched community of doomsday preppers.
“Preppers” stars Nakkiah Lui who also co-wrote the series with Gabriel Dowrick.
Penny Smallacombe, head of the First Nations Department at Screen Australia said: “Nakkiah Lui has a track record of creating boundary-pushing comedy and we’re proud to support her and the rest of the talented creative team in bringing this hilarious and clever series to life. Who doesn’t need a few lessons in Prepping!”
The show is a Porchlight Films production in association with Spirit Pictures. The series producer is Sylvia Warmer, with Porchlight’s Liz Watts and the...
Directed by Steven McGregor (“Black Comedy”), “Preppers” follows a young Aboriginal woman whose world crumbles around her after experiencing a personal, cataclysmic event. Escaping the fallout, she finds herself at the center of a mismatched community of doomsday preppers.
“Preppers” stars Nakkiah Lui who also co-wrote the series with Gabriel Dowrick.
Penny Smallacombe, head of the First Nations Department at Screen Australia said: “Nakkiah Lui has a track record of creating boundary-pushing comedy and we’re proud to support her and the rest of the talented creative team in bringing this hilarious and clever series to life. Who doesn’t need a few lessons in Prepping!”
The show is a Porchlight Films production in association with Spirit Pictures. The series producer is Sylvia Warmer, with Porchlight’s Liz Watts and the...
- 5/6/2021
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
This year’s MPA Apsa Academy Film Fund has been launched in Vietnam, with the jury announced for the selection process.
A joint initiative of the Asia Pacific Screen Academy (Apsa) and the Motion Picture Association (MPA), the US$100,000 fund is designed to provide support for new feature film projects from members of the academy.
The winners of the four US$25,000 grants wholly supported by the MPA will be announced at the 2021 Asia Pacific Screen Awards Ceremony on Thursday, November 11 as the annual Asia Pacific Screen Forum opens.
The jury for this year’s fund includes film distributor, historian, and documentary filmmaker Andrew Pike, in what is his 12th year as part of the selection panel.
He is joined by 2019 MPA Apsa Academy Film Fund recipient and producer Catherine Fitzgerald and Screen Australia’s head of Indigenous, Penny Smallacombe.
Chair of the Asia Pacific Screen Academy Tracey Vieira said the...
A joint initiative of the Asia Pacific Screen Academy (Apsa) and the Motion Picture Association (MPA), the US$100,000 fund is designed to provide support for new feature film projects from members of the academy.
The winners of the four US$25,000 grants wholly supported by the MPA will be announced at the 2021 Asia Pacific Screen Awards Ceremony on Thursday, November 11 as the annual Asia Pacific Screen Forum opens.
The jury for this year’s fund includes film distributor, historian, and documentary filmmaker Andrew Pike, in what is his 12th year as part of the selection panel.
He is joined by 2019 MPA Apsa Academy Film Fund recipient and producer Catherine Fitzgerald and Screen Australia’s head of Indigenous, Penny Smallacombe.
Chair of the Asia Pacific Screen Academy Tracey Vieira said the...
- 4/29/2021
- by Sean Slatter
- IF.com.au
Screen Australia’s head of documentary Bernadine Lim will join Sbs as commissioning editor, while Marissa McDowell has also been hired as a commissioning editor for Nitv.
As a member of Sbs’s unscripted team, Lim will work across the broadcaster’s slate of commissioned documentaries.
Lim has been with Screen Australia since 2018, prior to which she was the executive producer of Sbs’s long-running international current affairs program Dateline.
“It’s been an amazing time at Screen Australia with a talented team of dedicated people,” she said.
“I’m very excited to make my next move into the creative heart of Sbs’s strong factual content team.
“As a passionate storyteller, it’s a privilege to have this type of role across such compelling content and help celebrate multicultural Australia.”
Lim is the second senior departure from Screen Australia in a number of weeks, with head of Indigenous Penny Smallacombe...
As a member of Sbs’s unscripted team, Lim will work across the broadcaster’s slate of commissioned documentaries.
Lim has been with Screen Australia since 2018, prior to which she was the executive producer of Sbs’s long-running international current affairs program Dateline.
“It’s been an amazing time at Screen Australia with a talented team of dedicated people,” she said.
“I’m very excited to make my next move into the creative heart of Sbs’s strong factual content team.
“As a passionate storyteller, it’s a privilege to have this type of role across such compelling content and help celebrate multicultural Australia.”
Lim is the second senior departure from Screen Australia in a number of weeks, with head of Indigenous Penny Smallacombe...
- 3/11/2021
- by Sean Slatter
- IF.com.au
After six and half years, Screen Australia head of Indigenous Penny Smallacombe will depart the agency in June.
Smallacombe joined Screen Australia in 2014, and during her tenure has helped shepherd to screen some of the Indigenous Department’s most high-profile projects, including ABC series Mystery Road and Total Control, feature films Sweet Country and Goldstone, and documentaries Maralinga Tjarutja, Looky Looky Here Comes Cooky and She Who Must Be Loved.
The highly-regard executive also stewarded the “The Next 25 Years” – the Indigenous department’s new strategy, the culmination of extensive consultation that occurred throughout the department’s 25th anniversary year (2018).
While at the federal agency, she has also overseen numerous initiatives, including Bunya Talent Hub LA, Songlines on Screen, Pitch Black Shorts, Shock Treatment, State of Alarm, [Black Space] and the Producers Initiative.
“Heading up Screen Australia’s Indigenous Department for the past six years has been one of the best jobs I...
Smallacombe joined Screen Australia in 2014, and during her tenure has helped shepherd to screen some of the Indigenous Department’s most high-profile projects, including ABC series Mystery Road and Total Control, feature films Sweet Country and Goldstone, and documentaries Maralinga Tjarutja, Looky Looky Here Comes Cooky and She Who Must Be Loved.
The highly-regard executive also stewarded the “The Next 25 Years” – the Indigenous department’s new strategy, the culmination of extensive consultation that occurred throughout the department’s 25th anniversary year (2018).
While at the federal agency, she has also overseen numerous initiatives, including Bunya Talent Hub LA, Songlines on Screen, Pitch Black Shorts, Shock Treatment, State of Alarm, [Black Space] and the Producers Initiative.
“Heading up Screen Australia’s Indigenous Department for the past six years has been one of the best jobs I...
- 3/5/2021
- by Jackie Keast
- IF.com.au
Screen Australia head of Indigenous Penny Smallacombe and actor, director and arts executive Rhoda Roberts will appear in conversation as the opening keynote of Screenworks’ Regional to Global Screen Forum in late March.
Screenworks has also announced a further set of speakers for the hybrid event, including:
Jo Azzopardi – VP Australia, Nz, Asia, Beyond RightsNha Uyen Chau – founder/CEO, Lgi MediaFiona Gilroy – content sales and acquisitions director, Flame MediaCharlotte Brigel – national/international sales and marketing/business manager, Byron Film StudiosTracey Corbin-Matchett – CEO, Bus Stop FilmsDianna La Grassa – COO and board member, Bus Stop FilmsChris Hilton – independent producer
They join previously announced speakers including Every Cloud Productions co-founder Fiona Eagger; Netflix Australia director of content Que Minh Luu; Amazon Prime Video Australia head of content Tyler Bern; Tap founder Tony Ayres, Goalpost Pictures partner Rosemary Blight and Fremantle Asia Pacific CEO Chris Oliver-Taylor.
With in-person proceedings to take place in Lennox Head as well as online,...
Screenworks has also announced a further set of speakers for the hybrid event, including:
Jo Azzopardi – VP Australia, Nz, Asia, Beyond RightsNha Uyen Chau – founder/CEO, Lgi MediaFiona Gilroy – content sales and acquisitions director, Flame MediaCharlotte Brigel – national/international sales and marketing/business manager, Byron Film StudiosTracey Corbin-Matchett – CEO, Bus Stop FilmsDianna La Grassa – COO and board member, Bus Stop FilmsChris Hilton – independent producer
They join previously announced speakers including Every Cloud Productions co-founder Fiona Eagger; Netflix Australia director of content Que Minh Luu; Amazon Prime Video Australia head of content Tyler Bern; Tap founder Tony Ayres, Goalpost Pictures partner Rosemary Blight and Fremantle Asia Pacific CEO Chris Oliver-Taylor.
With in-person proceedings to take place in Lennox Head as well as online,...
- 2/26/2021
- by Staff Writer
- IF.com.au
Australians in Film (AiF) has welcomed several new board members as it works to provide professional development opportunities for its members and industry partners during the pandemic.
The recent additions include Toby Borg, head of the global client strategy division at CAA; director Unjoo Moon (I Am Woman); Penny Smallacombe, head of Indigenous, Screen Australia; Bec Smith, partner at UTA; and Richard Weinberg, CEO Terrace Tower Group and a partner in Material Pictures, Iconic Images, 8 Angel (part of the 8Vc group) and KarlinBerg Entertainment.
They join AiF chair Simonne Overend, Eq Media’s vice president of scripted television for the US; deputy chair Emma Cooper, producer of Penguin Bloom; Rob Marsala, talent manager at Atlas Artists; Eden Gaha, CEO of content production company Mother Media Group; and Karen Robson, partner in the US law firm of Pryor Cashman Llp.
Overend says the AiF Board will navigate the organisation to the...
The recent additions include Toby Borg, head of the global client strategy division at CAA; director Unjoo Moon (I Am Woman); Penny Smallacombe, head of Indigenous, Screen Australia; Bec Smith, partner at UTA; and Richard Weinberg, CEO Terrace Tower Group and a partner in Material Pictures, Iconic Images, 8 Angel (part of the 8Vc group) and KarlinBerg Entertainment.
They join AiF chair Simonne Overend, Eq Media’s vice president of scripted television for the US; deputy chair Emma Cooper, producer of Penguin Bloom; Rob Marsala, talent manager at Atlas Artists; Eden Gaha, CEO of content production company Mother Media Group; and Karen Robson, partner in the US law firm of Pryor Cashman Llp.
Overend says the AiF Board will navigate the organisation to the...
- 2/11/2021
- by Sean Slatter
- IF.com.au
Revelations that Canadian director Michelle Latimer’s self-proclaimed Indigenous roots may be nonexistent — an inconvenient truth that led to her film “Inconvenient Indian” being pulled from Sundance — have become a rallying cry for the global Indigenous film collective that the festival and its institute have been fostering for years.
Throughout this community, which spans North and Latin America across the Arctic to New Zealand, Australia, the Pacific Islands and beyond, the basic tenet has been that Indigenous cinema is “about telling our own stories, compared with the long tradition of colonial history where everybody else has been telling our story,” says Anne Lajla Utsi, managing director of the International Sámi Film Institute in Kautokeino, Norway.
The Sámi are an Indigenous people with a population of about 100,000 spread across Norway, Sweden, Finland and northern Russia; they have a traditional song form called yoik. The group has been making its mark on the film circuit,...
Throughout this community, which spans North and Latin America across the Arctic to New Zealand, Australia, the Pacific Islands and beyond, the basic tenet has been that Indigenous cinema is “about telling our own stories, compared with the long tradition of colonial history where everybody else has been telling our story,” says Anne Lajla Utsi, managing director of the International Sámi Film Institute in Kautokeino, Norway.
The Sámi are an Indigenous people with a population of about 100,000 spread across Norway, Sweden, Finland and northern Russia; they have a traditional song form called yoik. The group has been making its mark on the film circuit,...
- 1/28/2021
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Screen Australia has announced more than $2.5 million in production funding for 12 documentaries; five through the commissioned program, six through the Producer program and one via the Indigenous department.
The agency also re-confirmed today that the existing documentary guidelines, including Pep, will remain in place until the end of 2020-21.
Despite consulting widely with the sector as to how to revamp the programs back in 2019, Screen Australia made the decision back in April to delay changes given the disruption of Covid-19 on the sector. A timeline for rolling out the new guidelines is expected in due course.
Among the projects announced today include a number exploring the recent devastating bushfire season, including ABC series Rebuilding Mallacoota, online doco Black Summer, and feature The Front from director Eddie Martin, which will weave user-generated first hand footage with news coverage.
The project funded via the Indigenous department is the recently announced Nitv feature documentary Incarceration Nation.
The agency also re-confirmed today that the existing documentary guidelines, including Pep, will remain in place until the end of 2020-21.
Despite consulting widely with the sector as to how to revamp the programs back in 2019, Screen Australia made the decision back in April to delay changes given the disruption of Covid-19 on the sector. A timeline for rolling out the new guidelines is expected in due course.
Among the projects announced today include a number exploring the recent devastating bushfire season, including ABC series Rebuilding Mallacoota, online doco Black Summer, and feature The Front from director Eddie Martin, which will weave user-generated first hand footage with news coverage.
The project funded via the Indigenous department is the recently announced Nitv feature documentary Incarceration Nation.
- 12/9/2020
- by Staff Writer
- IF.com.au
The ten Indigenous-led productions due to participate in Bunya Talent Lab LA will each receive development funding and participate in a companion writing program with Netflix.
Originally scheduled for May 2020 in LA, the five-day incubator program was delayed due to travel restrictions but will now take place virtually in early February 2021.
In order for the creatives to maintain momentum and utilise the extra time ahead of the event, Screen Australia’s Indigenous department and Netflix will give each team development funding to further develop their projects with Bunya producers.
As part of the hub, each project will also receive one-on-one international mentorship for their production from Australians in Film (AiF).
A final pitch session to Netflix commissioners in early 2021 will see one of the projects land a formal development deal with Netflix, with Bunya Productions engaged as producers.
Projects include a range of feature film and TV series ideas encompassing comedy,...
Originally scheduled for May 2020 in LA, the five-day incubator program was delayed due to travel restrictions but will now take place virtually in early February 2021.
In order for the creatives to maintain momentum and utilise the extra time ahead of the event, Screen Australia’s Indigenous department and Netflix will give each team development funding to further develop their projects with Bunya producers.
As part of the hub, each project will also receive one-on-one international mentorship for their production from Australians in Film (AiF).
A final pitch session to Netflix commissioners in early 2021 will see one of the projects land a formal development deal with Netflix, with Bunya Productions engaged as producers.
Projects include a range of feature film and TV series ideas encompassing comedy,...
- 11/12/2020
- by Staff Writer
- IF.com.au
Jub Clerc. (Photo: Martine Perrett)
Writer-director Jub Clerc’s debut feature Sweet As is due to shoot on location in the Pilbara early next year, after receiving major production funding from Screen Australia’s Indigenous department.
Set in the Pilbara, the coming-of-age film follows 15-year-old Indigenous girl Murra, who finds herself abandoned after an argument with her mother.
When an unusual lifeline is thrown her way by her Uncle Ian, a local cop, in the form of a travelling Photo Safari, Murra finds herself careening down a dusty highway with a bus full of ‘at risk’ teens and two peculiar team leaders.
A Nyal Nyal/Yawaru woman, the dramedy is inspired by Clerc’s own experience growing up in the Pilbara and The Kimberley; she did a photo safari with National Geographic when she was growing up.
While the story is embellished for screen, the writer-director says the characters are...
Writer-director Jub Clerc’s debut feature Sweet As is due to shoot on location in the Pilbara early next year, after receiving major production funding from Screen Australia’s Indigenous department.
Set in the Pilbara, the coming-of-age film follows 15-year-old Indigenous girl Murra, who finds herself abandoned after an argument with her mother.
When an unusual lifeline is thrown her way by her Uncle Ian, a local cop, in the form of a travelling Photo Safari, Murra finds herself careening down a dusty highway with a bus full of ‘at risk’ teens and two peculiar team leaders.
A Nyal Nyal/Yawaru woman, the dramedy is inspired by Clerc’s own experience growing up in the Pilbara and The Kimberley; she did a photo safari with National Geographic when she was growing up.
While the story is embellished for screen, the writer-director says the characters are...
- 9/15/2020
- by jkeast
- IF.com.au
Penny Smallacombe.
The Australian screen industry is on the “precipice of change” in giving more – and long overdue – recognition to Indigenous people and People of Colour creatives and stories, according to Penny Smallacombe.
As the head of Indigenous at Screen Australia, the Maramanindji woman who hails from the Northern Territory herself is an agent of change via a number of ongoing programs and upcoming new initiatives.
“This is both a scary and an exciting time,” she told Lowanna Grant in Media Ring’s The Yarning webinar. “There is a huge responsibility to do a large scale shift to bring more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders into the industry and provide more opportunities for People of Colour to tell their stories.
“I’m deeply saddened that it took the murder of George Floyd in order to be in a place where the industry is finally ready to listen to conversations about racism,...
The Australian screen industry is on the “precipice of change” in giving more – and long overdue – recognition to Indigenous people and People of Colour creatives and stories, according to Penny Smallacombe.
As the head of Indigenous at Screen Australia, the Maramanindji woman who hails from the Northern Territory herself is an agent of change via a number of ongoing programs and upcoming new initiatives.
“This is both a scary and an exciting time,” she told Lowanna Grant in Media Ring’s The Yarning webinar. “There is a huge responsibility to do a large scale shift to bring more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders into the industry and provide more opportunities for People of Colour to tell their stories.
“I’m deeply saddened that it took the murder of George Floyd in order to be in a place where the industry is finally ready to listen to conversations about racism,...
- 7/16/2020
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
‘Little J and Big Cuz’.
A third season of animated series Little J and Big Cuz, produced by Ned Lander Media, Media World and Blue Rocket, is in pre-production for Nitv and ABC Kids, to air in 2021.
Director Tony Thorne joins the writing team for this season, together with short fiction writer Adam Thompson, as well as Dot West, Erica Glynn, Beck Cole, Danielle MacLean and Sam Paynter.
The series, based on an Indigenous perspective on the Early Years Learning Framework, has been translated into 11 different Indigenous languages, with the third expected to be translated further. It follows Little J, Big Cuz and their friends, as they’re guided by Nanna and Old Dog and explore Nanna’s wonderful backyard and Ms Chen’s classroom.
The voice cast includes Deborah Mailman, Miranda Tapsell, Aaron Fa’oaso, Ursula Yovich, Renee Lim and Shari Sebbens.
Nitv channel manager Tanya Orman said: “Here at Nitv,...
A third season of animated series Little J and Big Cuz, produced by Ned Lander Media, Media World and Blue Rocket, is in pre-production for Nitv and ABC Kids, to air in 2021.
Director Tony Thorne joins the writing team for this season, together with short fiction writer Adam Thompson, as well as Dot West, Erica Glynn, Beck Cole, Danielle MacLean and Sam Paynter.
The series, based on an Indigenous perspective on the Early Years Learning Framework, has been translated into 11 different Indigenous languages, with the third expected to be translated further. It follows Little J, Big Cuz and their friends, as they’re guided by Nanna and Old Dog and explore Nanna’s wonderful backyard and Ms Chen’s classroom.
The voice cast includes Deborah Mailman, Miranda Tapsell, Aaron Fa’oaso, Ursula Yovich, Renee Lim and Shari Sebbens.
Nitv channel manager Tanya Orman said: “Here at Nitv,...
- 6/17/2020
- by jkeast
- IF.com.au
Rachel Perkins.
Rachel Perkins has been spending lockdown working on the scripts for First Wars and wrestling with the questions she will address in the three-part Sbs docudrama about Australia’s frontier wars.
“Some of it will be just so confronting,” the writer-director told Penny Smallacombe, Screen Australia’s head of Indigenous, in a webinar today.
Smallacombe asked the filmmaker what she hopes to achieve with the series in view of the Black Lives Matter protests and the issues of slavery and black deaths in custody in Australia.
“This show will go to right into the centre of this,” she said. “So much hideous shit happened on both sides and it’s so vast.
“How do you condense that into three hours of television? How do you not use it as a weapon against non-Indigenous people?
“How do you use it as a force that will bring people together? How...
Rachel Perkins has been spending lockdown working on the scripts for First Wars and wrestling with the questions she will address in the three-part Sbs docudrama about Australia’s frontier wars.
“Some of it will be just so confronting,” the writer-director told Penny Smallacombe, Screen Australia’s head of Indigenous, in a webinar today.
Smallacombe asked the filmmaker what she hopes to achieve with the series in view of the Black Lives Matter protests and the issues of slavery and black deaths in custody in Australia.
“This show will go to right into the centre of this,” she said. “So much hideous shit happened on both sides and it’s so vast.
“How do you condense that into three hours of television? How do you not use it as a weapon against non-Indigenous people?
“How do you use it as a force that will bring people together? How...
- 6/17/2020
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
Prince Albert II with Alick Tipoti (© Monaco Expeditions/Ariel Fuchs).
Screen Australia’s Indigenous department is contributing $745,000 in production funding to four documentary projects including two for Nitv and one for the ABC.
Co-funded by Stan, Freshwater Pictures’ Alick and Albert looks at the unlikely friendship between art activist Alick Tipoti and Prince Albert of Monaco.
Commissioned by Nitv, Tamarind Tree Pictures and Roar Film’s Looky Looky Here Comes Cooky is billed as a fresh, funny and provocative look at Captain Cook’s arrival from a First Nations’ perspective.
Also for Nitv, Kalori Productions and Jotz Productions’ feature documentary Kindred explores friendship, adoption and belonging through the relationship between filmmakers Gillian Moody and Adrian Russell Wills.
Commissioned by the ABC, Blackfella Films’ Maralinga Tjarutja will chronicle the history of the Maralinga Tjarutja people and the impact the British nuclear testing in the 1950s and 1960s had on their land and community.
Screen Australia’s Indigenous department is contributing $745,000 in production funding to four documentary projects including two for Nitv and one for the ABC.
Co-funded by Stan, Freshwater Pictures’ Alick and Albert looks at the unlikely friendship between art activist Alick Tipoti and Prince Albert of Monaco.
Commissioned by Nitv, Tamarind Tree Pictures and Roar Film’s Looky Looky Here Comes Cooky is billed as a fresh, funny and provocative look at Captain Cook’s arrival from a First Nations’ perspective.
Also for Nitv, Kalori Productions and Jotz Productions’ feature documentary Kindred explores friendship, adoption and belonging through the relationship between filmmakers Gillian Moody and Adrian Russell Wills.
Commissioned by the ABC, Blackfella Films’ Maralinga Tjarutja will chronicle the history of the Maralinga Tjarutja people and the impact the British nuclear testing in the 1950s and 1960s had on their land and community.
- 3/25/2020
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
Miranda Tapsell and Nakkiah Lui in ‘Get Krack!n’ (Photo credit: ABC).
The nine creative teams comprising 13 individuals who will take part in the inaugural Bunya Talent Indigenous Hub in Los Angeles in March were announced today.
Presented in association with Netflix Australia and Screen Australia’s Indigenous Department, the five-day talent incubator is aimed at mid-career Indigenous writers, showrunners, directors and producers.
The 13 will develop and pitch their projects and attend meetings and presentations by executives from Netflix and other industry practitioners.
The feature film and TV series ideas encompass comedy, drama and the supernatural. The event will take place at Charlie’s, Australians in Film’s hub for business, project development and networking for the Australian screen community in La.
At the end of the incubator, one participant’s work will be selected to proceed to further development with Bunya Productions as producers, receiving up to $20,000 in further development...
The nine creative teams comprising 13 individuals who will take part in the inaugural Bunya Talent Indigenous Hub in Los Angeles in March were announced today.
Presented in association with Netflix Australia and Screen Australia’s Indigenous Department, the five-day talent incubator is aimed at mid-career Indigenous writers, showrunners, directors and producers.
The 13 will develop and pitch their projects and attend meetings and presentations by executives from Netflix and other industry practitioners.
The feature film and TV series ideas encompass comedy, drama and the supernatural. The event will take place at Charlie’s, Australians in Film’s hub for business, project development and networking for the Australian screen community in La.
At the end of the incubator, one participant’s work will be selected to proceed to further development with Bunya Productions as producers, receiving up to $20,000 in further development...
- 1/29/2020
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
Bunya Productions’ Mystery Road.
Mid-career Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander screen creatives with big ideas for TV series or features are invited to apply to the Bunya Talent Indigenous Hub – Los Angeles.
Up to eight Indigenous screen practitioners will be selected to attend the five-day talent incubator in La next March, presented in association with Netflix and Screen Australia’s Indigenous department.
Open to mid-career writers, showrunners, directors and producers, the participants will develop and pitch a film or TV project and attend meetings and presentations by executives from Netflix and other industry practitioners.
At the end of the incubator, one applicant’s work will be selected to proceed to further development with Bunya Productions as producers, receiving up to $20,000 in further development funding in association with Screen Australia and Netflix Australia.
Penny Smallacombe, Screen Australia’s head of Indigenous, said: “La provides access to some of the screen industry’s biggest heavyweights.
Mid-career Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander screen creatives with big ideas for TV series or features are invited to apply to the Bunya Talent Indigenous Hub – Los Angeles.
Up to eight Indigenous screen practitioners will be selected to attend the five-day talent incubator in La next March, presented in association with Netflix and Screen Australia’s Indigenous department.
Open to mid-career writers, showrunners, directors and producers, the participants will develop and pitch a film or TV project and attend meetings and presentations by executives from Netflix and other industry practitioners.
At the end of the incubator, one applicant’s work will be selected to proceed to further development with Bunya Productions as producers, receiving up to $20,000 in further development funding in association with Screen Australia and Netflix Australia.
Penny Smallacombe, Screen Australia’s head of Indigenous, said: “La provides access to some of the screen industry’s biggest heavyweights.
- 11/13/2019
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
‘Miriam Margolyes: Almost Australian’.
The ABC and Screen Australia have announced funding for three original documentary projects: Dark Emu, Gun Ringer, and Miriam Margolyes: Almost Australian.
Blackfella Films’ Dark Emu is based the book by the same name from Bruce Pascoe, and will take audiences on a journey across Australia to present a very different history of our nation and the First Australians. The series is financed with Screen Nsw and Film Victoria, and written by Pascoe (Black Chook), and Jacob Hickey (First Contact), directed by Erica Glynn (She Who Must Be Loved) and produced by Darren Dale (First Australians) and Belinda Mravicic (Black Chook).
Screen Australia head of Indigenous Penny Smallacombe said: “Dark Emu promises to be one of the most important documentary series the Indigenous Department has funded. It’s a chance to challenge the myth of pre-colonial Indigenous Australians being just hunter gatherers. We have sophisticated...
The ABC and Screen Australia have announced funding for three original documentary projects: Dark Emu, Gun Ringer, and Miriam Margolyes: Almost Australian.
Blackfella Films’ Dark Emu is based the book by the same name from Bruce Pascoe, and will take audiences on a journey across Australia to present a very different history of our nation and the First Australians. The series is financed with Screen Nsw and Film Victoria, and written by Pascoe (Black Chook), and Jacob Hickey (First Contact), directed by Erica Glynn (She Who Must Be Loved) and produced by Darren Dale (First Australians) and Belinda Mravicic (Black Chook).
Screen Australia head of Indigenous Penny Smallacombe said: “Dark Emu promises to be one of the most important documentary series the Indigenous Department has funded. It’s a chance to challenge the myth of pre-colonial Indigenous Australians being just hunter gatherers. We have sophisticated...
- 10/16/2019
- by jkeast
- IF.com.au
Sonia Smallacombe.
Sonia Smallacombe will be the new Aftrs Elder in Residence, following the departure of Uncle Bruce Pascoe.
Smallacombe will make her first address next week at Black Talk, where she will discuss her diverse life experiences leading and representing Indigenous people across Australia and internationally at the United Nations in New York.
Smallacombe is a member of the Maramanindji people from the Daly River region of the Northern Territory. Prior to joining the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in November 2005, Smallacombe was a senior lecturer in the School of Australian Indigenous Knowledge Systems, Charles Darwin University in Darwin, where she taught in a number of subjects including Northern perspectives, Indigenous history and contemporary Indigenous studies.
Smallacombe worked at the United Nations in New York as a Social Affairs Officer for 11 years, and returned to Australia in 2017. She is the mother of Penny Smallacombe, Screen Australia’s...
Sonia Smallacombe will be the new Aftrs Elder in Residence, following the departure of Uncle Bruce Pascoe.
Smallacombe will make her first address next week at Black Talk, where she will discuss her diverse life experiences leading and representing Indigenous people across Australia and internationally at the United Nations in New York.
Smallacombe is a member of the Maramanindji people from the Daly River region of the Northern Territory. Prior to joining the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in November 2005, Smallacombe was a senior lecturer in the School of Australian Indigenous Knowledge Systems, Charles Darwin University in Darwin, where she taught in a number of subjects including Northern perspectives, Indigenous history and contemporary Indigenous studies.
Smallacombe worked at the United Nations in New York as a Social Affairs Officer for 11 years, and returned to Australia in 2017. She is the mother of Penny Smallacombe, Screen Australia’s...
- 10/11/2019
- by jkeast
- IF.com.au
Behind the scenes of ‘Deadly Family Portraits: Sainsbury Sisters’ with director Pearl Berry.
The South Australian Film Corporation (Safc) and Screen Territory have partnered to launch ‘Centralised’, an initiative to support Indigenous filmmakers across South Australian and the Northern Territory through new funding, support and development opportunities.
The initiative, which also has the support of Screen Australia’s Indigenous Department, Documentary Australia Foundation (Daf), Aftrs Indigenous, ABC and Nitv, will involve mentoring, workshops, attachments and internships. Existing Aboriginal-led media organisations in Sa and the Nt will also be involved in the program.
Centralised aims to “remove the state-territory border for the screen industry, linking creative communities and fostering collaborations to develop and uncover the stories, locations and new and existing talent through the very heart of Australia”.
Emerging producers, writers and directors will be supported to develop and produce screen content for possible broadcast on the ABC or Nitv.
The...
The South Australian Film Corporation (Safc) and Screen Territory have partnered to launch ‘Centralised’, an initiative to support Indigenous filmmakers across South Australian and the Northern Territory through new funding, support and development opportunities.
The initiative, which also has the support of Screen Australia’s Indigenous Department, Documentary Australia Foundation (Daf), Aftrs Indigenous, ABC and Nitv, will involve mentoring, workshops, attachments and internships. Existing Aboriginal-led media organisations in Sa and the Nt will also be involved in the program.
Centralised aims to “remove the state-territory border for the screen industry, linking creative communities and fostering collaborations to develop and uncover the stories, locations and new and existing talent through the very heart of Australia”.
Emerging producers, writers and directors will be supported to develop and produce screen content for possible broadcast on the ABC or Nitv.
The...
- 8/13/2019
- by jkeast
- IF.com.au
Aaron Pedersen and Jada Alberts in ‘Mystery Road 2’ (Photo: David Dare Parker).
Swedish actress Sofia Helin, who starred in all four seasons of The Bridge, is co-starring with Aaron Pedersen in the second series of Bunya Productions’ ABC crime drama Mystery Road.
Helin, who played Saga Norén, a homicide detective from Malmö, in the Swedish/Danish film noir crime series which screened here on Sbs, is cast as archaeologist Professor Sondra Elmquist.
The professor is conducting a dig near a remote coastal town when she encounters Pedersen’s Detective Jay Swan, who has moved to the town to be closer to his family and is investigating a grisly case.
Warwick Thornton and Wayne Blair are sharing the directing duties on the six episodes produced by David Jowsey and Greer Simpkin, with Thornton as the Dop.
Two weeks into the 10 weeks shoot in Broome and the Dampier Peninsular, the series is...
Swedish actress Sofia Helin, who starred in all four seasons of The Bridge, is co-starring with Aaron Pedersen in the second series of Bunya Productions’ ABC crime drama Mystery Road.
Helin, who played Saga Norén, a homicide detective from Malmö, in the Swedish/Danish film noir crime series which screened here on Sbs, is cast as archaeologist Professor Sondra Elmquist.
The professor is conducting a dig near a remote coastal town when she encounters Pedersen’s Detective Jay Swan, who has moved to the town to be closer to his family and is investigating a grisly case.
Warwick Thornton and Wayne Blair are sharing the directing duties on the six episodes produced by David Jowsey and Greer Simpkin, with Thornton as the Dop.
Two weeks into the 10 weeks shoot in Broome and the Dampier Peninsular, the series is...
- 7/24/2019
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
Screen Producers Australia has named the 12 members of the Screen Forever advisory board for this year’s event, including chair Bunya Productions CEO Sophia Zachariou.
Among the other members are Netflix’s newly appointed Australian head of public policy and government affairs, Nick O’Donnell, Film Victoria CEO Caroline Pitcher, Screen Queensland CEO Tracey Vieira and Screen Australia head of Indigenous Penny Smallacombe and head of documentary Bernadine Lim.
The board helps to set the strategic of the conference, and according to a statement, aids in the creation of “an engaging, inspirational and business-focused program that reflects the broad spectrum of modern Australian screen content in a time when the industry is in a state of flux.”
“Each year around 850 delegates travel from over a dozen countries to do business on the Screen Forever floor. In the current regulatory and economic climate, the importance of an event that allows the...
Among the other members are Netflix’s newly appointed Australian head of public policy and government affairs, Nick O’Donnell, Film Victoria CEO Caroline Pitcher, Screen Queensland CEO Tracey Vieira and Screen Australia head of Indigenous Penny Smallacombe and head of documentary Bernadine Lim.
The board helps to set the strategic of the conference, and according to a statement, aids in the creation of “an engaging, inspirational and business-focused program that reflects the broad spectrum of modern Australian screen content in a time when the industry is in a state of flux.”
“Each year around 850 delegates travel from over a dozen countries to do business on the Screen Forever floor. In the current regulatory and economic climate, the importance of an event that allows the...
- 7/5/2019
- by jkeast
- IF.com.au
Danielle MacLean.
Considering Danielle MacLean’s original ambition was to be a stills photographer, her 23-year career as a writer, producer and director is quite remarkable.
Currently MacLean is juggling numerous projects including preparing a short film for the anthology feature Cook 2020: Our Right of Reply, writing an episode of the second series of Bunya Productions’ Mystery Road and signing on to direct at least one episode of the third season of Ned Lander Media’s Little J and Big Cuz.
In addition, she is developing a raft of projects including drama series Rough Justice with frequent collaborator Steven McGregor, children’s animated series Yellow Water Billabong and kids series The Barrumbi Kids with Ambience Entertainment.
“I have found my voice and I have a strong team of people around me,” she tells If. She credits Screen Australia’s Indigenous department, originally headed by Wal Saunders, followed by Sally Riley and now Penny Smallacombe,...
Considering Danielle MacLean’s original ambition was to be a stills photographer, her 23-year career as a writer, producer and director is quite remarkable.
Currently MacLean is juggling numerous projects including preparing a short film for the anthology feature Cook 2020: Our Right of Reply, writing an episode of the second series of Bunya Productions’ Mystery Road and signing on to direct at least one episode of the third season of Ned Lander Media’s Little J and Big Cuz.
In addition, she is developing a raft of projects including drama series Rough Justice with frequent collaborator Steven McGregor, children’s animated series Yellow Water Billabong and kids series The Barrumbi Kids with Ambience Entertainment.
“I have found my voice and I have a strong team of people around me,” she tells If. She credits Screen Australia’s Indigenous department, originally headed by Wal Saunders, followed by Sally Riley and now Penny Smallacombe,...
- 6/13/2019
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
The ABC’s Libbie Doherty (L) and Dena Curtis.
When Dena Curtis turned to writing and directing a dozen years ago after years as a film editor, she was confronted by a recurring problem.
“The challenge was convincing people, mostly broadcasters, to commission Indigenous stories when they said no one would watch them,” Curtis tells If.
Since then, as she acknowledges, there has been a “huge shift,” which she credits in part to the support and advocacy by ABC head of scripted production Sally Riley and Screen Australia’s Indigenous department headed by Penny Smallacombe.
Curtis, who founded Inkey Media in 2015, is in a sweet spot in her career. Currently she is crafting ideas for her segment of the anthology feature Cook 2020: Our Right of Reply, co-funded by Screen Australia and the New Zealand Film Commission.
The shorts from eight Indigenous teams from Australia and New Zealand will each...
When Dena Curtis turned to writing and directing a dozen years ago after years as a film editor, she was confronted by a recurring problem.
“The challenge was convincing people, mostly broadcasters, to commission Indigenous stories when they said no one would watch them,” Curtis tells If.
Since then, as she acknowledges, there has been a “huge shift,” which she credits in part to the support and advocacy by ABC head of scripted production Sally Riley and Screen Australia’s Indigenous department headed by Penny Smallacombe.
Curtis, who founded Inkey Media in 2015, is in a sweet spot in her career. Currently she is crafting ideas for her segment of the anthology feature Cook 2020: Our Right of Reply, co-funded by Screen Australia and the New Zealand Film Commission.
The shorts from eight Indigenous teams from Australia and New Zealand will each...
- 6/6/2019
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
Kodie Bedford.
When Kodie Bedford sets out to create a project or is offered a writing gig, she looks for three elements: Strong female characters, a regional setting which harks back to her childhood in country Wa, and a genre piece.
So far everything the Indigenous writer has accomplished in her burgeoning career has ticked all three boxes, with credits on Grace Beside Me, Robbie Hood and Mystery Road as well as the horror short Scout, which marks her directing debut.
“I pinch myself every day as I get to tell stories; I am living the dream,” she tells If. She turned to screenwriting after working as a cadet journalist for Sbs before moving to the ABC as a researcher on documentary series Message Sticks.
A graduate of the University of Western Australia with a Bachelor of Communications and a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Technology, Sydney,...
When Kodie Bedford sets out to create a project or is offered a writing gig, she looks for three elements: Strong female characters, a regional setting which harks back to her childhood in country Wa, and a genre piece.
So far everything the Indigenous writer has accomplished in her burgeoning career has ticked all three boxes, with credits on Grace Beside Me, Robbie Hood and Mystery Road as well as the horror short Scout, which marks her directing debut.
“I pinch myself every day as I get to tell stories; I am living the dream,” she tells If. She turned to screenwriting after working as a cadet journalist for Sbs before moving to the ABC as a researcher on documentary series Message Sticks.
A graduate of the University of Western Australia with a Bachelor of Communications and a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Technology, Sydney,...
- 5/15/2019
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
‘Cook 2020: Our Right of Reply’ filmmakers and producers.
Screen Australia and the New Zealand Film Commission (Nzfc) have today announced eight Indigenous teams from Australia and New Zealand who will work on a joint anthology feature, Cook 2020: Our Right of Reply, which will be titled Ngā Pouwhenua in Nz.
Each team will create a short chapter for the feature film, providing an Indigenous perspective on the 250th anniversary of James Cook’s maiden voyage to the Pacific.
Mitchell Stanley (Servant or Slave) from Australia, and Bailey Mackey and Mia Henry-Teirney (Baby Mama’s Club) from New Zealand have been chosen as co-producers. All will attend a residential lab at Shark Island Institute in Kangaroo Valley to develop the film.
Screen Australia head of Indigenous Penny Smallacombe said: “This is a rare opportunity for creative collaboration between Indigenous cultures, from Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific. I’m inspired...
Screen Australia and the New Zealand Film Commission (Nzfc) have today announced eight Indigenous teams from Australia and New Zealand who will work on a joint anthology feature, Cook 2020: Our Right of Reply, which will be titled Ngā Pouwhenua in Nz.
Each team will create a short chapter for the feature film, providing an Indigenous perspective on the 250th anniversary of James Cook’s maiden voyage to the Pacific.
Mitchell Stanley (Servant or Slave) from Australia, and Bailey Mackey and Mia Henry-Teirney (Baby Mama’s Club) from New Zealand have been chosen as co-producers. All will attend a residential lab at Shark Island Institute in Kangaroo Valley to develop the film.
Screen Australia head of Indigenous Penny Smallacombe said: “This is a rare opportunity for creative collaboration between Indigenous cultures, from Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific. I’m inspired...
- 5/13/2019
- by jkeast
- IF.com.au
Timothy Lee on location in ‘Mystery Road.’
After serving as a script editor on three seasons of House Husbands and writing episodes of Rush and Serangoon Road, Timothy Lee’s career has gone up a couple of gears.
Lee, who graduated from Aftrs in 2006, modestly credits his progression in part to the talent drain which has resulted in numerous Aussie writers plying their trade in the Us and the UK.
“That has created opportunities for the next generation of writers,” says Lee, who got his start as a script assistant/researcher on Rescue Special Ops after securing an Australian Writers’ Guild internship with Southern Star, mentored by Sarah Smith.
That led to writing episodes of the Nine Network drama and the fourth season of Network Ten’s cop show Rush. Working on Playmaker Media’s House Husbands, he reflects, “was good for my craft but not so good for my profile.
After serving as a script editor on three seasons of House Husbands and writing episodes of Rush and Serangoon Road, Timothy Lee’s career has gone up a couple of gears.
Lee, who graduated from Aftrs in 2006, modestly credits his progression in part to the talent drain which has resulted in numerous Aussie writers plying their trade in the Us and the UK.
“That has created opportunities for the next generation of writers,” says Lee, who got his start as a script assistant/researcher on Rescue Special Ops after securing an Australian Writers’ Guild internship with Southern Star, mentored by Sarah Smith.
That led to writing episodes of the Nine Network drama and the fourth season of Network Ten’s cop show Rush. Working on Playmaker Media’s House Husbands, he reflects, “was good for my craft but not so good for my profile.
- 5/13/2019
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
‘Dark Place.’
Five horror shorts by emerging Indigenous filmmakers commissioned by the ABC and Screen Australia will premiere as a 75-minute anthology at the Sydney Film Festival.
Under the banner Dark Place, the 15-minute films address post-colonial Indigenous history through the lenses of horror and fantasy.
Female oppression and revenge take centre stage in Kodie Bedford’s Scout while Bjorn Stewart unleashes small pox-infected zombies in the splatter comedy Killer Native.
An insomniac questions her sanity in Liam Phillips’ Foe, supernatural forces infiltrate a housing commission estate in Rob Braslin’s gritty Vale Light and Gothic horror shrouds the woods in Perun Bonser’s The Shore.
The casts include Leonie Whyman, Tasia Zalar, Jolie Everett, Clarence Ryan, Charlie Garber, Lily Sullivan, Natasha Waganeen, Katie Beckett, Shakira Clanton, Tamala Shelton, Nelson Baker, Nicholas Hope, Hugh Sheridan, Luka May Glynn-Cole and Bernard Curry.
ABC head of Indigenous Kelrick Martin commissioned the anthology...
Five horror shorts by emerging Indigenous filmmakers commissioned by the ABC and Screen Australia will premiere as a 75-minute anthology at the Sydney Film Festival.
Under the banner Dark Place, the 15-minute films address post-colonial Indigenous history through the lenses of horror and fantasy.
Female oppression and revenge take centre stage in Kodie Bedford’s Scout while Bjorn Stewart unleashes small pox-infected zombies in the splatter comedy Killer Native.
An insomniac questions her sanity in Liam Phillips’ Foe, supernatural forces infiltrate a housing commission estate in Rob Braslin’s gritty Vale Light and Gothic horror shrouds the woods in Perun Bonser’s The Shore.
The casts include Leonie Whyman, Tasia Zalar, Jolie Everett, Clarence Ryan, Charlie Garber, Lily Sullivan, Natasha Waganeen, Katie Beckett, Shakira Clanton, Tamala Shelton, Nelson Baker, Nicholas Hope, Hugh Sheridan, Luka May Glynn-Cole and Bernard Curry.
ABC head of Indigenous Kelrick Martin commissioned the anthology...
- 5/8/2019
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
Deborah Mailman and Rachel Griffiths.
Blackfella Films’ Black B*tch (working title), a six-part drama for the ABC revolving around high stakes ambition, betrayal and treachery in the nation’s capital, started shooting today.
Directed by Rachel Perkins, the series stars Deborah Mailman as Alex Irving, a charismatic and contradictory Indigenous woman who is thrust into the national limelight after a horrific event.
Rachel Griffiths co-stars as Australia’s embattled Prime Minister Rachel Anderson, who, seeing a publicity goldmine for her party, makes her a captain’s pick for the Senate.
But Alex wants to be more than just a political stunt: she wants to make a difference. So after Alex is betrayed by the Pm she sets out for revenge that will send the political establishment into meltdown.
The supporting cast includes Harry Richardson, William McInnes, Aaron Pedersen, Rob Collins, Anthony Hayes, Celia Ireland, Trisha Morton-Thomas, James Sweeny, David Roberts,...
Blackfella Films’ Black B*tch (working title), a six-part drama for the ABC revolving around high stakes ambition, betrayal and treachery in the nation’s capital, started shooting today.
Directed by Rachel Perkins, the series stars Deborah Mailman as Alex Irving, a charismatic and contradictory Indigenous woman who is thrust into the national limelight after a horrific event.
Rachel Griffiths co-stars as Australia’s embattled Prime Minister Rachel Anderson, who, seeing a publicity goldmine for her party, makes her a captain’s pick for the Senate.
But Alex wants to be more than just a political stunt: she wants to make a difference. So after Alex is betrayed by the Pm she sets out for revenge that will send the political establishment into meltdown.
The supporting cast includes Harry Richardson, William McInnes, Aaron Pedersen, Rob Collins, Anthony Hayes, Celia Ireland, Trisha Morton-Thomas, James Sweeny, David Roberts,...
- 3/4/2019
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
Sigrid Thornton and Aaron Pedersen.
Screen Australia has announced $4 million worth of production investment for one film, two television series and three online projects. They include a film adaptation of book Penguin Bloom, starring Naomi Watts and produced by Bruna Papandrea’s Made Up Stories; a second season of ABC series Mystery Road; Nine’s Seachange reboot; and Roborovski, a Vr project from Tilda Cobham-Hervey and Dev Patel.
Penguin Bloom, to be directed by Glendyn Ivin, is based on the book by Bradley Trevor Greive and has been adapted for the screen by Shaun Grant and Harry Cripps. It follows the true story of a family from Sydney’s Northern Beaches. Watts is Sam Bloom, a young mother who has a near-fatal accident that leaves her unable to walk. As her family struggles to come to terms with their new situation, an injured magpie chick dubbed “Penguin” enters their lives and helps them to cope.
Screen Australia has announced $4 million worth of production investment for one film, two television series and three online projects. They include a film adaptation of book Penguin Bloom, starring Naomi Watts and produced by Bruna Papandrea’s Made Up Stories; a second season of ABC series Mystery Road; Nine’s Seachange reboot; and Roborovski, a Vr project from Tilda Cobham-Hervey and Dev Patel.
Penguin Bloom, to be directed by Glendyn Ivin, is based on the book by Bradley Trevor Greive and has been adapted for the screen by Shaun Grant and Harry Cripps. It follows the true story of a family from Sydney’s Northern Beaches. Watts is Sam Bloom, a young mother who has a near-fatal accident that leaves her unable to walk. As her family struggles to come to terms with their new situation, an injured magpie chick dubbed “Penguin” enters their lives and helps them to cope.
- 2/27/2019
- by jkeast
- IF.com.au
Leah Purcell and Warwick Thornton.
Warwick Thornton, Leah Purcell, Ivan Sen, Steven McGregor, Erica Glynn, Danielle Maclean and Bain Stewart will travel to Los Angeles next month for high-level networking.
The visit by the delegation, which includes David Jowsey, Greer Simpkin and Charlotte Seymour, is an extension of Screen Australia’s Talent USA initiative and coincides with the agency celebrating 25 years of Indigenous screen stories.
The November 5-10 program will focus on setting up business connections for the delegates with Us film and TV industry stakeholders and providing opportunities to learn from established La-based creators and decision-makers.
Participants were selected based on their international success and/or having established interest in the Us.
“It is fantastic to be able to offer this incredible opportunity to luminaries of our industry, which will assist in opening new doors to expand their already successful careers in the Us market,” said Penny Smallacombe, Screen Australia...
Warwick Thornton, Leah Purcell, Ivan Sen, Steven McGregor, Erica Glynn, Danielle Maclean and Bain Stewart will travel to Los Angeles next month for high-level networking.
The visit by the delegation, which includes David Jowsey, Greer Simpkin and Charlotte Seymour, is an extension of Screen Australia’s Talent USA initiative and coincides with the agency celebrating 25 years of Indigenous screen stories.
The November 5-10 program will focus on setting up business connections for the delegates with Us film and TV industry stakeholders and providing opportunities to learn from established La-based creators and decision-makers.
Participants were selected based on their international success and/or having established interest in the Us.
“It is fantastic to be able to offer this incredible opportunity to luminaries of our industry, which will assist in opening new doors to expand their already successful careers in the Us market,” said Penny Smallacombe, Screen Australia...
- 10/18/2018
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
Guests from Canada’s ImagineNATIVE festival and the U.S.’s Sundance Institute were on hand Thursday to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Screen Australia’s Indigenous Department. A ceremony was held in Redfern, a suburb of Sydney that is the setting for “Redfern Now,” one of the program’s most enduring small screen triumphs.
The unit (originally set up at the Australian Film Commission and called the ‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Programme’) has pioneered the development of talent and content from the country’s native, now minority, people. And it has led the way for similar screen industry empowerment initiatives in other countries.
“This is about indigenous people telling their own stories. Australia is a leader in this,” said Jason Ryle. “We’ve been wanting something like this in Canada for a long time. Finally, it is happening.” That is a reference to the Canada Media Fund, which...
The unit (originally set up at the Australian Film Commission and called the ‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Programme’) has pioneered the development of talent and content from the country’s native, now minority, people. And it has led the way for similar screen industry empowerment initiatives in other countries.
“This is about indigenous people telling their own stories. Australia is a leader in this,” said Jason Ryle. “We’ve been wanting something like this in Canada for a long time. Finally, it is happening.” That is a reference to the Canada Media Fund, which...
- 8/30/2018
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
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