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| AFI Insider 12 August |
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The 2009 AFI Awards season is now officially launched. On
Saturday 1 August, the inaugural AFI Outstanding Achievement Dinner
was held, right in the midst of the wintry flurry of the Melbourne International
Film Festival, and the first of this year's awards were announced. For my full
wrap-up of the night's events, click here.
In a night full of celebration, the stellar talents of Geoffrey Rush were
centre stage as he accepted the 2009 AFI Raymond Longford Award. Rush proved himself
a masterful entertainer and speech-maker, and it's well worth a YouTube
visit to witness his speech, or read a written transcript.
These are inspiring words, directed sternly but playfully at an industry
moving ever further away from specialisation.
Congratulations were also
in order to the producers of Gallipoli:
The First Day. Sam Doust, Meena Tharmarajah and Astrid Scott were announced
as the winners of the inaugural AFI Award for Screen Content Innovation.
For many people, however, the most anticipated revelation of the evening
was the listing of the 26
feature films in contention. Check out our energetic compilation
trailer, and make a note to catch as many of the films as possible in
time to vote for this year's AFI Awards.
Rochelle Siemienowicz
AFI Editor
Twitter: @AFIeditor
PS. To be a part
of the 2009 AFI Awards professional members outside of NSW and VIC must have joined
up before July 31 2009; professional members in NSW and VIC and all general members
must be joined up before August 31 2009. Join
or renew
online now or click here
for more information about professional accreditation.
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| 200 Seconds Update |
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As part of the 200 Seconds competition,
AFI Award winner Elissa Down visited the International Grammar School in
Sydney on Monday to share her experiences of filmmaking. Elissa showed the
students the daily rushes from The Black Balloon, sharing her tips
on how to put together a short film.
Entries
for the 200 Seconds competition close on 31 August, so get in
quick! You can find all the information about the competition, and view entries
that have already been submitted here.
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| 2009 AFI Fellowship |
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Applications
are now open for the AFI Fellowship grant of $20,000. The AFI encourages and welcomes
applications from aspiring Australian screen practitioners who have a unique,
imaginative and realistic vision, which they wish to pursue to further enhance
their career.
2008
AFI Fellow, John L Simpson says "The AFI fellowship has provided the support
to turn my professional 'wish list' into a career plan of action. The combination
of strategic networking opportunities together with the financial support to research
and implement my digital screening map of Australia has lead to extraordinary
professional and life enhancing opportunities that have propelled me into the
next stage of my career.”
If you believe that the AFI Fellowship could assist you to achieve
a personal goal which will also contribute to the development of the screen industry
at large, apply now! For further details, information on application criteria,
or to download the application form, please visit afi.org.au/fellowship.
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| The AFI staff go to MIFF |
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As a bunch of Melbourne film-lovers, the AFI staff love
the chance to visit the Melbourne International Film Festival. But there
are always so many films, and so little time to see them. Here we look back on
some of our 2009 festival highlights.
Meet
some of your AFI staff and discover their secret cinema passions, both Australian
and international. Read the full story here. | |
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| TV Highlights |
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Australian Rules
Adapted from the Phillip Gwynne
novel, Deadly, Unna? this 2002 film tells the story of an adolescent
boy struggling with family conflict and interracial turmoil in a lonely fishing
village. It focuses on 'Blacky' (Nathan Phillips), a smart kid and an
eager, but unexceptional, player on the Aussie rules team. His friend, Aboriginal
star player Dumby (Luke Carroll) lives in the Mission settlement with his
sister Clarence (Lisa Flanagan), with whom Blacky shares a mutual attraction.
Directed
by Paul Goldman, Australian Rules was commissioned by SBS. Screens Sunday, 16 August,
10pm, SBS1. | |
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| DVD Highlights |
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I Know How Many Runs You Scored Last Summer
"Mass murder, it's just not cricket" Scotland Yard hotshot
Kim Reynolds arrives in Sydney to assist New South Wales Detectives Gary Chance
and Shane Scott in the hunt for the serial killer terrorising Sydney. The remaining
team members are relocated to a safe house in Joadja Creek, unfortunately it doesn't turn out to be that safe!
One by one, in the remote Australian outback, the team members are dismissed
by the moustachioed serial killer with a razor sharp cricket glove and an arsenal
of sharpened stumps. More info here.
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Spotlight on Claire Denis
This
week we're bringing you a special Critics' Corner, with a wonderful piece of writing
by our own Membership Manager, and secret Claire Denis expert, Kate Ravenscroft.
Click
here
to see Kate's overview of this important French filmmaker's work; together
with an extended review of her latest film, just shown at MIFF, 35 Rhums. |
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| News and Events |
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2009 AFI AWARDS UPDATE
The 26 feature films in contention for the 2009 AFI Awards have
been announced. See the full list here.
This
year's nominees for the Best Short Fiction Film, Best Short Animation and Best
Feature Length Documentary have also been announced. Details here.
The 2009 AFI Raymond Longford Award has been presented to Geoffrey
Rush.
The inaugural AFI Award for Screen Content Innovation has
been awarded to Gallipoli:
The First Day.
Stay tuned for AFI TV, a dynamic online presentation
of Australia’s best short films. Exclusive for AFI members, AFI TV will
screen the nominees for 2009 AFI Awards for Best Short Fiction Film and Best Short
Animation allowing you to appraise these films at your conveniencepre-voting.
In addition to the screening of these nominated short films, AFI TV will showcase
award winning films by preeminent filmmakers Adam Elliot, Melanie Coombs, Rachel
Ward, Robert Connolly, Glendyn Ivin and Kriv Stenders to name a few. Further details in your next newsletter.
Celebrating Australian
Talent
Congratulations to Blessed, the new
film from Ana Kokkinos, which has been selected to screen at this year's Toronto
International Film Festival (10-19 September). Other Australian films selected
so far are Mao's Last Dancer, The Boys are Back, Bright
Star and The Loved Ones.
Bouquets to Mark Hartley, who has
just returned from launching Not Quite Hollywood in 15 US locations.
The Ozploitation documentary (and winner of the 2008 AFI Award for Best Documentary)
has received rapturous response from US critics.
The AFI would also like
to note that 2008 L'Oreal Paris Young Actor Nominee Tom Green (The Ground
Beneath) has debuted on Home and Away as the new kid in town 'Dexter'.
Production news
Storm Surfers 2 - New Zealand, a new one-hour documentary
from producers Marcus Gillezeau and Chris Nelius, has just been given the green
light from Screen Australia and Screen NSW. The doco will be co-produced with
Discovery Network Asia, and will follow surfing legends Ross Clarke-Jones and
Tom Carroll as they hunt the biggest waves in the world.
Events
Meet director, writer and actor Matt Newton, composer
John Foreman and editor Gracie Otto who will discussing their new film
Three Blind Mice at a special screening at Cinema
Nova, Thursday 20 August, 6.30pm.
The documentary The Real
Graham Kennedy will be screened at ACMI as part of its 'Australian Perspectives'
series on Saturday, 15 August, 4pm at the Australian
Centre for the Moving Image, Melbourne.
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This week we've got passes to a special pre-release
screening of Matthew Newton's feature debut Three Blind Mice, along with
in-season tickets to the amazing documentary The Cove.
There are
also tickets to (500) Days of Summer, and festival passes for Adelaide
members to the St Kilda Film Festival national tour. On DVD there are copies of political documentary Liberal Rule.
Sydney
theatre lovers are invited to enter to win two double passes to new Company B
production Lonesome West.
Only members are eligible to enter. For more
details on giveaways visit here.
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