• Congratulations to the Australians nominated for Academy Awards this year. George Miller's Happy Feet was nominated for Best Animated Feature, following its phenomenal box office success. Cate Blanchett received a nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her portrayal of a middle-aged, middle-class art teacher in Notes on a Scandal. And filmmaking team Peter Templeman and Stuart Parkyn received the delightful news that their film The Saviour, produced by AFTRS, was nominated for Best Live Action Short Film. Good luck to everyone for the 25 February ceremony. Media release.


• The AFC's new Regional Digital Screen Network (RDSN) initiative was launched in December by actor Michael Caton and the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator the Hon Helen Coonan. The AFC has equipped eight cinema venues in regional Australia with a digital cinema system, enabling them to screen Australian films in a digital format. The network kicks off on 18 February with Tropfest being beamed into the eight centres via satellite hook-up. Read this month's RDSN feature article.


• The AFC's 2007 IndiVision Project Lab is running this week in Sydney. Eight teams with low-budget feature projects are joined by acclaimed Danish writer Mogens Rukov (Festen, The Idiots, Reconstruction) and award-winning US producer Paul Mezey (Half Nelson, Maria Full of Grace), who are the Lab's international advisors for this year. They will work with a dynamic team of local advisors and speakers that includes Andrew Bovell, Michael Petroni, John Jarratt and Matt Hearn. Full details and team list. The March edition of IndiVision News will have a full rundown of the Lab - subscribe here.


• The eagerly anticipated PODLOVE series will kick off on SBS on Monday 5 February. The result of a partnership between the AFC and SBS Independent, PODLOVE is an innovative series of five documentaries for TV and online release. It is complemented by a website that will offer downloadable versions of the PODLOVE documentaries, humorous background into different PODLOVE relationships, and the ability to contribute and share personal stories inspired by the series. Full details.


• Applications for the AFC's Television Writer Fellowships close 2 February. This new initiative assists experienced TV writers and producers in developing innovative adult and children's drama series of any length for television. Funding can be used to create an outline of a series, a series bible, a script of an episode, sample episode/s, and promotional material such as test scenes. Application details.


• Six Australian films will be screening across four sections of the 57th Berlin International Film Festival. The Home Song Stories, developed through the AFC's SP*RK Script Development Program, will screen in the Panorama section of the festival. West and Razzle Dazzle will screen in the Generation section, as will the shorts Playground and Tommy the Kid. The Girl Who Swallowed Bees will screen in the new Short Film section. Media release.


• The AFC and the Australian International Documentary Conference (AIDC) recently announced the 20 projects selected to take part in MeetMarket at AIDC in Adelaide, 23-26 February. This documentary market pairs Australian filmmakers who have outstanding documentary projects with international and local buyers and commissioning editors in scheduled one-on-one meetings. Media release and list of projects.


• Australian films earned $40 million or 4.6 per cent of the total 2006 box office of $866.6 million. The highest-earning Australian title was Happy Feet with $11.1m in box office takings in the six days following Christmas. Kenny followed with $7.6m. Jindabyne took $5.3m at the box office, followed by Ten Canoes, Kokoda and Boytown taking more than $3m each. Full details.

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• Test Drive, an AFC/AFTRS development program designed for filmmakers funded under the AFC's Strand H Shorts Production fund, will be running in Melbourne, 1-3 February 2007. The four creative teams, selected to make a short film with a budget of up to $120,000 are given focused feedback from directing and producing mentors and experienced script editors as part of their development process. Full details.


• Monday 12 February is the deadline for expressions of interest in joining the register of assessors for the AFC's ICD Funding Program. Funding rounds include:
  * National Touring Exhibition Fund
  * New Projects Fund
  * ICD Interactive Media Fund
  * Events and Activities Fund
  
  See the online Industry Alert for full details.


• The 2007 Industry and Cultural Development Funding Guidelines and deadlines are now available on the AFC website. There is also detailed information about each of the funds on the site. If you would like a hard copy of the Guidelines, please contact Laura Heron, Administrative Assistant on: (02) 9321 6461 or toll free 1800 226 615.


• AFC funding deadlines - February-early March 2007:
  
  FILM DEVELOPMENT
  2 February
  Strand D - Draft Funding
  Strand V - Interactive Digital Media Early Development
  Strand W - Interactive Digital Media Matched Investment Development Funding
  TV Writer Fellowships
  
  9 February
  Internships/Fellowships
  Strand I: IndiVision Low-budget Feature Production
  
  16 February
  Strand L - Shooting Time-critical Material
  Strand S - Animation Development
  
  23 February
  Strand N - Documentary Production
  
  2 March
  Writer Fellowships
  
  9 March
  Strand H - Shorts Production
  
  
  INDUSTRY & CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT
  6 March
  ICD Interactive Media Fund
  New Projects Fund
  Events and Activities Fund
  
  
  TRAVEL GRANTS
  1 February
  Type B (market experienced producers) and Type C (producers developing market experience) for: MIPTV featuring MILIA, 16-20 April 2007 and Hong Kong Filmart, 20-23 March 2007.
  Type E for interactive digital screen content practitioners for MILIA.
  
  1 March
  Type B (market experienced producers) and Type C (producers developing market experience) for: the Cannes Film Festival.
  
  Download travel grant guidelines and application forms here. Read more about these international markets: MIPTV featuring MILIA and MIPDOC, Hong Kong Filmart and the Cannes Film Festival.


• Cannes submissions
  Filmmakers whose films were not ready to view in December when the Cannes scouts (Christian Jeune and Samira Zaibat) visited Australia can submit their films directly to the festivals. For official guidelines refer to the festival sites:
  Cannes International Film Festival
  International Critics' Week
  Read the international film festival profiles on the AFC website.



• AFC funding approvals.

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• The NFSA has managed to acquire a rare nitrate print of a 1909 film, The Mountaineer's Honour, by the legendary American director DW Griffith. With only a couple of frames missing, it is considered the most complete version of the film known to exist anywhere in the world. International Specialist Sally Jackson says the film is in excellent condition. The film is being preserved, a new print will be made, and film lovers can look forward to seeing it screened in the near future. More.


• The popular open air screenings continue on Saturday evenings in the beautiful courtyard of the NFSA in Canberra. As word has spread and people are returning to town after holidays, there has been a number of full houses at recent screenings. In February cinema lovers can enjoy: Robert Altman's Short Cuts; a Mu-Meson Archive night with Jaimie Leonarder; Renoir's French Cancan; and Roger Corman's Frankenstein Unbound. For complete info visit the NFSA website.


• More than 170 iconic photographs from the making of the Australian classic film, Forty Thousand Horsemen (1940), have been digitised and are now available in the NFSA's online catalogue for viewing. They come from the Mitchell Library's collection in Sydney and were loaned to the NFSA for copying and accessioning. Ruth Hill from the Centre for Scholarly and Archival Research says the images include many production stills and scenes that were filmed but didn't make it into the released version of the movie. To view the images, go to Search the Collection on the NFSA website.

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• Congratulations are due to several teams whose AFC-funded films have achieved recent success:
  
  Janet Merewether's Jabe Babe - A Heightened Life has been awarded the Merit Award for Short Documentary at the Taiwan International Documentary Festival. The film was awarded for its visual creativity, art direction and narrative clarity.
  
  Sarah Lambert's Photograph was selected in the top four films by the online audience at the Haydenfilms Online Film Festival in the US.
  
  Act3animation's much-awarded short film Pinata won Best Animated Short Film at the Nice Shorts Awards in Sydney.
  
  John Hughes has added another award to the collection for his exploration of the Melbourne Realist film movement in The Archive Project. This time it's the inaugural Joan Long Award for achievement in film history, awarded at the Australian Film and History Conference.
  
  Randall Lynton's Ransis and Alee screened at the Santiago de Compostela's Curtocircuito International Short Film Festival (Spain) late last year, and was also a finalist in the Short Film category at the 2006 Australian Effects & Animation Festival in December.


• Big Screen launches the 2007 National Tour in Mildura with an 11-day festival as part of the Mildura-Wentworth Arts Festival in March. Special guest Mick Molloy will introduce his latest film BoyTown at the gala premiere evening. Mick will also present a special Q&A with school students before the screening of his film Crackerjack. School Screen will also be screening Opal Dream and Hildegarde. The festival returns to Mildura's highly successful venue for outdoor screenings, the Homestead Lawns, for The Caterpillar Wish, Last Train to Freo and Strictly Ballroom. Muriel's Wedding will screen outdoors on the confluence of the beautiful Darling and Murray Rivers. Other cinema screening will take place in the local Deakin Cinema.
  
  Big Screen 2007 builds on successful partnerships and will return to Briagolong, Broome, Darwin, Nambucca, Broken Hill, Port Augusta and Burnie. New venues for 2007 include Nanango and Rockhampton in Queensland. The Big Screen website is currently being updated and the 2007 program will be available soon.


• In January the Embassy Roadshow travelled to Malta, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. In February the collection traverses the globe to Port Louis, Mauritius. The Embassy Roadshow is a travelling film festival program presented through Australian embassies overseas, showcasing a selection of contemporary Australian films to people around the world. It is an initiative of the Australian International Cultural Council, and is managed by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the AFC.


• Check out the new School Screen web pages on the AFC website. School Screen offers school students the opportunity to view and discuss contemporary and classic features, shorts and documentaries. The new web pages provide information about bookings, resources and the primary and secondary screening programs for this year.


• The Australian film Happy Feet is screening in February so keep an eye out for it at your local cinema. The new Australian films Gone, Bra Boys and Razzle Dazzle: A Journey into Dance will all be opening in March.

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• The following AFC publications have recently been updated and are available online, or contact publishing@afc.gov.au for a hard copy:
  Australian Short Films 2006/07
  Australian Feature Films Mini Catalogue January 2007
  Industry and Cultural Development Funding Guidelines
  ICD Assessor Guidelines
  Australians at KIDSCREEN 2007
  Interactive Digital Media - AFC Info Guide
  National Survey of Feature Film and TV Drama Prod 2005/06
  
  
• Are you looking for details of a particular Australian film title - feature, short, TV drama or documentary? The Searchable Film Database includes Australian and co-produced features, TV drama and documentaries from 1990 and shorts from 1998. It is updated on the AFC website each month.


• Latest updates to industry statistics in Get the Picture Online.

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• Welcome to Jane Healey, australianscreen online; Don Featherstone, Industry & Cultural Development, AFC; Alice Taylor, Video & Telecine Lab, NFSA; Jeremy Russell and Anna Campbell, Collection Access, NFSA; Madeleine Snedden, Canberra Public Programs, NFSA; Tracey Walker, Administration, AFC; Georgie Zuzak, Administration, AFC; Sarah Waladan, Legal Affairs & Co-productions, AFC.


• Farewell to Mila Gisbert, Admin Assistant; Wendy Gray and Beth Taylor, Project Coordinators, australianscreen online; Carolyn Saul, Clearance Officer, australianscreen online; Wayne Blacklock, Admin Assistant, Film Development; Shauna Wine, Admin Assistant; Louise McCann, Collection Access, NFSA; Samuel Toombs, Tech Services, AFC; Ali Roche, Safety Film Services, NFSA.


• Positions vacant: for current vacant positions at the AFC.

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• SPAA 07 is calling for papers. The conference will focus on the Asia Pacific and developing relations in this region. They are looking for session ideas that will provoke informative and inspirational sessions spanning cross media, animation, television and feature film for the established industry. Details.


• The deadline for the SBS Independent/AFC Pitch and Punt is 7 February. The development of a documentary series will be financed to the value of AUD$20,000 in the SBSi/AFC Pitch and Punt at the 2007 Australian International Documentary Conference (AIDC). We are calling for concept-stage short series proposals (eg 3 x 52 minute episodes or 6 x 25 minute episodes). Full details.


• The Australian International Documentary Conference (AIDC) is on this month (23-26 Feb) in Adelaide. The program has been announced and the keynote speaker will be Alex Graham, Chair of the PACT Council and Managing Director of Wall To Wall, an independent UK production company. Guests also include Diane Weyermann, EP of An Inconvenient Truth, and UK producer/director Michael Waldman. Registrations are still open. Check the AIDC website for info and registration.


• Entries are now open for the 2007 Dendy Awards for Australian Short Films, the 57th Sydney Film Festival's competition for Australian productions under 60 minutes in length. Deadline: 19 February. Check the SFF website for entry form and regulations.


• In association with the 2007 Adelaide Film Festival, Experimenta Vanishing Point will be showing for the first time in Adelaide at the Art Gallery of South Australia, 16 February - 10 March.


• The AFC's Industry and Cultural Development Division proudly supports the following upcoming festivals and events:
  
  Tropfest
  18 February
  
  Cross Over at Adelaide Film Festival
  16-21 February
  
  Adelaide Film Festival
  22 February - 4 March
  
  Australian International Documentary Conference
  23-26 February
  
  15/15 Film Festival
  Digital Story workshops until 8 March
  
  Flickerfest National Tour
  until 25 March
  
  Darwin Film Society - Flix in the Wet
  until 25 March
  
  
• Check Metro Screen's website for details of all their programs. The first MPG [Members' Production Group] meeting of the year kicks off with the first of four annual pitching sessions. To pitch on the night and possibly receive funding in the form of access to filmmaking equipment and facilities apply before 2 February. Or turn up to watch the action for free. The MPG meets on the first Tuesday of every month at 6.30pm. Meetings are open to all members and give you the opportunity to pitch new ideas, discuss your current projects, share skills and resources, and collaborate with others to produce your own films, TV content and media projects.


• Popcorn Taxi, a regular film event where filmmakers and film lovers can meet, watch films of all types, and discuss the filmmaking process all year round runs in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane and Darwin. For further information and screening details visit the Popcorn Taxi website.


• mo:life monthly is an informal gathering on the second Monday of every month, that offers the opportunity to discuss the latest advances and opportunities in mobile media technology and culture. Find out about the various players and networks and what they offer, explore the capabilities of the latest handsets, and see what others around the globe are doing with this new format. Contact d.opitz@metroscreen.org.au


• ScreenWest and PAC Screen Workshops have announced the PAC Script Lab initiative, rehearsed readings of West Australian feature film scripts on the last Sunday of each month. The aim is to hone West Australian scripts and increase the profile, quality and awareness of West Australian film projects.


• IF Magazine's What's On in Film guide to screen events is sponsored by the AFC. The Jan to June 2007 calendar is now available as a PDF on the AFC website.


• Other AFC-supported activities and events.

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On 18 February, for the first time, the country's largest short film festival, Sony Tropfest, will be beamed via satellite into eight regional centres across Australia. This marks the realisation of a major new initiative - the launch of the AFC's Regional Digital Screen Network (RDSN), and a milestone in the AFC's ongoing commitment to taking Australian films and screen culture to regional audiences. GABRIELLE BONNEY looks at what's in store for regional cinemas in the RDSN.

The RDSN is a network of eight cinema venues in Albany (WA), Devonport (Tas), Hervey Bay (Qld), Katherine (NT), Port Augusta (SA), Singleton (NSW), Wagga Wagga (NSW) and Yarram (Vic) - all of which have AFC-funded Kodak digital cinema equipment installed to enable them to screen Australian films in a digital format. The upshot of this is that these regional centres will now be able to unveil new Australian films in line with the metropolitan release. They'll also be provided with specially curated monthly screenings by the AFC, mini festivals featuring films not screened in these locations before, and other festival events like Tropfest.

Regional cinemas have never had the opportunity to release Australian films on the same date as their city counterparts, commented Katrine Elliot, General Manager of CMax Cinemas, Devonport, at the RDSN media launch at the AFC's Sydney headquarters in December. "By the time we get them they are three or four months old, they're about to hit the DVD store, the excitement behind the film has gone and I think a lot of our audiences start to feel like the poor cousin. The biggest advantage is the fact that finally regional cinemas and our audiences are going to be treated like people in the cities. It'll be great to run off the back of the national marketing, when the stars are touring and the directors and producers are talking about the films."

Gayle Lake, Manager of the Regional Digital Screen Network, emphasises how getting the RDSN off the ground has involved many parties: "We are working not only with our eight venue partners but a broad range of independent distributors and filmmakers, local businesses and government, industry associations and colleagues right across Australia to get the work up on the screen."

For distributors, the high cost of producing multiple 35mm prints of new release films and freighting them round the country has been restrictive. Creating digital file copies means that films can be sent quickly and cheaply to cinemas in the RDSN, and as an added bonus the quality is superior to the second-hand, often scratched, 35mm prints the regional cinemas are used to receiving.

The cultural and economic impacts of access to new Australian releases and the venues' commitment to increased Australian programming - by way of specially-curated festival programs, Indigenous programs, programs for schools, documentaries and shorts - will be keenly felt in all eight regions. This will hopefully expand with the growth of the RDSN into more centres in the coming years.

The impact of a huge Australian film festival like Sony Tropfest landing in regional areas simultaneously with the live event is going to reverberate throughout many sections of regional communities. "It will encourage and inspire young filmmakers who are untapped at the moment," said Michael Laverty, Managing Director of Tropfest. "I hope we reach young Australians. Within two years I'd like to see a young rural kid up there in the finalists in Sydney, showing their story. We've always wanted to look at how we'd peg Tropfest regionally and this is the perfect mechanism."

Read the whole article.

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