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Latest newsRay Lawrence returns to the screen Calls for Submissions International Doco Festival 09 Inspiring Asian-Australian performance 19 June 2008 Zoot Films Launches Distribution Arm ABC 7.30 Report story on the growth of online drama production Documentary devotees gather in Melbourne for Headlands 2008 Gruesome Tassie Tale set for small screen |
April 2008Zoot Films Launches Distribution Arm8 April 2008 Hobart based Zoot Film Tasmania recently launched an intermediary distribution arm to assist Tasmanian filmmakers in selling their short films worldwide. The production company recently sold two of its short films, The Barn and Dark Decisions, into the Pan Asia region. Zoot Films director, Andy Wilson, says the distribution deal is a great opportunity, returning equity from films to the filmmakers. "The equity deal returns 40% of sale price, less gst, per minute to the filmmaker. The major benefit is that all deals are non-exclusive. This means your films can be sold into the same region to a different broadcaster, over and again." "The sales agent may not purchase all films; this is up to the broadcaster. We've placed 3 films in the loop and in 6 months has sold to two to three different broadcasters, returning over AUD$1000 in equity. A good return for a small amount of work." Filmmakers interested in including their films into the first round of offers are asked to send the following materials to Zoot Films Tasmania by the 30th of April:
All DVD's will be sent to the sales agent for consideration of purchase by mid May. Offers of sale will then be forwarded to the relevant producer for consideration when they are received by Zoot Film Tasmania. Please Note:
ABC 7.30 Report story on the growth of online drama production3 April 2008 The ABC's 7.30's Report presents an excellent report on the growth of social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace are continuing to grow and advertisers are scrambling to find ways to crack this lucrative market. Online drama is one method marketers are employing to attract i-surfer's attention. To view the story in full, click here to go to the ABC 7.30 Report website. Documentary Devotees Gather In Melbourne For Headlands 20082 April 2008 Five filmmaking teams from around Australia, with strong, ambitious and engaging documentary projects, are flying in to Melbourne next week to participate in the Screen Tasmania supported Headlands 2008 documentary development residential workshop. Including Tasmanian duo Troy Melville and Abi Binning from Move Media, the teams will develop their projects in an intensive 'hothouse' environment with feedback and advice from national and international documentary experts including the highly respected filmmaker and commissioning editor with Finland's YLE, Iikka Vehkalahti and well known Australian filmmakers Pat Fiske and Mitzi Goldman from AFTRS, independent Tom Zubrycki, Anna Grieve of Film Australia and Headlands Director, filmmaker John Hughes. The residential workshop will take place from 7 - 11 April 2008 and will be followed by nine weeks of supported writing time and two final days of marketplace preparation for the selected projects, which will be taken to the AIDC to pitch in 2009. Headlands 2008 will incorporate a series of film screenings and master classes at RMIT's Kaleide Theatre that will be open to audiences from the film community. HEADLANDS LAUNCH EVENT WHEN: Mon 7 April, 6.30, followed by 7.15pm Screening. SCREENING: Please Vote For Me – Introduced by Iikka Vehkalahti Please Vote For Me, Director: Weijun Chen, China/USA, 2007 Traditionally appointed by the teacher, the class monitor holds a powerful position, helping to control the students, keeping them on task and doling out punishment to those who disobey. The teacher has chosen three candidates: Luo Lei (a boy), the current class monitor; Cheng Cheng (a boy); and Xu Xiaofei (a girl). For all three children, the campaign takes its toll, especially for the losing candidates and their assistants. Viewers are left to decide if the experiment in democracy has been "successful" and what it might mean for democracy education in China. Please Vote for Me challenges those committed to China's democratization to consider the feasibility of, and processes involved in, its implementation. TOM ZUBRYCKI MASTER CLASS WHEN: TUES 8 April, 5pm Observational long-form documentary is in danger of extinction by television's tendency to homogenize and dumb-down content. Tom Zubrycki has been an exponent of the long form for many years and in this master-class he re-visits one of his early works Billal (1996) the last film he shot on 16mm, and talks about how his style and working methods have evolved, referring to recent films Molly & Mobarak and Temple of Dreams. HEADLANDS SCREENING WHEN: Wed 8 April, 5pm Darwin's Nightmare is a tale about humans between the North and the South, about globalization, and about fish. When the Nile Perch, a voracious predator, was introduced into Africa's Lake Victoria sometime in the 1960s, it extinguished almost the entire stock of the native fish species. However, the new fish multiplied so fast, that its white fillets are today exported all around the world. Huge hulking ex-Soviet cargo planes come daily to collect the latest catch in exchange for their southbound cargo, Kalashnikovs and ammunitions for the resource wars in the dark center of the continent. Fishermen, Tanzanian prostitutes, Russian pilots, World Bank agents and homeless children structure a complex system of social and ecological imperatives laid out here layer by layer in an exemplary work of observational, investigative documentary. AFTRS invites everyone interested in strong, ambitious and engaging documentaries to join us at these Headlands 2008 events. Headlands 2008 is an initiative of the Documentary Department at AFTRS with the generous support of the AFC, Film Victoria, Screen Tasmania, SAFC, ScreenWest, and the Northern Territory Film Office. Gruesome Tassie Tale Set For Small Screen2 April 2008 Tasmania's rugged south west region is set to star in an Australian-Irish co-production about famous cannibal convict, Alexander Pearce. The Last Confession of Alexander Pearce follows the final days of Irish convict Alexander Pearce's life as he awaits execution in a cell under Hobart Gaol. Pearce was the first white man to walk through the uncharted wilderness of south west Tasmania when he and seven other convicts escaped from the penal colony of Sarah Island and set out on foot for Hobart, over 300 kilometres away. When Pearce finally emerged from the wilderness 49 days later, he had murdered and eaten all of his companions. Behind him lay a trail of mutilated corpses. The Screen Tasmania funded production will commence filming in the Derwent Bridge region next week and features a cast of well known Australian and Irish actors. The lead role of Alexander Pearce will be played by young Irish actor Ciaran McMenamin, who Australian audiences may remember from his role as DC John Caldicott in the ABC series Jericho. Respected Australian actors Chris Haywood and Dan Wyllie will also feature in the production Screen Tasmania Director Karena Slaninka was enthusiastic about The Last Confession of Alexander Pearce coming to Tasmania. "This is a big budget period film which includes documentary and dramatic re-enactments and Screen Tasmania is very excited to be a partner with production company Essential Viewing. It is creating employment and training opportunities for Tasmanian crew and actors and we're pleased we've been able to get the whole production to come to Tasmania," Ms Slaninka said. "Productions like this are important in building Tasmania's production capacity. It's great experience for our local production crews and provides excellent networking opportunities as well" Director Michael Rowland's last feature film, Lucky Miles, was very popular with film festival audiences. "This is a natural progression from the work I did in Lucky Miles. For a long time I've wanted to do a film that looked at what we eat and the consequences of that. When producer Nial Fulton rang me with the script, I knew it was a perfect fit. It's a great concept and the locations in Tasmania, especially Derwent Bridge, make my heart feel good. It's a stunning part of Tasmania," Mr Rowland said. When completed, The Last Confession of Alexander Pearce will be seen on the ABC here in Australia, Ireland's national broadcaster RTE, BBC Northern Ireland, and the History Channel in the UK.
Irish actor Ciaran McMenamin stars in the Last Confession of Alexander Pearce, to be shot in Tasmania, along with Australian actors Chris Haywood and Dan Wyllie |
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