Young film writer and director, Rebecca Parker, has been chosen as one of just six winners to travel to the UK for the opportunity of a lifetime in the 2007 British Council’s Realise Your Dream programme.
Parker was selected from a pool of 260 entries and has been awarded a scholarship worth $10,000.
Parker’s first film appeared in more than 20 film festivals and won several awards. Her graduation film, This Girl in the Desert won the Asia Pacific Kodak Filmschool Award and also came second place in the Worldwide Kodak Filmschool Award. Parker was commissioned by David Bradbury to write a screenplay and worked for Foreign Correspondent producing documentaries.
The six winners were announced last night at an awards ceremony at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney.
The British Council will use its powerful UK network to find the winners suitable mentors and money-can’t-buy work experience. The prize covers return airfares to the UK and $8,000 towards relevant course fees, accommodation and living expenses for each winner.
‘Writing and directing feature films has always been my passion. The UK is such a creative hot-spot and having the opportunity to work there will have enormous potential for my career and creative development,’ Parker said.
The judges for the programme included Christopher Wade, Director, British Council Australia; Kathy Bail, Editor, The Australian Financial Review Magazine and Megan Spencer, filmmaker and critic.
‘The competition this year was tougher than ever. I have no doubt that our six winners will quickly emerge as cultural and creative leaders of Australia. They are all great ambassadors for their country and we are honoured that Britain can play a part in developing their skills and ideas.’
‘We look forward to seeing how they enrich Britain by working with some of our own creative greats and how they enrich the relationship between Australia and the UK through the many connections they will forge whilst they are there,’ British Council Director Christopher Wade said.
Entry for the programme was open to anyone between 21-28 years of age working or studying in creative fields such as design, architecture, advertising, music, film, fashion, animation, multimedia, performing arts and computer games.
Now in its fifth successful year, the Realise Your Dream programme is proudly supported by principal sponsor NAB.
‘NAB believes it is important to nurture local creative talent and we are proud to be supporting young Australians in their journey to realise their dream. We congratulate each of the six winners and look forward to seeing their future contributions to the creative life of Australia,’ John Simpson, General Manager Group, Corporate Affairs at NAB said.
Along with NAB, other sponsors also include airline sponsor British Airways, accommodation sponsor Stamford Hotels and Resorts, communications sponsor M&C Saatchi, public relations sponsor Open Dialogue and media partner triple j.
Visit the Realise Your Dream website for more details: http://www.realiseyourdream.org.au/
2007 Realise Your Dream Winners
Winner - Career - Location
Anna Barnes
Playwright
VIC
Jess Scully
Editor and Journalist
NSW
Katrina Schwarz
Editor, arts writer and curator
NSW
Omar Musa
Rapper
NSW
Rebecca Parker
Film Writer/director
NSW
Stephen Gilchrist
Curator of Indigenous Art
VIC
[release from Open Dialogue PR]