First Footprints, Jabbed, Fallout and Once My Mother were among the winners of the 2013 IPAF ATOM awards presented in Melbourne on Thursday night.
Founded in 1982 and voted by members of the Australian Teachers of Media, the awards recognise film and media excellence in the education and screen industry sectors.
There were more than 600 entries from Australian and New Zealand media producers in 29 categories. The event was hosted by Brian Nankervis from RocKwiz. The Intellectual Property Awareness Foundation (IPAF) was the naming sponsor this year.
Martin Butler and Bentley Dean’s First Footprints, which tells how the first Australians adapted, migrated, fought and created in dramatically changing environments, was named best documentary, general.
Sonya Pemberton’s Jabbed, which poses the questions how do you decide whether to vaccinate or not, and what are the risks?, took the award for best docu, science, technology and the environment.
Lawrence Johnston’s Fallout, which celebrates the life and work of novelist Nevil Shute, whose novel On the Beach was turned into a Hollywood film by Stanley Kramer, was best docu, history, social and political issues.
Sophia Turkiewicz’s Once My Mother, which traces Sophia's mother's Polish roots, her deportation with two million other Poles to the Siberian gulags and her miraculous survival, took the award for best docu, biography.
Andrew Ogilvie’s Desert War, an account of the war in North Africa during WW2, collected the prize for best docudrama (dramatised documentary).
The best factual TV series was Paul Clarke’s Whitlam: The Power and the Passion. Ian Darling’s Paul Kelly – Stories of Me was voted best arts docu.
The My Story My Content tertiary winners were Cinemorph by University of Adelaide’s Carolyn Duchene and Film Gives Me Freedom by University of Wollongong’s Aaron Lucas (audience award).
Other recipients included:
Best Indigenous Resource: Yagan, Kelrick Martin, Spear Point Productions
Best Game / Multimedia Production: NEOMAD, Yijala Yala Project, Big hART
Best Short Fiction (50 minutes or less): The Landing, Jade van der Lei, Perception Pictures
Best Experimental: You Like It, I Love It, James Vaughan, University of Technology, Sydney
Best Animation: Butterflies, Isabel Peppard and Warwick Burton, TBC Media
Best Music Video: Dropframe: Trichome, Oli Sansom
Best Children’s Television Program: Scope, Sarah Abbott, Network Ten
Best Documentary Short Form (30 minutes or less): Pablo’s Villa, Matthew Salleh, Urtext Film Productions
Best Tertiary Short Fiction: Thin Air, Natalie Nalesnyik, Swinburne University of Technology
Best Tertiary Experimental: Womb, David Ward, Swinburne University of Technology
Best Tertiary Animation: I Dream a Geisha, Nicole Tan, Swinburne University of Technology
Best Tertiary Documentary: Not My Place, Chantell Basiacik, University of Technology, Sydney
Best Educational/Training Resource (Primary/Secondary): Paul Kelly – Stories of Me, Shark Island Productions
Best Instructional/Training Resource (Tertiary/General): Listen Up!, Alice Taylor, CAAMA Productions