Press release from Miranda Brown Publicity
The cream of Australia’s film industry welcomed the opening of Adelaide Studios last week at a gala event, with the studios officially opened by The Hon. Premier of South Australia Mike Rann on what his last official duty as Premier of South Australia. The event which had been in planning for more than eighteen months, treated the 700 guests to a special evening, which included a spectacular light show projected onto the front of the heritage building by local SA lighting artist, Cindi Drennan.
The event was hosted by SAFC Chair Cheryl Bart and SAFC CEO Richard Harris; and guests included SPAA President Brian Rosen; The Slap Producer Tony Ayres; Rising Sun Pictures Director Tony Clark; Kojo Pictures Director Kent Smith; producers Jan Chapman and Sandra Levy, and writer Bob Ellis.
The courtyard looked utterly gorgeous and the wet weather gave guests an opportunity to view more of the facilities than originally planned as the party took advantage of the heritage courtyard, green room, atrium and Soundstage 2.
As a result of organisers trying to make the most of formalities planned for the front of the building to the last possible moment, there were some challenges associated with moving formalities into the state of the art soundstages but SAFC Chair Cheryl Bart and SA Premier Mike Rann had no difficulty in holding the crowd’s attention as they opened the centre.
Despite a number of protestors who chose the high profile event to promote their views the Premier delivered a heartfelt speech which both celebrated the history of the SAFC and spoke to the future of the South Australian Film Industry.
It was announced that actor Anthony La Paglia will become the Ambassador for Adelaide Studios in Hollywood; while the John Chataway Board Room was named in honour of director, producer, writer, Kojo Group founder and SAFC board member John Chataway, who passed away last year.
Anthony La Paglia said “South Australia has been the location for many of Australia’s most interesting and exciting independent films over the past 40 years, and the South Australian Film Corporation has consistently been at the forefront of the industry. I am proud to formally be a part of what promises to be an exciting future, and to promote the SAFC’s new Adelaide Studios to an international audience.”
The gala followed the SAFC-hosted Media Futures Forum, which focused on the future of Australian content in a converging media environment. A key ingredient of this event was a survey research project undertaken by consulting firm Systems Knowledge Concepts (SKC) asking respondents about their predictions regarding the future of media. A report summarising the outcomes of the survey and the forum will be presented to the Convergence Review Committee
The gala evening marks the beginning of a new era for the South Australian Film Corporation as it builds on its recent successes with Snowtown, Oranges and Sunshine and the sensational performance of Red Dog, which recently surpassed $20M at the Australian box office, making it one of the ten biggest grossing Australian films of all time and the biggest Australian box office earner ever supported by the SAFC – eclipsing other SAFC-supported hits such as Shine and Rabbit Proof Fence.
“The weather did not dampen the party and guests were on a real high with the promise of great things to come from what is a superb facility and a great outcome for the South Australian Film Industry. We’ve had numerous producers through the studios over the last couple of days who are walking away in awe of the facilities and want to see their projects made here.
“The studios are already buzzing with activity. Rolf de Heer’s upcoming feature The King is Dead, which was the last film shot at the SAFC’s Hendon Studios, is the first to use the Sound Mixing Theatre. The $14M TV mini-series Resistance, co-produced by Andrew Dillon and Lesley Parker, commencein pre-production and will be shooting over 23 weeks at Adelaide Studios. Wolf Creek 2, the sequel to the international smash hit thriller, will be shooting in South Australia in early 2012 and we expect they will also make use of Adelaide Studios.