The Australian Film Commission (AFC) has committed $370,000 to four innovative projects through its Cross-Platform Digital Media Production Fund.
First Australians Online, produced by Darren Dale and Sohail Dahdal, and directed by Rachel Perkins (One Night the Moon), is a web portal for Indigenous Australia, aligned to the landmark Indigenous history series First Australians, which will be launched to coincide with the series broadcast on SBS in July 2008. In addition to finance from the AFC, the cross-platform project has support from SBS.
Flicks, produced by Jessica Bierne, written by Fin Edquist, directed by Aaron Davies (Dogstar) and Dave Jones, with interactive designers Katalyst, is a cross-platform project celebrating street art, where a community of users can interact, share and create in a mythical urban landscape, and watch graffiti brought to life through animated interstitials for TV broadcast.
Re-Enchantment, produced by Sue Maslin (Japanese Story, Hunt Angels), written and directed by Sarah Gibson, with designer Catherine Gleeson, is an interactive documentary project exploring how fairy stories continue to entertain, fascinate and horrify contemporary audiences. Set online in an enchanted forest for users to explore, Re-Enchantment will entice a community of adults still in touch with their inner child, and will also offer interstitial content for TV broadcast.
The Nightspot, produced by Martin Fabinyi (executive producer of Wolf Creek and Chopper) and Vincent Donato of Mushroom Interactive, and written, directed and designed by Lewis Strudwick and Acheron Design, is a playable console game demo that lets the players design and build their own bar from the ground up, from designing the décor and layout, to booking bands and ordering the beverage. In addition to finance from the AFC, Acheron also have commitments from Film Victoria and Mushroom Interactive to fund the creation of the playable prototype.
The AFC’s Director of Film Development, Lori Flekser, said that the standard of applications to the Digital Media Production Fund was very high. ‘It’s very exciting to support these original and engaging projects and to see Australian practitioners continue to push the envelope in digital media content and style.’
The next funding round for the Cross-Platform Digital Media Production Fund closes on 14 March 2008. Guidelines with detailed information and application forms can be obtained from the AFC website: http://www.afc.gov.au/
[release from Avviso PR for the AFC]