PRESS RELEASE
Antenna Documentary Film Festival is back, bigger and better than ever, with more films, guests and special events. With over 5,000 people attending the festival in 2012, this year Antenna will be extending its reach to Melbourne. Now its third year, the annual festival will take place in Sydney from 2nd to 7th October followed by a four day festival tour in Melbourne from 17th to 20th October.
Those planning on attending the Antenna Documentary Festival should prepare for a burst of exceptional international and Australian documentary film culture. With screenings from 20 countries, the 2013 Festival will screen 31 feature films, including 25 Australian premieres, three film competitions with cash prizes, Doc Talk sessions, international guests and a special retrospective program of world-renowned documentary filmmaker Kim Longinotto.
The 2013 Antenna program includes a variety of films ranging from intriguing tales to psychological dramas, and covers a range of controversial and confronting themes such as autism, late-term abortion, asylum seekers and refugees and the erosion of privacy in the internet era.
“For the third Antenna Documentary Film Festival we’ve built a program that will challenge, enlighten and entertain audiences with documentaries that reflect what is happening in documentary cinema and events of the wider world. The expansion to Melbourne this year enables the Festival to showcase some of the world’s best documentary cinema to a wider Australian audience,” said Antenna Founding Director, David Rokach.
Opening the festival for 2013, and as part of the Australian Feature Competition, will be the Australian premiere of The Network. Oscar winning Australian filmmaker Eva Orner artfully observes the hope and excitement as a television station is built from scratch in Afghanistan and examines the power of television to reflect and challenge society.
Also included in the Australian Feature Competition and premiering in Australia is the festival’s Closing Night film The Life and Crimes Of Doris Payne. The film tells the story of one of the world’s most notorious jewel thieves. Doris Payne relieved Cartier and Tiffany’s stores around the world of nearly $2 million in jewels; now in her 80’s she faces trial for the theft. Filmmakers Matthew Pond and Kirk Marcolina probe beneath her consummate charm to uncover the secrets of her trade and the conditions that drove her to a life of crime.
Special events this year will include Doc Talks – a curated program of documentary discussions, interviews and master classes with international documentary filmmakers and industry representatives. DocTalk is Antenna Documentary Festival's ideas hub, and attracts audiences of the brightest in the industry along with members of the public. The sessions will take place each day of the festival at Berkelouw Bookshop in Paddington.
Antenna showcases the very best in documentary cinema from around the world, together with Gala Awards, Q&A sessions, international guests, master-classes, retrospective screenings and other special events.
SYDNEY FESTIVAL DETAILS
Wednesday the 2nd to Monday the 7th of October, 2013
Chauvel Cinema, Corner of Oatley and Oxford Street, Paddington
Art Gallery of NSW, Art Gallery Rd, The Domain, Sydney
MELBOURNE FESTIVAL DETAILS
Thursday the 17th to Sunday the 20th of October, 2013
ACMI, Federation Square/Flinders Street, Melbourne
Full program details and information on ticket sales will be released closer to the event.
For more information, visit: http://www.antennafestival.org