Samantha Dinning.
Filmmaker Samantha Dinning has joined Philippa Campey’s Film Camp as creative producer, working across a slate of feature, TV, documentary and VR projects.
Her appointment is funded by Screen Australia’s Enterprise People Program. Dinning recently co-produced and shot Guardians of the Strait, Claire Jager’s documentary which examined the battles by a small army of journalists, activists and fishermen to safeguard Istanbul’s perilously narrow Strait of Bosphorus.
Film Camp currently is producing Leunig: A Tale in 16 Parts, a theatrical documentary directed by Kasimir Burgess which profiles cartoonist Michael Leunig. Madman Entertainment will release the doc supported by Screen Australia, the Documentary Australia Foundation and Film Victoria in 2019.
Also in production is Passenger, a stop-motion animated VR experience in which Film Camp teams with Van Sowerwine and Isobel Knowles.
Among the projects in development is No Time for Quiet, a TV documentary co-written, directed and produced with Hylton Shaw. Envisioned as a 4 x 30 series, it will look at Girls Rock!, a transformative, punk rock feminist boot camp in which girls and gender non-conforming teenagers converge on The Wick Studios in Brunswick.
Over the course of a week each learns an instrument of their choice, is assigned a band, writes a song and performs it in front of family and friends at a rock’n’roll showcase. Campey is discussing that project with a broadcaster.
In the financing stage through the DAF foundation are Brazen Hussies, Catherine Dwyer’s history of the bold women who kick started a feminist revolution in Australia in the 1960s (co-produced with Andrea Foxworthy and with Sue Maslin as EP); and Palazzo Di Cozzo, a portrait of furniture magnate Franco Cozzo by Madeleine Martiniello. Film Victoria and Screen Australia are providing development support for the latter.
Film Camp also has a number of feature and TV drama projects including adaptations in development. The duo recently participated in the inaugural Dame Changer Screen Tank and Plot Twist pitching forum and have been selected to participate in the Gender Matters: Brilliant Pitches workshop in Melbourne. Dinning is a recipient of Film Victoria’s 2018 Women in Professional and Leadership Development grant.
Campey said: “It’s a privilege to work alongside Samantha, who brings such a great set of complementary skills to our company. Already we have more than doubled the number of projects on our slate. I applaud Screen Australia for backing a creative production company of our size.”