Former head of AFTRS sales and distribution Ruth Saunders and actor/filmmaker Ford Sarhan have been working for the past two years on A Short Journey, an online series to give fresh life to the short films of well-known Australian directors and introduce some of this country's most talented emerging filmmakers.
The project's title reflects the scope of the series which will cover the period from 1973 to the present. The 1970s saw the beginning of the resurgence of domestic cinema in Australia and they were formative years that continue to influence our industry today. 1973 has been chosen as a key date with the opening of the Australian Film Television and Radio School and the emergence of major filmmakers like Gillian Armstrong (My Brilliant Career/Unfolding Florence: The Many Lives of Florence Broadhurst) and Phillip Noyce (Rabbit-Proof Fence/The Giver) and predating the creation of the Australian Film Commission.
The series will begin with the early works of established directors and will move through a vast canon of films up to today, highlighting the works of emerging filmmakers as they transition from shorts into features.
The pair has been thrilled by the initial response to this project and have already lined up Nash Edgerton, Kieran Darcy-Smith, Rachel Ward, Gregor Jordan, Justin Kurzel, Robert Connolly and Cate Shortland among others. The films will be introduced by the filmmakers themselves, discussing their experience making their first films, where they were at that stage in their lives and the lessons they learned along the way. They will then introduce the film that shaped the direction of their career, making it available for public viewing.