Internationally acclaimed Australian director Fred Schepisi will deliver the Keynote Address at the 2013 Australian Directors Guild Conference, to be held November 6 – 8 at Sebel Pier One, Sydney.
Schepisi, whose latest film Words & Pictures, starring Clive Owen, had its world premiere last week at the Toronto International Film Festival, is the award-winning director of films including the 2011 release The Eye of the Storm, Six Degrees of Separation (1993), Last Orders (2001), The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978), Roxanne (1987), Evil Angels (1988) and mini-series Empire Falls (2005) for which he gained an Emmy nomination for best director and won a Golden Globe for Best Mini-Series.
The program for the Conference, Directing in the Digital Age, is now online at: www.adg.org.au
Highlights include two full day workshops for new and emerging directors on Working with Actors. Presented by director Stephen Wallace, the workshop will give practical insights into how actors work on film and television sets.
The Conference will also host a sidebar event, for the first time, called Meet The Producers. Directors will have the opportunity to pitch projects and meet network commissioning editors and producers and executive producers from Australia’s most successful production companies.
Confirmed special guests for the Conference include US-based Australian director Ben Lewin who will speak at the Plenary Session, The Entrepreneurial Director. As more and more directors take on the traditional role of the producer in order to finance, make and distribute their films, Ben Lewin, whose recent film The Sessions won plaudits for both acting and directing and was an outstanding success at the Sundance Film Festival, will discuss living and working in LA, directing independent films, raising finance with his wife and producing partner Judi Levine, and what it takes to keep pursuing a career in the US.
Other sessions at the Conference include:
3D Directing – To D or Not To D
Observational Acting – Directing Actors In Documentary
Aliens And Blood In The Outback – The Rise Of Genre Film in Australia
Tell Us The Truth – The Demise of the One-Off Documentary
Who Is The Real Director In Reality TV?
Show Me The Money – The Art Of Film Financing
With over 700 members Australia-wide, the Australian Directors Guild (ADG) is the national industry organization representing the interests of film and television directors, documentary filmmakers, animators and independent producers.
To register for the conference, go to:
https://adg.currinda.com/register/event/1
Discounted Early Bird registration is available until September 30. For details on Conference costs to go:
http://www.adg.org.au/conference-registration-2013.aspx