A further $200,000 has been injected into the Hive Production Fund, helping “bold, audacious stories” to be produced by local filmmakers.
The Australia Council has joined ABC TV Arts and Entertainment and the Adelaide Film Festival in contributing $200,000 to the funding initiative, which was launched in February this year.
The now-$600,000 funding initiative, which supports the production of selected arts-based films and documentaries, is designed to assist one-off, ambitious arts films, with bold and imaginative cross-platform ideas and strategies, that will ultimately screen at both the AFF and on ABC TV.
“We’re seeing more and more artists creating work across artforms, combining elements of each to create work that’s unique and exciting,” Australia Council chief executive Kathy Keele said in a statement.
“The Hive Program will create opportunities for artists to move into the world of screen and expand their practice into this medium.
“Ultimately we hope to stimulate the development of new work for cinema and TV that is shaped and crafted by an artistic vision and process.”
ABC TV Arts and Entertainment Head Amanda Duthie said the network was “looking for bold, audacious stories, told by artists, for Australian audiences”.
The fund was inspired out of a cross-artform development lab – known as the Hive Lab – which was aimed to encourage art-form "cross-pollination" between practitioners, and between processes and creative approaches.
“The Hive Lab was originally conceived to address what appeared to be an artificial divide between film and the arts in terms of creative collaborative, cross-artform opportunities,” AFF director Katrina Sedgwick said.
“To have the Australia Council [for the Arts] engage so enthusiastically with this production initiative is very exciting. We can’t wait to see what work will emerge now that this funding door has been opened.”
The deadline for applications has been extended and will now close on Friday, August 26 at 5pm. Guidelines and application forms can be accessed here.