Screen Producers Australia (SPA) has announced that comedian and actress Magda Szubanski will deliver the Hector Crawford Memorial Lecture at next month’s Screen Forever conference.
Szubanski has written and performed in a slew of renowned film and television titles across the past four decades, including Babe, Big Girl’s Blouse, Bligh, Bran Nue Dae, Dogwoman, Dr Plonk, D-Generation, Fast Forward, Full Frontal, Good Guys Bad Guys, It’s A Date, Kath and Kim, Little Deaths, Sisters, Something Stupid, and Three Summers.
Throughout her career, she has received recognition in the form of a Mo Award, seven Logie Awards, three AWGIE Awards, two People’s Choice Awards, and an AFI for Best Actress.
In 2015, Szubanski released her memoir Reckoning, which detailed the story of her father’s activities as an assassin in Nazi-occupied Poland, as well as her own experience of intergenerational trauma, migration, and coming-of-age as a young gay woman. The book was named the Australian Industry Book Awards Book of the Year for 2016, as well as Biography of the Year. It also won the 2016 Indie Award for Non-Fiction and the 2016 NSW Premier’s Literary Award for Non-Fiction.
Outside of her literary and screen work, Szubanski is known as one of Australia’s most prolific LGBTQIA+ rights activists and, in 2019, was named an Officer of the Order for her distinguished service to the performing arts as an actor, comedian, and writer, and as a campaigner for marriage equality.
A feature of the Screen Forever conference since 1992, the Hector Crawford Memorial Lecture is designed to honour its namesake’s legacy and emphasise the importance of independent production in Australia’s cultural life.
SPA CEO Matthew Deaner said Szubanski’s career as a multi-award-winning actor, producer, and writer made her an ideal candidate to deliver the address.
“Magda’s reputation precedes her, and having an Officer of the Order of Australia for distinguished service to the performing arts as this year’s lecturer, we are sure delegates will have a not-to-be-missed opportunity to hear from one of our generation’s greats,” he said.
Screen Forever will be held on the Gold Coast from March 19 – 21, with financing opportunities available through the SPA Connect Market, to be held March 26-27.