Screen NSW has selected three teams for its Short to Feature Fast Track initiative, and separately, has named writer and director Jon Bell the recipient of the inaugural First Nations Screen Scholarship.
The Short to Feature Fast-Track initiative sees each team receive $75,000 to support production of a short film/proof of concept and script development for a feature film. Screen NSW has also facilitated the attachments of experienced executive producers.
The projects selected include short film Souvenir and feature Keep Walking from producer Yingna Lu and writer/director Renée Marie Petropoulos, with See-Saw Films’ Liz Watts as EP; short film Homo and feature film Adjustments from producer Maren Smith and writer/director Vonne Patiag, with Goalpost’s Kylie du Fresne as EP; and short film Luna and the Brain Tuna and feature film Luna, from Jayden Rathsam Hua, Hugo Koehne, Henry Koehne, as well as producers Richard Harris and Rebecca Summerton, writer Mark Rogers and writer/director Aaron Lucas, which Timothy White of Southern Light Films will EP.
As IF has reported, Lucas has previously taken Luna to the Toronto International Film Festival Writers’ Studio.
Applications for the Short to Feature Fast-Track Initiative were reviewed by Screen NSW and Maslow Entertainment founder and MD Marc Wooldridge.
Screen NSW head Kyas Hepworth congratulated the three teams. “I am confident this initiative will support them on their filmmaking journeys and help them build their networks and relationships with experienced industry professionals along the way,” she said.
The First Nations Screen Scholarship is a 12-month initiative designed to propel the careers of mid-career to established First Nations creatives. Bell, who is post-production on his feature film The Moogai, will receive $25,000 to cover travel and industry exposure expenses. He will have the opportunity to travel to the United States and the United Kingdom to meet with overseas agents, and connect with stakeholders for projects.
“Jon Bell is a talented filmmaker who has made a mark as a local writer and director, with several
successful short films and an eagerly awaited first feature film in the works,” NSW Minister for the Arts John Graham said.
“I’m looking forward to seeing him step onto the global stage with the support of this fellowship and contribute to the ongoing legacy of storytelling and culture on our screens.”
Bell said he was honoured to be inaugural recipient of the initiative. “This is an incredible and timely opportunity which will enable me to travel abroad from my regional town to secure international representation and take my slate of projects to key players in the US and UK. I’d
like to thank Screen NSW for recognising and supporting First Nations filmmakers and our stories.”
Full details of the Short to Feature Fast Track initiative projects:
Short Film: SOUVENIR
Synopsis: When her girlfriend takes non-consensual photos of her during sex on vacation, sixteen year old Keira is left shaken and battles with how to confront the unnerving hold her lover has over her.
Feature Film: KEEP WALKING
Synopsis: When an Australian teenager is sexually assaulted by a teenage boy while on family vacation on a Fijian resort, she struggles for normalcy as she’s stuck on the island for another week with her family, best holiday friend, her attacker and his girlfriend.
Genre: Drama
Team Members: Yingna Lu (Producer) and Renée Marie Petropoulos (Writer/Director)
Executive Producer: Liz Watts (See-Saw Films)
Short Film: HOMO
Synopsis: Two best friends on a road trip are detoured by a strange encounter with an artist that reveals the cracks in their relationship.
Feature Film: ADJUSTMENTS
Synopsis: After years apart, best friends Mark and Rem reunite for a road trip but find life has pulled them further away from each other than expected.
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Team Members: Maren Smith (Producer) and Vonne Patiag (Writer/Director)
Executive Producer: Kylie du Fresne (Goalpost Pictures)
Short Film: LUNA & THE BRAIN TUNA
Synopsis: Leo’s got something important to discuss with his 8-year-old daughter – he’s got a brain tumour. But when Luna hears ‘brain tuna’ her big imagination takes them both on a fantastical detour. Leo must embrace Luna’s kaleidoscopic worlds and use them to communicate, if not to make her understand entirely, at least to find strength in the face of his diagnosis.
Feature Film: LUNA
Synopsis: Luna, an 8-year-old with a vivid imagination, learns that her Dad has a brain tuna swimming around inside his head. As her Dad’s tuna grows and the gravity of his illness becomes clearer, Luna must use her unique perspective to enter his hallucinatory world in order to save him, or else make sense of a world without him.
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Team Members: Jayden Rathsam Hua, Hugo Koehne, Henry Koehne, Richard Harris & Rebecca
Summerton (Producers), Mark Rogers (Writer), Aaron Lucas (Writer/Director)
Executive Producer: Timothy White (Southern Light Films)