Screenrights Cultural Fund recipients.
Screenrights has announced the seven initiatives it will support via its 2020 Cultural Fund, which this year had the theme of ‘New Voices’.
The fund is designed to support innovative projects that foster the creation and appreciation of screen content in Australia and New Zealand. While the support typically totals $250,000, in its third year Screenrights has been able to offer $295,000 using additional funding from the balance of previous funding rounds.
Five recipients will each receive $45,000:
- Bus Stop Films, to support the expansion of their Accessible Film Studies Program to Queensland, Victoria and South Australia;
- Tai Huri Films, for a training and skill development workshop for rangatahi Māori aged 15-25 to explore cultural narratives using the art of cinematic storytelling;
- Screenworks, who will partner with Princess Pictures and Hoodlum Entertainment to run a program to train undiscovered, diverse and talented screenwriters living in regional Australia with specific skills to meet industry requirements;
- Southland Creative Inc, for My Home My Culture – a short film program that will mentor ten aspiring 16-24 year-old regional South Coast NSW filmmakers to share their stories with audiences and communities; and
- Script to Screen, who will run a three-stage Paerangi program that finds new voices in remote regions of New Zealand, and gives isolated and inexperienced aspiring filmmakers the tools to develop a captivating story for screen.
The Juluwarlu Group Aboriginal Corporation will receive $38,720 for Our Ganalili Heroes, a youth digital media project that will give 12 young people in the Pilbara region the digital media skills to contribute their voices to the deep cultural and community-held knowledge of the Yindjibarndi people; and Cinespace will receive $31,280 to roll out an online educational program that gives culturally diverse creatives the tools to be able to access industry, building capacity towards greater representation on Australian screens.
“The third year of the Screenrights Cultural Fund has seen our strongest field of applicants yet, and we are delighted to be able to support so many initiatives, especially in such a challenging year for the screen industry,” said Screenrights board director and cultural fund working group chair Geoffrey Atherden.
“These projects engage meaningfully with our New Voices focus, intended to advance those who, for whatever reason, have found doors not readily open to them. We look forward to seeing the positive impact of these initiatives across the Australian and New Zealand screen landscape well into the future.”
Full details of the successful projects:
Bus Stop Films: The expansion of Bus Stop Films’ (BSF) award-winning Accessible Film Studies Program to Queensland, Victoria and South Australia. It will see access to film school education, filmmaking opportunities and screen industry employment pathways open for up to 45 young adults living with disabilities in Brisbane, Melbourne and Adelaide. Additionally, the delivery of the program will see creation of at least nine new jobs by employing emerging filmmakers from diverse backgrounds to deliver the program, and who’ll also gain above-the-line credits in BSF’s productions, furthering the Organisation’s contribution to diversity in the screen industry ecosystem.
Juluwarlu Group Aboriginal Corporation: Our Ganalili Heroes is a youth digital media project that will give 12 young people digital media skills and the confidence and courage that comes from recognising their commitment to contribute their voices to sustaining the deep cultural and community-held knowledge of Yindjibarndi – and opportunities to reflect, imagine and make and share their own creatively expressive important stories and meanings with wider Australian audiences. This is an important chance to step-up young people to grab hold of their own futures.
Cinespace Inc: An online educational program that gives culturally diverse creatives the tools to be able to access industry, developing knowledge and skills in a phase of production known as ‘packaging’, and a greater understanding of how our industry needs to view projects. The capacity and skills building program will build diverse creatives’ capacity and lead to greater representation on Australian screens.
Tai Huri Films Limited: A training and skill development workshop for rangatahi Māori aged 15-25 to explore cultural narratives using the art of cinematic storytelling. Participants will establish, maintain and strengthen their sense of belonging through cultural identity, intergenerational reconnection within whānau (family), hapū (sub-tribe) and iwi (tribe) using the stories of their past. Workshops are marae-based and led by a group of screen industry professionals. Participants will craft their own narratives, reimagining local stories in documentary or narrative format. Upon completion of the workshop, they will pitch their refined ideas to the panel. Successful pitches will have their films produced.
Screenworks: A program to train undiscovered, diverse and talented screenwriters living in regional Australia with specific skills that meet industry requirements. Screenworks will collaborate with Hoodlum Entertainment and Princess Pictures to identify the genres and formats that they need writers for. Screenworks will put a call out to discover new, diverse and talented screenwriters from regional Australia and will implement a unique training program to upskill 50 new regional writers in order to write to a production company’s brief. The participants’ work will be assessed by the production companies who will select previously undiscovered regional writers to join them as writing interns.
Southland Creative Inc: My Home My Culture – South Coast NSW Short Film Project is a short filmmaking mentorship program that will see ten aspiring young local filmmakers aged 16-24 years complete a program designed specifically to allow them to share their own cultural short film that shares insights and gives them a voice to share their story with audiences and communities following the recent droughts, devastating bushfires, floods and now coronavirus pandemic. The program is designed specifically for these regional young aspiring filmmakers who are feeling isolated and unable to access the same storytelling opportunities as those in big cities.
Script to Screen Te Tari Tuhi Kupu A Whakaahua: Paerangi is a 3-stage programme that finds new voices in remote regions and isolated situations to give inexperienced aspiring filmmakers the tools to develop a captivating story for screen. The most distinctive projects progress to the next stage: Stage 1 is a series of online learning for self-directed completion, teaching how to find and structure an engaging story for short film and web series formats; Stage 2 provides a mentor to hone their vision and refine project documents; Stage 3 is a 3-day intensive residential lab to develop the project further. Teams leave Stage 3 with a short film or web series project ready for funding and production, and new connections.