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Sydney Film School graduate wins Australian Directors Guild award

Press release from Sydney Film School.

Sydney Film School is pleased to announce 21 year old Epiphany Morgan has won ‘Best Direction in a Student Film’ at the esteemed 2012 Australian Directors Guild Awards for her documentary ‘The Room’, about the Medically Supervised Injecting Centre in Kings Cross.

“I’m thrilled to have won this prestigious award. It’s an honour to be acknowledged by the film industry and I’ll be able to use this recognition as a foundation for future funding appeals. The award is also great in building awareness of MSIC (the Medically Supervised Injecting Centre) and will help to bring the issue and treatment of drug addiction to the forefront of people’s minds,” said Epiphany Morgan.

‘The Room’ has also been given an educational release through VEA (Video Education Australia) – the largest educational distribution company in Australia.

Upon completing high school, Epiphany studied for one year at Sydney Film School, graduating in 2010 with a Diploma of Screen & Media. ‘The Room’ was produced in the second half of her studies and recognised with the ‘Best Director’ and ‘Courage Curiosity Compassion’ awards as judged by the school’s teachers and industry professionals.

“Epiphany’s tenaciousness and clarity of vision were evident from the first day of her studies at the film school. While making The Room she was courageous enough to tackle a very contentious social issue and compassionate enough to give a voice to people addicted to heroin. I’m sure she will continue to create provoking and engaging stories without pulling any punches,” said Sydney Film School Director Ben Ferris.

With a passion for documentary storytelling, Epiphany is quickly making her mark in factual filming of philanthropy issues. When she was just thirteen years-of-age, Epiphany travelled to Zambia as a UNICEF Youth Ambassador assisting on the issue of the AIDS epidemic in African and Asian regions. As part of the role, she co-hosted a UNICEF AIDS Documentary which was screened on Network TEN. Last year she also shot and directed footage for Vets Beyond Borders in India which she then edited into promotional videos and short documentaries.

Epiphany is now working at production company 2 Feet Films; campaigns include The Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation and The Children’s Medical Research Institute on the campaign ‘Jeans for Genes day’.

Editor’s Notes

The Australian Directors Guild Awards celebrates the creative achievement of directors in film, television and new media platforms.

Further information about Epiphany Morgan can be found at http://www.epiphanymorgan.com

ABOUT SYDNEY FILM SCHOOL

The Sydney Film School is one of the top private film schools globally, renowned for its unique blend of creativity and practical realism.

The Sydney Film School Diploma courses combine the teaching of theoretical/creative processes and practical hands-on film production, with the emphasis on practice. It is the only film school in Australia which teaches a ‘complete production pathway’ that uses and teaches both 16mm film and digital technologies. The classes in both drama and documentary production cover all essential aspects of filmmaking: from Pre-production (research, script writing, pitching, casting, production management, design etc), to Production (crewing, working with actors, lighting, filming, recording etc) and Post-production (editing, music, sound mixing copyright, distribution etc).

The SFS community is global, with students from 42 different countries attending the school since 2004. More than 120 quality documentaries, dramas and individual thesis films, exploring all manner of cinematic forms are being produced each year, dozens of them participating at prestigious local and international festivals. Since the School’s establishment in 2004 student films have screened in more than 100 festivals worldwide, winning 34 awards.

The Sydney Film School family includes established filmmakers such as Academy Award winner and Industry Patron of Sydney Film School Emile Sherman (The King’s Speech), feature filmmaker and School Director Ben Ferris (Penelope), and alumni emerging filmmakers such as Gracie Otto, Maya Newell, and Brian Lye. High calibre Sydney Film School Festival guest speakers have included Paul Keating, George Miller, Gillian Armstrong, Bruce Beresford and Barry Otto.

For further information about Sydney Film School visit: www.sydneyfilmschool.com.au

SYDNEY FILM SCHOOL – INTERVIEWS, IMAGES AND MEDIA ENQUIRIES:

Natasha Ciesielski, t: (02) 8399 0699, m : 0407 683 716, natasha@tsuki.com.au