"I didn't want to make a film about my mother. It was the last thing I wanted to do, because I was still healing from the intergenerational trauma that had come down the family line. But it was clear that if I wanted to make a film, then that was the film."
Screen Australia has unveiled 13 titles that will share in $3.7 million of production funding, with six documentaries to be supported through the Producer Program and seven projects via the Commissioned Program.
Six films are set to vie for this year's AACTA Award for Best Documentary, with voting for the winner open from today until August 2.
The Australian International Documentary (AID) group is urging Screen Australia to increase funding of single one-hours and feature documentaries.
After 45 years as a documentary filmmaker, Pat Fiske has some simple advice for aspiring practitioners: "Have many strings to your bow if you want to survive."
Screen Australia expects to support the same number of documentary projects each year despite the proposed scrapping of the Producer Equity Program (PEP).
In recognizing the power of film to create social change, Gil Scrine has established a new not-for-profit public company, Cinema Ventures Ltd.