Director Warwick Thornton, musician and composer Jed Kurzel, LuckyChap Entertainment producer Josey McNamara, and US animator and filmmaker Mark Andrews will take the stage at this year’s SXSW Sydney as part of the October event’s screen industry program.
Having announced an initial slate of features for the screen festival last month, organisers unveiled several sessions that will form part of the line-up for the second annual conference today.
Of the speakers, Thornton and Kurzel will participate in live commentary presentations, where they will each dissect their work in front of an audience; McNamara, the producing partner of Margot Robbie and her husband Tom Ackerley, will discuss the LuckChap’s slate, which includes Barbie, Saltburn and Promising Young Woman; and Andrews, director of Brave and contributor to other Pixar productions, will share insights into upcoming projects at independent animation studio Floating Rock.
As part of a session titled ‘From Animators to Entrepreneurs’, two co-founders of Floating Rock will also discuss their journey in forming the New Zealand-based studio.
Other sessions include ‘Making the Unreal Real: Women in VFX and Animation’, a roundtable discussion presented by Ausfilm on the work of Nerissa Kavanagh (Studio Blackbird), Barbara Stephen (Flying Bark Productions), Alexandra Daunt Watney (MPC Adelaide) and Lara Hopkins (Framestore); ‘Distribution on the Fringes’, which will feature case studies from three successful local distributors with unique niches within the market; and ‘Beyond Australia: Screening at SXSW’, a roundtable discussion with local filmmakers who’ve taken their projects abroad to SXSW Austin.
This year will also incorporate a ’90 Minute Film School’, providing a crash course in five unique areas of the film industry, and a screen mentorship program consisting of one-on-one mentorship events, and lecture-style mentorship sessions.
They join previously announced sessions, including a featured discussion with Simon McQuoid (Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2). Last year’s Screen Breakfasts and filmmaker meetups will return as part of the festival.
SXSW Sydney 2024 Badges are now on sale at the second release rate. Find out more about this year’s event here.