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Film synopsis:

Speaker: Leonard Retel Helmrich is a Dutch cinematographer  and film director Indonesian descent. He was born the 16th of August 1959 in Tilburg, Netherlands and has lived in Amsterdam since 1982. Received highest honours for international documentaries at the Sundance Festival and was the first two-time International Documentary winner at IDFA.

Helmrich is famous for perfecting the ‘Single Camera Shot’ filming style and his related technical camera innovations. “…you can move inside an event and go with your camera to the right spot, at the right moment,… That’s what the whole single-shot cinema is about: trying to think of the world as a kind of clockwork, a machinery, with everything interrelated. The bigger and smaller things are just as important. In a clockwork you can’t pull out a little gear because the whole thing jams. The solution is to become one of the clockworks.”, Leonard Retel Helmrich.

He is currently writing a book about “Single Shot Cinema”.

http://antidotefilms.com.au/details.php?filmid=4411

Event Information

WHERE: Cinema Paris, Fox Studios, Entertainment Quarter, 130 Bent St, Moore Park NSW.

WHEN: Thursday 10th November, 2011  
6.15 for 6.30pm

ENTRY:  $10 concession

OzDox Session on Digital Distribution

Distribution for documentaries is fast changing and we are entering a whole new world where our documentaries are available 24 hours a day to anyone who would like to view them, sometimes at a price: It’s called Video on Demand – VOD.

New companies have formed to meet this demand from educators, libraries and the general public.  We will hear from three of the biggest: Kanopy, ABC Commercial and BeamAfilm.

Kanopy has been aggregating educational content from distributors in Australia and Worldwide. They stream programs to tertiary institutions, which can then be accessed by any computer, iPod or other media device.  ABC Commercial’s digital distribution strategy is to license ABC content non-exclusively to a wide variety of digital platforms in Australia and internationally including iTunes, Fairfax TV, TiVO, Fetch, BT Vision and SeeSaw. They distribute an extensive back catalogue of documentaries including a number of Film Australia titles and are also actively looking for new acquisitions. BeamAFilm, launching their portal in early 2012, is aggregating a distinct collection of independent documentaries with an aim to raise the profile of documentary and create financial returns for the industry. In a secure streaming environment with a number of unique value-adds, films will be marketed internationally via the beamAfilm website and also sub-licensed across global VOD networks.

With internet streaming new apps have been developed. We will hear from Peter Tapp, of ATOM, who is currently working on developing iPhone and iPad apps and ebooks for iTunes and the Android markets and exploring the new revenue streams that these markets can open up for Australian producers and distributors, not only through sales of the film but also sales of the app itself and copyright income derived from the copying of the study guide.

We will also hear about FilmTank a new digital film distribution platform to be released in 2012 from Red Gaffa – digital agency dedicated to the film industry that specialises in online marketing, branding, social media and digital content distribution.

We will also hear from Thomas Mai, a very experienced Scandinavian sales agent and producer (notably for Lars von Trier), recently moved to Sydney, who will speak about film distribution at festivals/markets around the world.

Speakers:

Olivia Humphrey is the managing director of Kanopy, a Perth-based company. Olivia set up Kanopy two years ago and the company both streams programs and sells DVD from it’s website to tertiary institutions.

Jessica Ellis is the Manager of the Digital Sales & Distribution business within ABC Commercial and has over 10 years experience in the media industry within Australia,

Gil Scrine is Director, Acquisitions for beamAfilm and also runs Antidote Films – a Brisbane based independent distributor specialising in art-house films and social documentaries.

Louise van Rooyen is Director – Business Development for beamafilm. She has 15+ years experience with internet-based businesses and also runs her own consultancy, PPi.

Peter Tapp is Editor of Metro and Screen Education and is based in Melbourne.

Natalie Itzkowic and Tamara Piller from Red Gaffa are involved in innovative distribution, in particular the FilmTank platform.

Thomas Mai, a sales agent and producer who coaches  film makers around the world on how they can apply the new digital possibilities and grow a global audience for their films.

Event Information

WHERE: AFTRS Theatre, Fox Studios, Entertainment Quarter, 130 Bent St, Moore Park NSW.
http://www.ozdox.org/events/

WHEN: Wednesday, 19th October, 2011
Wine, nibbles and conversation from 6:00pm for 6.30pm start.

ENTRY: $7

RSVP not required, but be early to ensure your seat. Please invite your friends and colleagues too! This event is open to the public. Parking fees discounted after 6pm, or with validated ticket from AFTRS.

The festival, taking place in Sydney will feature the best documentary films from Australia and around the world, with 25 feature length documentaries – all Sydney premieres, of which 15 are Australian premieres, three Australian shorts, International, Australian competitions and a student film competition.

We are honoured to have Hussain Currimbhoy and Michael Madsen joining us for the inaugural Antenna film festival in Sydney this year.
Danish director Michael Madsen has made a name for himself in arts and filmmaking circles with his award-winning short film ‘To Damascus – A Film on Interpretation’(2005) and through founding the project Sound/Gallery, a 900 square metre sound diffusion system underneath the Town Hall Square in Copenhagen, Denmark (1996-2001). His new film Into Eternity, which looks at the issue of nuclear waste through an experimental filmmaking style, will show at Antenna, followed by a Q&A with the director.

A renowned figure in the documentary industry, Hussein Currimbhoy worked in programming for the Melbourne, Brisbane, and Adelaide Film Festivals in Australia before taking over as the programmer of Sheffield Doc/Fest in 2008, where he is now Artistic Director. Hussein will join the judging panel for the International Competition, comprising 12 of the best documentaries from around the globe, and will speak at the industry panel co-presented by the Australian International Documentary Conference (AIDC). The session will pose the question, ‘Who Needs Another Festival?’ and will explore the role of film festivals and documentary film. The session will call on a host of guests including Hussain Currimbhoy, Joost den Hartog (AIDC), Gil Scrine (Antidote Films), Stefan Moore (Screen NSW) and Mary-Ellen Mullane (Screen Australia).Hussain Currimbhoy’s attendance issupported by the British Council and the British Airways.

In collaboration with OzDox, the Australian Documentary Forum, the festival will present a panel discussion following the screening of Give Up Tomorrow, a USA/ UK film that looks at corruption and class discrimination in the Philippines. The panel will look at issues raised in the film and the challenges faced by documentary makers when access is limited. Moderated by filmmaker Alejandra Canales, the discussion will feature international guest Michael Madsen and documentary director and producer Ivan O’Mahoney, who has made films for HBO, BBC, ARTE, Channel 4, PBS and the Discovery Channel, including Baghdad High, How To Plan a Revolution and short film ‘Surviving Hunger’.

As part of the special events program at the festival, Antenna will feature special screenings, including a free screening of celebrated French filmmaker Chris Marker’s Sans Soleil in honour of his 90th birthday. The experimental documentary, which is a meditation on the nature of the human memory, will be shown in collaboration with the National Film and Sound Archive and Alliance Française Sydney. Open free to the public, the screening will be followed by a lecture about his work, by Dr Anne Rutherford, from the University of Western Sydney. Danfung Dennis’film Hell and Back Again will screen at the festival in collaboration with the Walkley Foundation and will be presented by award-winning ABC journalist Liz Jackson (Four Corners). The film aims to capture the reality of a contingent of US soldiers fighting the war in Afghanistan.

Antenna is also proud to join forses with the Walkley Foundation and together we will screen the finalists of the 2011 Walkley Documentary Award which ‘howcases excellence in documentary production that is grounded in the principles of journalism, together with rigorous filmmaking’. Full program details to be announced very soon.

http://www.antennafestival.org

Sydney – Screenings from 18 countries, over four days, featuring 25 Sydney premieres including 15 Australian premieres and competitions totalling $10,000 in prizes – these are some of the highlights of Antenna International Documentary Film Festival, which today unveiled its program for the inaugural event in Sydney, 5th to 9th October.

The festival will open at Dendy Opera Quays with Australian Robert Nugent’s Memoirs of a Plague, an intriguing story of the ancient relationship between humans and the dreaded locust, and continues at the Chauvel cinema over the following four days with the best in documentary cinema from around the world. The festival will culminate with Philip Cox’s The Bengali Detective, followed by an award ceremony announcing the winner of the SBS Award for Best International Documentary worth $5000 and the $2500 prize for Best Australian Documentary.

Standout films showing at the festival include Michael Madsen’s Into Eternity, which tackles the issue of nuclear waste and the task of communicating to generations 100,000 years in the future; Ian Palmer’s Knuckle, about a clan of Irish Travellers who solve their long-standing family issues with their fists; Robin Hessman’s My Perestroika, about a group of now adult class mates who grew up during the fall of the Iron Curtain; Danfung Dennis’ Hell and Back Again, a glimpse of the reality of war in Afghanistan, and Alex Gibney’s Magic Trip, about a drug-fuelled road trip across America in the 1960s organised by icon Ken Kesey.

“We are really happy with the program which features a diversity of culturally rich stories from Australia and around the world – there really is something for everyone. The freshness of documentaries is changing the landscape of cinema and becoming accepted amongst mainstream movie-lovers. Our program, combined with engaging debate, industry panel discussions and competitions have garnered keen industry support and we’re so thankful to everyone who is part of this exciting new festival,” said Alejandra Canales, Festival Co-Director.

Along with International guests, Hussain Currimbhoy and Michael Madsen, the festival will host Australian filmmakers including Ivan O’Mahoney, Lauren Teiko-Bayliss, Director of Life in Vitro and Memoirs of a Plague Director Robert Nugent (End of the Rainbow, 2007) and Producer Mitzi Goldman (End of the Rainbow, 2007 and director, A Common Purpose, 2011).

The festival will feature special events, including the Chris Marker 90th Birthday Tribute, which in collaboration with the Alliance Française de Sydney and the National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA) will screen his classic film Sans Soleil and there will be panel discussions, Q&A sessions and a master class with Michael Madsen (Into Eternity). The festival, in partnership with the Australian Film, Television and Radio School (AFTRS), will also host the student film competition, which will award the Best Student Documentary with prizes to the value of $2000 courtesy of Metro Screen, the Australian Directors Guild (ADG) and Adobe.

For full program details, screening times and to purchase tickets, visit Antenna’s website: http://www.antennafestival.org

Tickets: Adult $30.00/ Concession $25.00

Tickets are available through Dendy: www.dendy.com.au

FESTIVAL DETAILS

Venue: Chauvel Cinema, Cnr Oxford St and Oatley Rd, Paddington

TICKETING

Single sessions: Adult $16.00/ Concession $13.00

Multiple Passes:

3 film pass: $42.00/ $35.00

5 film pass: $65.00/ $55.00

10 film pass: $120.00/ $100.00

MEDIA INFORMATION, INTERVIEWS AND IMAGES AVAILABLE ON REQUEST

Pip Maclachlan – 02 8399 0699 – pip@tsuki.com.au
Edweana Wenkart – 02 8399 0699 – edweana@tsuki.com.au

beamAfilm distributes an exceptional range of politically, socially and culturally engaging documentaries for the contemporary ‘thinking’ audience.

Powered by state of the art video streaming and payment technologies beamAfilm handles digitisation, marketing, search optimization, security and any rights issues in the digital space.

Now in a Call For Content stage, beamAfilm invites all documentary filmmakers to submit their films for consideration. We offer favourable revenue splits to producers of up to 75% with further financial incentives to select filmmakers who sign early.

For more information: www.beamafilm.com

Join acclaimed film editor Mary Stephen – an editor who crosses all genres – for a screening of the award winning documentary 1428.  The screening will be followed by a discussion between Mary Stephen and Julia Overton where Mary will show clips from other documentaries and will show and discuss her approach to editing and the collaborative process.

Mary Stephen is an accomplished film editor, best known as Eric Rohmer’s long time collaborator. Initially an assistant to Cécile Decugis (the editor for Godard’s Breathless) since The Aviator’s Wife (1981), Stephen became Rohmer’s Chief Editor in the early 90s with Winter’s Tale and all the subsequent Rohmer films up to the last one, The Romance of Astrea and Celadon (2006). In the last few years she has worked in Turkey, Canada and China, on films such as Du Haibin’s 1428, a prize-winner at the Venice Film Festival and the multi award winning Lixin Fan’s Last Train Home which won the top prize at IDFA in 2009.

About 1428

In 1428 the filmmakers deliver a vision of human devastation that is ‘fascinating, beautifully crafted (Ronnie Scheib, Variety).  Without judgment but with a deep compassion for their subjects, the filmmakers of 1428 bring us a myriad of individual stories of absurdity, confusion and grief. 1428 has won a number of awards including Best Documentary at the 2009 Venice Film Festival.

The Australian Directors Guild and Griffith Film School present Directing the First Person Documentary, a conversation with directors Phoebe Hart (Orchids: My Intersex Adventure), Peter Hegedus (My America) and Cathy Henkel (The Man Who Stole my Mother’s Face) followed by a Q&A.

These filmmakers have made revealing, confronting and at times controversial films with themselves as the protagonist. So how did they go about formulating the idea, pitching themselves as a character, directing shoots, exercising judgment in the edit? How did they negotiate the boundaries between personal and professional and relationships on-screen and off with family and friends? What have been the long-term effects on their lives?

Date: 30th August
Time: 6.00pm til 8.00pm
Venue: Griffith Film School Cinema, Southbank campus (entry from Dock Street)
Cost: Free to ADG members, $5 non members, Griffith students free, Gold coin donation other students (ID required)

Join us afterwards at The Ship Inn (nibbles provided).

Please send rsvps to rsvp@adg.org.au with the email heading “Queensland Doco” by 29 August . Phone the ADG office 02 9555 7045 for any enquiries.

Proudly supported by Screen Australia

http://www.adg.org.au/events.aspx#

Time is running out for filmmakers to enter their documentaries in the new Walkley Award for Excellence in Documentary.

The award‘s open to a variety of documentary storytelling styles, and judges are looking  for courage and creativity in concept, approach and execution.  The Foundation invites entries that offer an in-depth examination of issues of national or international importance, including investigative, biographical and first-person stories reflecting the emotion and drama of the human experience.

The documentary award adds a 34th category to the Walkley Awards and joins the Walkley Non-Fiction Book Award in recognising and encouraging excellence in long-form journalism, which according to Media Alliance federal secretary and Walkley Foundation CEO Christopher Warren is of increasing importance in an era dominated by the demands of the 24-hour news cycle.

“Through the Walkley Documentary Award, we hope to encourage the professional development of journalists as documentary makers, to encourage journalism’s intellectual honesty in this powerful form – and to recognise those who are able to realise journalism’s primary aim: enlightenment through the pursuit of truth,” Warren said.

Entries, which must have been shown in the 12 months from September 1, 2010 to August 31, 2011, close at 5pm on Friday September 2, 2011.

The winner will be announced as part of the annual Walkley Awards Gala Dinner celebrations, on Sunday, November 27 2011 in Brisbane, the culmination of the Walkley Festival of Journalism, including the Walkley Media Conference.

For eligibility criteria and more information visit: http://www.walkleys.com/documentary

The Walkley Foundation thanks Linc Energy, major partner of the Walkley Documentary Program, for its support.

For more information contact: Diana Plater on (02) 9333-0956 or diana.plater@alliance.org.au

“I have seen the impact that documentary film festivals have in other countries, not just in the development of new audiences for documentary but also in the quality of the films being produced. We thought a festival dedicated exclusively to documentary would be a great contribution to Australia and we hope Antenna will become a fruitful platform for presenting the complexities of the world we live in. We look to present films that will challenge audiences, while also being relevant,” said Antenna Founding Director, David Rokach.

Rokach and festival Co-Director Alejandra Canales have aimed to create a diverse program of documentary films from Australian and international filmmakers, tackling topics from nuclear waste to a pool party to matchmaking mayors. Antenna opens with the Australian premiere of Robert Nugent’s Memoirs of a Plague, the intriguing story of the ancient relationship between humans and the dreaded locust.  Other festival highlights include award-winning documentaries such as Michael Madsen’s Into Eternity (Finland, Sweden, Denmark), Robin Hessman’s My Perestroika (UK, USA, Russia) and Sounak Chakravorty’s The Bengali Detective (India, UK, USA).

17 of the documentary feature films in the festival are in competition, with awards given in two categories, the SBS Award for Best International Documentary and Award for Best Australian Documentary. The awards accompany generous cash prizes of $5,000 and $2,500 respectively.  Antenna will also hold a special competition for student films in association with the Australian Television and Radio School (AFTRS), with a prize package valued at $2,000.

The festival program will feature special events, including a free screening of celebrated French filmmaker Chris Marker’s Sans Soleil in honour of his 90th birthday. The experimental documentary, which will be shown in collaboration with the National Film and Sound Archive and Alliance Française Sydney, is a meditation on the nature of human memory and the screening will be followed by a lecture about his work, which is open free to the public. The festival will also host a panel discussion with OzDox and The Australian International Documentary Conference (AIDC).

Full program details will be released closer to the event and you can check the website for updates.

FESTIVAL DETAILS
Festival dates: Wednesday 5th to Sunday 9th October, 2011
Venue: Chauvel Cinema, Paddington
Cnr Oxford St & Oatley Rd

TICKETING
Festival tickets are available through Chauvel Cinema box office, online at www.chauvelcinema.net.au or by calling the box office on 02 9361 5398.

Single sessions: Adult $16.00/ Concession $13.00

Multiple Passes:
3 film pass: $42.00/ $35.00
5 film pass: $65.00/ $55.00
10 film pass: $120.00/ $100.00

Group tickets are available for groups of 10 or more people. For more information email info@antennafestival.org

Opening Night Film & Party – Australian premiere of Memoirs of a Plague by Robert Nugent, followed by opening night party: Adult $30.00/ Concession $25.00

For more information, visit: http://www.antennafestival.org

MEDIA INFORMATION
Pip Maclachlan – 02 8399 0699 – pip@tsuki.com.au
Edweana Wenkart – 02 8399 0699 – edweana@tsuki.com.au

With 382 hours of Australian independent documentary produced last year and  watched by millions,  documentary is  the industry’s most vibrant and productive sector. To celebrate the launch of the documentary issue of Lumina, Australia’s journal of screen arts and business,  OxDox and AFTRS will host a panel discussion on “The Future of Documentary” which will be followed by refreshments.

RSVP is essential.

Event Information

WHERE: AFTRS Theatre, Fox Studios, Entertainment Quarter, 130 Bent St, Moore Park NSW.
http://www.ozdox.org/events/

WHEN: Wednesday 17th AUGUST – 6.00pm arrival for 6.30pm start

Please invite your friends and colleagues! This event is open to the public. Parking fees discounted after 6pm, or with validated ticket from AFTRS.

THIS IS A ‘NOT TO BE MISSED’ EVENT!

WHEN: Monday 8th August 2011

TIME: 7.00pm – 9.00pm

WHERE: Cinema 2, Victorian College of the Arts
234 St Kilda Rd, Southbank VIC
Entrance via Grant St (Tram stop 17)

COST: ADG Members $5, Non-Members $10. Industry affiliates (AWG,MEAA,ACS, SPAA, AIMIA, ASE, AGSC) 10% discount
VCA Students Free, All Other Students Gold Coin

RSVP: Please RSVP by 5th August: rsvp@adg.org.au

David Bradbury’s latest film On Borrowed Time is screening at this year’s Melbourne International Film Festival on Saturday 6 August

Presented by ACADEMY AWARD NOMINEE – DAVID BRADBURY and The Australian Directors Guild
Proudly supported by Film Victoria and Screen Australia

You are invited to submit a short synopsis of your own work and gain feedback from Bob regarding some of the problems that you face with your own project.

To apply for this exclusive masterclass, please submit your CV and a short synopsis of your project (max 1 page / 400 words) to rsvp@adg.org.au

Applications must be received by 23rd July, 2011 and will be confirmed early the following week.
ADG members will be given priority.

ADG member price: $150
Non member price: $300

To apply for or renew your membership www.adg.org.au or 02 9555 7045.

Price includes light lunch and refreshments.

Biography

Bob Connolly began his career at the ABC, directing some 30  documentaries there in the 1970s before teaming up with Robin Anderson  to work independently. In 1983 they released and  FIRST CONTACT,  followed by JOE LEAHY’S NEIGHBOURS (1989) and BLACK HARVEST (1992). Shot in the PNG Highlands over ten years, these 3 films won 30 national and international awards, including an Oscar nomination for First Contact. All three won the Grand Prix at France’s Festival Cinema du Reel, and  AFI awards for Best Documentary.

In 1996 Connolly and Anderson released RATS IN THE RANKS. Their last  film together was FACING THE MUSIC (2001) which like all its  predecessors enjoyed a lengthy national theatrical release. It too won the AFI Award for Best Documentary, and was voted most popular film at  the Sydney and Brisbane Film Festivals.

In March 2002, Bob Connolly’s wife and colleague Robin Anderson died aged 51.

In 2010 in recognition of an outstanding body of work, the ADG presented Bob with the prestigious Outstanding Achievement award. In 2011 Bob joined the board of the ADG.

With co-director Sophie Raymond, MRS CAREY’S CONCERT is Bob’s 6th major film release and is currently enjoying great success around the nation.

Supported by Film Victoria  and Screen Australia

A Film by Tom Zubrycki

Director’s Bio: Tom Zubrycki is an award-winning documentarian whose recent films include Temple of Dreams (SFF 2007); Molly & Mobarak (SFF 2003) and The Diplomat (SFF 2000). He also works as a producer mentoring emerging filmmakers.

Screening: 7pm – August 5, 2011

Australian film-maker John Hughes reports on this year’s Pacific Documentary Film Festival finds new dialogues opening up between islands, languages and cultures.

Fortuitous circumstances (for me, not so much for Harriet) led to an invitation to Tahiti to join the jury of the Pacific Documentary Film Festival FIFO in late January 2011, standing in for the Australian Director’s Guild’s Harriet McKern. At short notice Harriet had to decline FIFO’s offer due to pressing work commitments with the fast approaching ADG Conference. My hesitation took about as long as it takes a falling coconut to hit the ground cracking.

FIFO is in its 8^th year and is expanding its horizons. This year the festival hosted a pitch session (for the 2^nd time), screenings of short films from the region, a (drama) script development workshop, and a conference on regional media and broadcasting. The short films screening included a number of Australian films. FIFO has developed a partnership with the French Cabourg International Film Festival, and this year screened Cabourg’s 2010 prize winning feature and short drama. Australian films have traditionally done well at FIFO; last year a major prize went to Amiel Courtin-Wilson’s Bastardy, and Charlie Hill-Smith’s Strange Birds in Paradise was among the films screened.

This year there were 15 documentaries selected for competition and around 30 screened out of competition. The screenings were very well attended, with most films screening on three or four occasions over the six days of the festival. Filmmakers from Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii and elsewhere in the region attended. A number of Australian films were selected and two won major awards. The Jury’s Grand Prix went to Contact (Bentley Dean, Martin Butler, 78 minutes, 2009) and one of the three Special Jury Prizes went to Kuru: the Science and the Sorcery (Rob Bygott, 52 minutes, 2010). The other two Jury prize winners were New Zealand films. Trouble is My Business (Juliette Veber, 83 minutes, 2009), an observatory documentary dealing with the travails of an energetic vice-principal in an East Auckland school looking after Islander and Maori students and This Way of Life (Thomas Burstyn, 86 minutes, 2009), a sympathetic portrait of struggles and utopian life-style of Maori Christian couple Peter and Colleen Karena, their six kids and 50 horses, as they deal with family trauma in New Zealand’s idyllic Ruahine Mountains.The People’s Choice audience award went to Lucien Kimitete (Dominique Agniel, 52 minutes, 2010), a Canal+ television account of the life and work of a much loved Marquesas politician and activist who disappeared along with his colleague Boris Léontieff and two associates when their small plane crashed into the sea in May 2002. No wreckage from the plane was ever found. The film acknowledges that many people in the region harbour suspicions about the plane’s disappearance, as Lucien Kimitete and Boris Léontieff were expected to assume power in immanent elections and their effective advocacy of local self-determination threatened the status quo. It is not an investigative film, but rather a wistful celebration of Lucien’s dedication that inspired a generation with the transformative power of traditional Marquesas culture.

FIFO is deeply engaged with these questions of culture and identity across Oceania and particularly alert to the role of documentary and other media forms to the future of French Polynesia. Environmental issues are urgent – last year’s Grand Prix went to a New Zealand film on global warming in the region There Once was an Island: Te Henua E Noho (Briar March, 80 minutes, 2010) – development, underdevelopment and social issues associated with economic uncertainty are balanced against the struggle to sustain a variety of Polynesian cultural identities. ‘Authenticity’, identity politics and self-determination across Oceania animate FIFO’s purpose. Take the Australian prize winners. Bentley Dean’s Contact is a beautifully realised cinematic essay reminding us that among the histories shared by the peoples of Oceania is the devastating encounter of Indigenous peoples with European culture, and in particular its weapons of mass destruction; themes clearly recognizable in French Polynesia.

Dealing in cannibalism, sorcery, scientific animal experimentation and ‘white man’s magic’ Rob Bygott’s Kuru boldly enters treacherous story territories of anthropology and colonialism in Papua New Guinea without a skerrick of vulnerability to accusations of ‘Orientalism’. The film delivers a deeply moving account of the value of meticulous ethnographic documentation and rigorous scientific curiosity that resulted in the discovery of a new mode of long gestation transmissible disease. The film works through conventions of the science and history specialist factual genre; but here the filmmaker has nourished the documentary content, transcending the tendency of specialist factual to flatten emotional engagement. Rob Bygott’s treatment has deployed shockingly confronting archival footage against warmly intimate testimony from the Fore people of New Guinea’s Eastern Highlands, and this combined with the persuasive humanitarianism and dedication of the film’s main protagonist Michael Alpers, offers an intellectually rich and intriguing narrative beyond both cultural and genre boundaries. The film becomes an exemplary instance of cross-cultural communications where an Indigenous community of Oceania are at the centre of the world.New Zealanders or Australians made most of the films in competition this year, and were most prominent in the documentary program and short films screened. Much of the work originating locally owes a lot to magazine television. The Polynesian world is abundantly rich in powerful documentary stories. Local people may not yet have had an opportunity to gather together the resources necessary to articulate their own stories in their own documentary voices. Which brings me to the conferences.

The (3^rd) ‘Digital Encounters Polynesia’ conference and (5^th) Pacific Television Conference held in conjunction with FIFO delivered results. Digital broadcast has recently extended Polynesia’s television offerings, with the familiar attendant questions of ‘choice’ and cultural sovereignty. And a newly installed underwater cable (‘Honotua’) owned by the French Polynesian Telco offers potential for greater broadband communications. This is the context in which there was an agreement signed between France Televisions and the ABC that will allow, among other arrangements, the two biggest media organisations in the Pacific to share footage and content recorded in the field, which will allow for a much greater diversity of content. This will increase both English and French content in the Pacific and has been a long time coming. The deal will allow more stories from English language Pacific nations to make their way to French Polynesia and also provide mechanisms for more stories from the region to make their way back into Australia. Arrangements are in train to establish a syndicate, led by the ABC that will collate and share stories and raw footage from local and regional broadcasters. The conference also resolved to work toward a Pacific film fund to act as an incentive encouraging more independent film production from the diverse Pacific nations. This may take a little longer.

At FIFO this year the ABC was well represented by Radio Australia. Neither SBS nor ABC TV participated in the festival, conferences or the pitch environment. However New Zealand’s Maori TV provided an encouraging model of progressive television in the region. FIFO Jury member and Head of Programming at Maori TV Carol Hirschfeld is a strong supporter of documentary. She recognises the opportunities that creative documentary offers for informed dialogue across the region.

For Maori television documentaries are absolutely vital. Our two main free to air broadcasters in New Zealand are increasingly divesting themselves ­or choosing not to run documentaries – so this is an area (…) we can grow. We are the only free to air broadcaster that has a documentary slot for both local and international documentaries. So in the next five years I see our channel as being the dominant free to air broadcaster of documentaries in New Zealand; that is why a festival such as FIFO (…) will help us fulfil that in the next five years. (Carol Hirschfeld)

Australian documentary filmmakers may envy this commitment. Overall there is a sense of optimism as new networks of culturally diverse media production and distribution emerge across the region. These kinds of events are always eye-openers. We have tended to assume Australia as a kind of European outpost in the Asia-Pacific geography. There is another welcome perspective available in this Oceania imaginary so generously hosted by FIFO.

Apart from the warm and convivial hospitality from the festival, non-stop inspiring meetings with the like-minded from around the world and the region, and the exquisite tropical island environments, what’s a take-home message from FIFO? Don’t miss it, it will do you good. Thanks heaps Harriet; I owe you.

Originally written for the ADG (Australian Director’s Guild) newsletter