El papel de las estrategias en la lectura

y The Torres Strait, The Panther

Within, Wauchope and Native Weapons

y 10 films from remote parts of Australia in various stages of development, as part of the Songlines on Screen initiative (in partnership with NITV):

Travelling Man, Wumungi: The Creation Story of Guyala and Damari, Milkarri Bulunu, Na-yuh-yungki, Wurray, Stories from Wirrum Country, Two Songlines, Tjawa Tjawa, Nyaranbi: Saltwater Dingo and Lurujarri.

The Indigenous Department also continues its commitment to the development of feature films and television drama. Supported titles included:

y 10 exciting new features,

Conversations with the Dead, Warrior, Min Min, The Wonderful Adventures of Topsy Brown and other Terrible Tales, Jackie Henderson, Love Me Tender, Mar-Kwa, Carnage, Eats Roots and Leaves and Goldstone

y two television dramas, Redfern

Now: Promise Me and Little J & Big Cuz.

production financing

Production funds are often provided through targeted initiatives in collaboration with other funding agencies and broadcasters.

The Indigenous Department supports a range of creatively ambitious screen projects including documentary, drama and television series that

make a significant contribution to Australian screen culture and our national cultural identity.

Key outcomes for 2013/14 included production funding for:

y telemovie Redfern Now:

Promise Me

y television drama series 8MMM

Aboriginal Radio filmed in

Central Australia and to be broadcast on ABC2 y nine short dramas funded

through the Pitch Black and Exchange initiatives: Man Real;

The Mexican; Skin Deep; Nulla Nulla; On Stage; You Turn; Under Skin, In Blood; Nan and a Whole Lot of Trouble; and Returning

y ten documentaries: Travelling

Man, Wumungi, Milkarri Bulunu, Na-yuh-yungki, Wurray, Stories from Wirrum Country, Two Songlines, Tjawa Tjawa, Nyaranbi: Saltwater Dingo and Lurujarri.

professional development

A workshop for 33 attendees was held in Sydney as part of the Songlines on Screen initiative. The participants travelled from all over the country including regional and remote areas such as Manmoyi, Milimgimbi and Galiwinku in Arnhem Land, Balgo in the Kimberley region, and Lajamanu and Yuendumu in Central Australia.

The Indigenous Department also supported the First Story workshop run by MRC for Indigenous filmmakers in South Australia. This event ran for two days and was facilitated by award-winning writer Alison Tilson.

A factual documentary workshop with AFTRS and a writer’s workshop with Goolarri Media were also supported in the 2013/14 financial year and will commence in July 2014.

practitioner support

The Practitioner Support – Internships program is designed to assist practitioners whose careers will benefit from an attachment to a person, production or organisation and help with the costs associated with attending film festivals, marketplaces, conferences, workshops and award ceremonies. Blackfella Films’ Indigenous producer internship, which commenced in 2012, continues until July 2014.

The Indigenous Department was able to support Indigenous practitioners to attend festivals and markets through travel grants. Aaron Pedersen attended TIFF to support the international premiere of Mystery Road; John Harvey and Romaine Moreton supported their films at imagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival; and Warwick Thornton attended the Berlin Film Festival. The Indigenous Department also supported Peter Djigirr to attend the Cannes Film Festival for the screening of Charlie’s Country. In addition to the international festivals, filmmakers were supported to attend MIFF.

Mystery Road Productions and Blackfella Films were also supported to launch and market Mystery Road and Redfern Now locally.

promotion

The Indigenous Department continued to promote the recognition of Indigenous work in local and international festivals.

In 2014, the department partnered with the Sydney Film Festival for the Screen: Black program, which saw the premiere screening of Darlene Johnson’s documentary The Redfern

Story as well as Rachel Perkins’

documentary Black Panther Woman. Gillian Moody, Investment/ Development Manager, was invited to the Berlin Film Festival and supported Screen Australia’s ongoing

relationship with the international film festival and the filmmakers in attendance.

Kyas Sherriff, Investment/ Development Manager, attended the World Congress of Science and Factual Producers (WCSFP) Conference in Toronto, Canada. Indigenous Department staff attended the AIDC.

The Indigenous Department partnered with Screen Queensland to host two information sessions in Brisbane and Cairns. Erica Glynn, Head of Indigenous, and Kyas Sherriff met with Indigenous filmmakers in Brisbane and Erica and Penny Smallacombe met with filmmakers in Cairns. The sessions aimed to inform filmmakers about the funding programs offered by the department. Over 30 people attended the sessions. Erica Glynn also hosted an

information session in Canberra.

policy development and advice

The Indigenous Department continued its involvement in the Media Reconciliation Industry Network Group (Media RING). The Media RING is a collective which aims to drive practical measures to support and promote reconciliation in the media sector.

A key focus has been the Media RING Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Employment Strategy and program (further discussed on page 92), which aims to grow and develop the Indigenous talent pool available to the media industry, and increase the engagement of Indigenous people with the industry. Indigenous Department staff have been involved in meetings with production companies and media organisations to implement the placements. In addition, the Indigenous Department participated in the assessment of projects with Indigenous content submitted to other funding programs across the agency.

Black Panther Woman

Time Tremors

38

HigHligHts

• During 2013/14, Screen Australia committed $3.55 million in production finance to 17 innovative storytelling projects through its Multiplatform Drama fund. • Screen Australia committed

$3.83 million to 36 individual video game projects through its Games Production fund. • Accolades for Screen

Australia–funded projects included a prestigious Digital Emmy® Award for multiplatform series

#7DaysLater; a Digital Emmy®

nomination for multiplatform series Time Tremors; two Kidscreen Awards for interactive animation series

Peleda, along with the AACTA

Award for Best Production Design in TV; Ringbalin was nominated for a SXSW Interactive Award; and the digital extension to feature film 52 Tuesdays was selected for Sundance’s New Frontiers program.

• A number of video games funded through the Games Production and Games Enterprise programs performed well on the charts including Big Baby (#1 in the Education Game category in the Australian Apple App Store), Bonza (#3 Puzzle Game category), TownCraft (#1 Strategy category), EPOCH 2 (#4 Action Game category) and OTTTD (#6 Overall Paid Game category).

• In Apple’s Australian App Store Awards, EPOCH 2 was awarded Runner Up in the Game of the Year category and Big Baby received a Best of Kids Award. • Defiant Development, which

received Games Enterprise funding in 2012/13, published mobile game Ski Safari into the Chinese market, where it has been downloaded over 80 million times. The company also published Ski Safari Adventure

Time in collaboration with

Cartoon Network. It reached #1 in the Overall Game category in the Australian App Store and in a further 20 countries worldwide.