Adelaide Film Festival

Coordinates: 34°56′41″S 138°35′58″E / 34.94481°S 138.59932°E / -34.94481; 138.59932

Adelaide Film Festival

Location	Adelaide, Australia
Founded	2002
Awards	International Feature Film Award - Flinders University Documentary Prize - AFF Virtual Reality Award - Don Dustan Award - The Jim Bettison and Helen James Award - Indigenous Feature Documentary Initiative - INSITE Award
Directed by	Amanda Duthie (2012-) Katrina Sedgwick (2002-2011)
Hosted by	Patrons Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton
Festival date	next: 5–15 October 2017
Website	adelaidefilmfestival.org

The Adelaide Film Festival (AFF) is an international film festival held over two weeks in mid October, in Adelaide, South Australia. The AFF has a strong focus on local South Australian and Australian produced content, with the Adelaide Film Festival Investment Fund (AFFIF) established to fund investment in Australian films, of $1,000,000 per festival.

The AFF featured in Variety Magazine's Top 50 unmissable film festivals^[1] around the world.^[2] They qualified their search by saying:

“

Of the planet’s 1,000-plus film fests, only a select few pack industry impact. A few dozen more, by virtue of vision, originality, striking setting, audience zest and/or their ability to mine a unique niche, also rank as must-attends.

”

History

First established in May 2002, by South Australian Premier Hon. Mike Rann to stimulate the local film industry and celebrate the 30th anniversary of the South Australian Film Corporation, the festival showcases and explores contemporary screen culture with a program of screenings, special events and forum sessions.

The inaugural Adelaide Film Festival was held between 28 February to 3 March 2003. After 150 screenings, the festival was met with both critical acclaim and popular support, with a third of the ninety ticketed screenings sold out.

An earlier independently-financed Adelaide International Film Festival had been held from 1959 to 1980.^[3]

Since 2003, the Adelaide Film Festival has been held in 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2016 (a one-off Rogue event), 2017 and an additional full festival and funding round announced for 2018.

Festival directors

Katrina Sedgwick was the Festival's founding director in 2002.^[4][5] She had previously co-founded the 1995 Sydney Fringe Festival, was the Special Events Producer (1998, 2000) for the Adelaide Festival of Arts, and the Artistic Director for the 2002 Adelaide Fringe Festival.^[6] In 2007, Sedgwick introduced an international jury prize to the festival.^[5] At the time of her stepping down from the role of Festival director in 2013, Sedgwick said that the festival was the first in Australia to introduce an international competition, and a production fund, and that ticket sales had grown by 20 per cent each year.^[7]

2013 was Amanda Duthie's first year as Festival Director, after spending eight years at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and eight years at the Special Broadcasting Service during the 1990s.^[8]

Board

The current Board of the Adelaide Film Festival consists of:

• Chair, Sandra Sdraulig AM,^[9] a lawyer with more than 20 years experience as a film and TV executive, in both the commercial and cultural sectors of the Australian film, TV and digital media industry.^[10][11]
• Deputy Chair, Greg Knagge,^[10][11] an award-winning art director, copywriter and creative director of advertising and marketing agency NATION Creative.
• Andrew Mackie,^[10] a film distributor, former managing director of Dendy Films, co-founder of the film distribution company Transmission Films, and an executive producer.
• Jamie Restas,^[10] lawyer with over twenty years experience in the area of mergers, acquisitions, capital raising and corporate governance.
• Maria Ravese,^[10][12] an accountant focused on the provision of taxation and HR related services associated with employment, and with extensive experience dealing with cross border regulatory compliance obligations in the entertainment and media industry.
• Martha Coleman,^[12] a producer of film and television, a former Head of Development at Screen Australia, and now a producer with Goalpost Pictures Australia.

Former Board members include Cheryl Bart,^[4][9] Andrew Bovell,^[11] Judith Crombie,^[4] Mojgan Khadem,^[4] Gabrielle Kelly,^[4] Wayne Lewis,^[11] Barry Loane,^[4] Sue Maslin,^[11] Jacinta Thompson,^[11] Leanne Thomas^[11] and Sam White.

Don Dunstan Award

The Don Dunstan Award was established in honour of Don Dunstan, Premier of South Australia and is presented by the Board of the Adelaide Film Festival in recognition of the outstanding contribution by an individual to the Australian film industry who has "enriched Australian screen culture through their work".

Past recipients have included:

• 2015 - Andrew Bovell
• 2013 - Scott Hicks^[13][14]
• 2011 - Judy Davis^[15][16]
• 2009 - Jan Chapman^[15][17]
• 2007 - Rolf de Heer^[15][18]
• 2005 - Dennis O'Rourke^[15][19]
• 2003 - David Gulpilil^[3][15]

International Feature Film Award

ADL Film Fest was the first Australian film festival to create a juried prize for best feature film. Our all-star competition values idiosyncratic voices, bold storytelling, creative risk-taking and overall fabulous films.

2015

Awarded to Gabriel Mascaro for Neon Bull (Brazil/ Uruguay/ Netherlands)

The other films selected for competition:

·       316, dir. Payment Haghani (Iran)

·       Carol, dir. Todd Haynes (UK/ USA)

·       Father, dir. Visar Morina (Kosovo/ Germany/ Macedonia/ France)

·       Freeheld, dir. Peter Sollett (USA)

·       Gold Coast, dir. Daniel Dencik (Denmark)

·       Lamb, dir. Yared Zeleke (France/ Ethiopia/ Germany/ Norway)

·       Looking For Grace, dir. Sue Brooks (Australia)

·       Office, dir. Hong Won-Chan (South Korea)

·       Tanna, dir Bentley Dean and Martin Butler (Australia/ Vanuatu)

2013

Awarded to Reha Erdem for Jîn (Turkey).

The other films selected for competition:

·       Bastards, dir. Claire Denis (France)

·       Beatriz’s War, dir. Luigi Acquisto & Bety Reis (East Timor)

·       The Dance of Reality, dir. Alejandro Jodorowsky (Chile)

·       How I live Now, dir Kevin Macdonald (UK)

·       The Notebook, dir. Janos Szasz (Hungary/ Germany/ Austria/ France)

·       Omar, dir. Hany Abu-Assad (Palestine)

·       Only Lovers Left Alive, dir. Jim Jarmusch (UK, Germany, France, Cyprus, US)

·       The Past, dir Asghar Farhadi (France/ Italy)

·       The Selfish Giant, dir Clio Barnard (UK)

·       Stranger By The Lake, dir. Alain Guiraudie (France)

·       These Final Hours, dir. Zak Hilditch (Australia)

2011

Awarded to Denis Villeneuve for Incendies (Canada/ France).

The other films selected for competition:

·       Meek’s Cutoff, dir. Kelly Reichardt (USA)

·       Mysteries of Lisbon, dir. Raoul Ruiz (Portugal, France)

·       Nostalgia For the Light, dir. Patricio Guzman (Chile, France, Germany)

·       October, dir. Daniel Vega & Diego Vega (Peru/ Venezuela/ Spain)

·       The Piano in a Factory, dir. Zhang Meng (China)

·       Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure, dir. Matthew Bate (Australia)

·       Tuesday, After Christmas. Dir. Radu Muntean (Romania)

·       Whisper With the Wind, dir. Shahram Alidi (Iran/ Iraq)

·       Year Without A Summer, dir Tan Chui Mui (Malaysia)

2009

Awarded to So-yong Kim for Treeless Mountain (USA/ South Korea).

The other films selected for competition:

·       All Around Us, dir. Hashiguchi Ryosuke (Japan)

·       A Christmas Tale, dir. Arnaud Desplechins (France)

·       Dean Spanley, dir. Toa Fraser (UK/ NZ)

·       Gomorrah, dir. Matteo Garrone (Italy)

·       Jalainur, dir. Zhao Ye (China)

·       Kisses, dir. Lance Daly (Ireland/ Sweden)

·       My Tehran For Sale dir. Granaz Moussavi (Australia)

·       My Year Without Sex dir. Sarah Watt (Australia)

·       Stella, dir. Sylvie Verheyde (France)

·       The Sky, The Earth and The Rain, dir. José Luis Torres Leiva (Chile/ France/ Germany)

·       Teza, dir. Haile Gerima (Ethiopia/ Germany/ France)

·       Zift, dir. Javor Gardev (Bulgaria)

2007

Awarded to Jia Zhangke for Still Life (China).

The other films selected for competition:

·       Bamako, dir. Abderrahmane Sissako (France/ Mali)

·       Boxing Day, dir. Kriv Stenders (Australia)

·       Colossal Youth, dir. Pedro Costa (France/ Portugal/ Switzerland)

·       Family Law, dir. Daniel Burman (Argentina/ Italy/France/ Spain)

·       Grbavica, dir. Jasmila Zbanic (Austria/ Bosni/ Germany/ Croatia)

·       Half Moon dir. Bahman Ghobadi (Austria/ France/ Iran/ Iraq)

·       The Home Song Stories dir. Tony Ayres (Australia)

·       The Lives of Others dir. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (Germany)

·       Madeinusa dir. Claudia Llosa (Peru/ Spain)

·       Syndromes and a Centrury dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Thailand)

Flinders University International Documentary Prize

The Flinders University International Documentary Award celebrates distinctive factual filmmaking.

2015

Awarded to Amber Fares for Speed Sisters (USA/ Palestine)

The other films selected for competition:

·       Brand: A Second Coming, dir. Ondi Timoner (UK/ USA)

·       He Named Me Malala, dir. Davis Guggenheim (USA)

·       I Am Belfast, dir. Mark Cousins (UK)

·       Ice and the Sky, dir. Luc Jacquet (France)

·       The Pearl Button, dir. Patricio Guzman (Chile/ France/ Spain)

·       The Propaganda Game, dir. Alvaro Longoria (Spain/ France)

·       Remembering the Man, dir. Nickolas Bird, Eleanor Sharpe (Australia)

·       Sherpa, dir. Jennifer Peedom (Australia)

·       Heart of a Dog, dir. Laurie Anderson (USA)

2013 (Inaugural competition)

Awarded to Jakeb Anhvu for Blush of Fruit (Australia, Vietnam).

The other films selected for competition:

·       A World Not Ours, dir. Mahdi Fleifel (UK, Lebanon, Denmark)

·       Electro Moscow, dir. Elena Tikhonova (Austria)

·       Fire in the Blood, dir. Dylan Mohan Gray (India)

·       Here Be Dragons, dir. Mark Cousins (Uk, Albania)

·       Leviathan, dir. Véréna Paravel (UK, USA, France)

·       Once My Mother, dir. Sophia Turkiewicz (Australia, Poland)

·       Particle Fever, dir. Mark Levinson (USA)

·       The Missing Picture, dir. Rithy Panh (France, Cambodia)

·       The Search for Emak Bakia,dir. Oskar Alegria (Spain)

The Jim Bettison and Helen James Award

The Jim Bettison and Helen James Award has been established to recognise that many Australians have contributed exemplary and inspiring lifelong work of high achievement and benefit, and that the completion, extension, recording and/or dissemination of such work would have benefits for both the individual concerned and for the wider Australian community.

On an annual basis, it is hoped that the Award, which is provided in recognition of achievement, will provide the beneficiary with further time for activity that may continue to inspire, enrich and be of benefit to the community. Each year, the Award will give $50,000 to a recipient who has contributed significantly in his or her area of expertise – which might include, among others, the arts and humanities, social justice, the environment or the sciences.

Indigenous Feature Documentary Initiative

In partnership with Screen Australia, KOJO and the National Film and Sound Archive, this initiative is the first of its kind. It supports innovative, observational and/or social justice docs, with up $738,000 in funding.

Together the partners allow an established Indigenous filmmaker to create a feature-length documentary.

INSITE Award

The Adelaide Film Festival teamed up with the Australian Writers' Guild to present the INSITE Award at the 2013 Festival.^[20]

The Award celebrates and acknowledges outstanding work produced by AWG writers and provides an important development opportunity. The winner gets to meet industry directors and producers, with a view to moving the project onto the screen. This is an opportunity to uncover first‐class unproduced screenplays by Australian writers, and provide industry opportunities for them.^[20]

Past winners have included:

• 2015 Martingale, written by Harry Aletras.
• 2013 Tigress, written by Jane Hampson.^[21]
• 2011 The Unlikeliest Hero, by Barbara Connell, is being filmed by New Zealand director James Cunningham in an official Australia/New Zealand co-production. The completion of the film is timed to coincide with the 100-year commemorations of ANZAC Day.^[22][23][24]
• 2009 Writing Rain, written by Ben Chessell.^[25]
• 2007 Salt, by Priscilla Cameron and Heather Phillips,^[26] was directed by Michael Angus in 2009. The film played at the Adelaide Film Festival that same year.
• 2005 Cut Snake, by Blake Ayshford, was filmed by director Tony Ayres.^[20]

Juries

International Feature Film Prize - Juries

2015

·     Christian Jeune (Cannes Film Festival) - Jury President

·     Annemarie Jacir (Filmmaker, Palestine)

·     Maggie Lee (Variety Asia Chief Film Critic)

·     Sophie Hyde (Filmmaker, Australia)

·     Tom Hajdu (and Disrupter CEO,) 

2013

·     Al Clark (Filmmaker, Australia) – Jury President

·     Maryanne Redpath (Berlin Film Festival)

·     Wayne Blair (Filmmaker, Australia)

·     Lawrence Weschler (Writer, USA )

·     Liz Watts (Filmmaker, Australia)

2011

·     Julietta Sichel (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival) – Jury President

·     Trevor Groth (Sundance Film Festival)

·     Pierre Rissient (Cineaste, France)

·     Hossein Valamanesh (Visual artist, Australia)

·     Robin Gutch (Producer/ MD, Warp Films, UK)

2009

·     Laurence Kardish (Senior Film Curator, MoMA, USA) – Jury President

·     JM Coetzee (Writer, Australia)

·     Jo Dyer (Filmmaker, Australia)

·     Bill Gosden (Festival Director, New Zealand International Film Festival)

·     Naomi Kawase (Filmmaker, Japan)

·     Hannah McGill (Artistic Director, Edinburgh International Film Festival)

·     David Stratton (Cineaste, Film Critic, Australia)

2007

·     Noah Cowan (Toronto Film Festival Co-Director)

·     J.M. Coetzee (Writer, Australia)

·     Mick Harvey (Composer, Australia)

·     Margaret Pomeranz (Film Critic, Australia)

·     Ana Kokkinos (Filmmaker, Australia)

·     James Hewison (CEO, Australian Film Institute)

·     Clara Law (Filmmaker, Australia)

Flinders University Documentary Prize – juries

2015

·     Jane Shoettle (Toronto Film Festival)

·     Michael Loebenstein (CEO National Film and Sound Archive)

·     Beck Cole (Filmmaker, Australia)

2013

·     Joost Den Hartog (Director Of DocWeek/ AIDC)

·     Cherelle Zheng (Channel Zero Media, China)

·     Kristy Matheson (Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Australia)

Adelaide Film Festival Investment Fund

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adelaide_Film_Festival_Investment_Fund

Special Events and Festival Campaigns

2018

In April 2017 the Premier of South Australia Hon. Jay Weatherill announced that a full festival, including a funding round of $1m for the ADL Film Fest Fund, will run again in October 2018. 

2017 - 5 to 15 October

ADL Film Fest 2017 is set to celebrate the punk movement’s 40th birthday, featuring people who embody the disruptive spirit of punk, including street art legend KAB101,who co created the campaign.

From arthouse to hard core, 2017 ADL Film Fest Vive Le Punk will feature premieres and retrospectives of Australian and international films and new work from the ADL Film Fest Fund.

2016 - October

Continuing its reputation as Australia’s most dynamic screen event, usually held every two years, the Adelaide Film Festival went ROGUE in October 2016 to offer up audiences a fresh mini-festival in between the biennial full festivals in 2015 and 2017.

Premiering works commissioned by the Adelaide Film Festival Fund, October began with the Australian Premiere season of COLLISIONS (Oct 5-30), and included a special free event at Adelaide Festival of Ideas (AFOI) (Oct 23) and culminated in a 4-day streamlined mini-festival (Oct 27-30) featuring World Premiere screenings of two ADL Film Fest Fund screen events – Australia’s first Muslim rom-com ALI’S WEDDING based on the life of actor, writer and comedian Osamah Sami and a special ‘Work In Progress’ screening of the highly anticipated DAVID STRATTON’S STORIES OF AUSTRALIAN CINEMA.

The rogue mini-festival screened Thursday 27 to Sunday 30 October, and featured brand new Australian titles, forged on the thematic, stylistic and technological frontlines, alongside an array of retrospective gems. Two World Premiere screenings, in conversation events, a masterclass, retrospective screening and a nod to 2017 all took their place in the succinct cinematic celebration.

2015 - 15 to 25 October

The 7th Adelaide Film Festival was held in Adelaide, Australia, from 15–25 October 2015 Amanda Duthie was again the Festival Director. On the opening night of the festival, Director and screenwriter Andrew Bovell received the 2015 Don Dunstan Award for his contribution to the Australian film industry.

The festival opened with Scott Hicks's documentary film Highly Strung and closed with Paolo Sorrentino's drama film Youth.

More than 180 feature films were screened at the festival, 40 of which were Australian films, 24 South Australian films and total of 51 countries were represented at the Festival.

As part of the 2015 Adelaide Film Festival, a public art installation was presented, incorporating a Laneway Cinema in Cinema Place showing moving image artworks and a 'Reactive Wall' where six artists created 2D visual artworks live in response to content within the festival.

2013 - 10 to 20 October

The 6th Adelaide Film Festival took place in Adelaide, Australia, from 10 to 20 October 2013. This was Amanda Duthie's first year as Festival Director (after eight years at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and eight years at the Special Broadcasting Service during the 1990s), having taken over from Katrina Sedgwick. Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton served as the festival’s patrons.

Scott Hicks received the 2013 Don Dunstan Award for his contribution to the Australian film industry.

The poster in 2013 depicted Screen Worship, which celebrates work for all screens—cinema, television, phone and computer.

References

External links

• Adelaide Film Festival on Facebook
• Official Twitter
• Official Site
• SandraSdrauling.com