Screen Australia announces investment in 20 documentaries

Screen Australia today announced an investment of $4.5 million in 20 documentaries. The investment will trigger production worth over $15 million. The documentaries approved in the July funding round include Wide Open Road, an Australian social history of the 20th century – viewed through the windscreen of the cars that we so cherished. The documentary by Paul Clarke will be produced through Screen Australia’s National Documentary Program.

Fifteen domestic documentaries were approved for investment including Sex: An Unnatural History, a six-part factual series hosted by Julia Zemiro that will explore the last 50 years of Australia’s sexual landscape. The series will be executive produced by Penny Chapman, produced by Michaela Perske and written by Mark O’Toole.

Executive producer Tony Ayres, producers Polly Staniford and Michael McMahon and director Shannon Owen were funded to produce Miss South Sudan Australia, which follows the precarious and erratic journey to pull together the premiere event for Australia’s Sudanese community – the ‘Miss South Sudan Australia’ beauty pageant.

Also to be produced through the domestic documentary program is Cool School, a documentary filmed almost entirely in Antarctica. Cool School explores sustainable development and climate change in one of the places being most affected, and it shows the transformative effect on a number of young people as they travel to the world’s largest and most isolated wilderness. The documentary is produced, directed and written by Gregory Miller and Liz Courtney.

Screen Australia announced support for four international documentaries including The Secret History of the Eurovision Song Contest (p: Andrew Ogilvie, Andrea Quesnelle, w/d: Stephen Oliver), The Grammar of Happiness (p: Chris Hilton, d: Randall Wood) and Macquarie the Father of Australia (p: Stuart Scowcroft, Seona Robertson, d: Les Wilson).

The demands on the July round of the Domestic documentary program were high, with the two public broadcasters and subscription television using close to their full allocation for the financial year. As a result, Screen Australia has decided to pool its funds across both the Domestic and International documentary programs and increase the allocation available to a total of $7.5 million. For the 2010/11 financial year there will be two more funding rounds, with around $1.8 million allocated to each. View our latest e-bulletin for deadlines and further information about documentary funding in 2010/11.

Documentary – National Documentary Program (NDP)

WIDE OPEN ROAD

Bombora Films and Music

Producer/Director Paul Clarke

Broadcaster ABC TV

Sales & Distribution ABC Commercial, Roadshow

Synopsis An Australian social history of the 20th century – viewed through the windscreen of the cars that we so cherished.

Documentary – Domestic

ARTHOUSE

Paalma Pty Ltd

Producer/Writer Marian Bartsch

Director Britt Arthur

Broadcaster ABC

Sales & Distribution ABC Content Sales

Synopsis ArtHouse looks at the changing face of architecture, innovation and design in Australia through the eyes of Melbourne-based husband and wife team, architect Robert McBride and interior designer Debbie Ryan. Their outstanding architecture, which is changing the skyline of Melbourne, has achieved the highest accolade winning the recent 2009 World Architecture Festival Awards for best residential house in the world for The Klein Bottle House. A first for any Australian architectural team. This documentary follows a day-in-the-life of this stellar design team over a period of eight months, and the inspiration behind their iconic works. This documentary will also aim to explore the need for innovation in the Australian way of living as Robert and Debbie-Lyn build their own family home for their growing family.

BREAKING: DANGEROUS!

No Roles For Sam Pty Ltd

Producer Emma Smith

Writers/Directors Daniel Mansour, Tim Ryan

Broadcaster MTV

Synopsis Follows the adventures of a band from Adelaide trying to get their big break. The band’s sights are firmly set on building legions of fans both in Australia and the USA, as well as scoring a record deal in the US: a dream virtually every young Aussie has had.

COOL SCHOOL

Angels Television Pty Ltd

Producers/Writers/Directors Gregory Miller and Liz Courtney

Broadcaster Nickelodeon, Australian Television, NHK

Sales & Distribution Off The Fence

Synopsis Filmed almost entirely in Antarctica. It is a chance to explore sustainable development and climate change in one of the places being most affected, and it shows the transformative effect on a number of young people as they travel to the world’s largest and most isolated wilderness.

DICK SMITH’S POPULATION PUZZLE

Mitra Films Pty Ltd

Producer Anna Cater

Producer/Director Simon Nasht

Broadcaster ABC

Sales & Distribution Ovation

Synopsis The film follows Dick Smith’s public campaign against rapid population growth. The polemical film tests the propositions put forward in favour of a Big Australia. Can this popular entrepreneur persuade the nation to change its mind?

FOOTBALL UNITED

North One TV Australia

Producer Dan Goldberg

Executive Producer/Director Adam Kay

Broadcaster Bio Channel

Sales & Distribution Fox, North One

Synopsis Follows the inspirational story of one woman’s dream to use the world game to help refugee children who’ve recently arrived in Australia integrate into their new society.

HARDLINERS

Cordell Jigsaw

Executive Producers Nick Murray and Michael Cordell

Producer Steve Bibb

Broadcaster Fox 8

Sales & Distribution DCD Rights, Cordell Jigsaw

Synopsis Larger-than-life Australian long-line tuna fishermen risking it all on a daily basis are at the heart of the new documentary series, Hardliners.

I’M NOT DEAD YET

iKandy Films

Producer/Writer/Director Janine Hosking

Broadcaster ABC

Synopsis The ‘unplugged’ chronicle of 76-year-old country music legend Chad Morgan. “I’ll die on the stage or on the nest,” vows the controversial Chad as he packs his guitar, walking stick and his wife’s Zimmer frame in the back of the car for his latest tour. This observational documentary is an intimate portrait of a ‘one of a kind’ musician, playing out the final phase of his career. At the heart of the narrative is an enduring love story – littered with dirty lyrics!

KULKA

Wonderland Film & Theatre Production Pty Ltd

Producer Kingston Anderson

Director Claire Haywood

Broadcaster NITV

Sales & Distribution Wonderland Productions

Synopsis About the life and times of Dr Gordon Briscoe (AO). It is a celebration of his outstanding contribution as a campaigner for basic human rights for Indigenous Australians, an activist, a motivator, a thinker, a researcher, author, teacher and mentor. Narrated by Gordon’s son, Aaron Briscoe, it is the inspirational story of an institutionalised Aborigine, interned in an ‘alien’ camp during World War II with very little education, who struggled against the odds to achieve dignity and respect for himself and his people. The story of his life reflects the struggles still facing many Indigenous communities today.

THE LAST WALTZ

Waterbyrd Filmz

Producer/Co-director Nickolas Bird

Co-director Eleanor Sharpe

Broadcaster ABC

Sales & Distribution Galloping Films

Synopsis Anny Salerni, the charismatic owner of Melbourne’s only gay and lesbian ballroom dancing studio, has devoted the last 14 years of her life to creating her own fabulous world of same-sex dancesports. Her students are not the most talented of dancers but they are passionate about their sport and are driven by a dream of competing at the Gay Games in Germany. As they prepare for the biggest event of their lives, Anny and her students must battle injury, personal dramas and entrenched homophobia from the mainstream ballroom dancing community and the world in general.

MISS SOUTH SUDAN AUSTRALIA

Matchbox Pictures Pty Ltd

Executive Producer Tony Ayres

Producers Polly Staniford and Michael McMahon

Director Shannon Owen

Broadcaster ABC

Synopsis A joyful and exuberant half-hour documentary following the precarious and erratic journey to pull together the premiere event for Australia’s Sudanese community – the ‘Miss South Sudan Australia’ beauty pageant – and the lives of the organisers and the participants post event.

MT (working title)

Evershine Pty Ltd

Producer Helen Barrow

Director Hugh Piper

Broadcaster ABC

Synopsis An observational documentary about print journalism, freedom of speech and publishing in South East Asia.

ON A WING AND A PRAYER

Sea Dog TV International Pty Ltd

Executive Producer Dione Gilmour

Producers Jodie De Barros and Leighton De Barros

Director Leighton De Barros

Co-director Sam Smith

Writers Leighton De Barros and Sam Smith

Broadcaster ABC

Sales & Distribution ABC Commercial

Synopsis Follows the incredible life cycle of the endangered Carnaby’s Black Cockatoo through an engaging story of one small bird family as they fight for survival and the one man who will do whatever it takes to protect them.

SEX: AN UNNATURAL HISTORY

Matchbox Pictures

Executive Producer Penny Chapman

Producer Michaela Perske

Writer Mark O’Toole

Broadcaster SBS

Sales & Distribution SBS Content Sales

Synopsis A six-part factual series hosted by Julia Zemiro that will explore the last 50 years of Australia’s sexual landscape. A lively series using a blend of experts, philosophers, academics and ordinary people that poses the big questions about sex in the modern day.

TWO ON THE GREAT DIVIDE

Cordell Jigsaw Productions Pty Ltd

Executive Producers Nick Murray and Michael Cordell

Producer Toni Malone

Director Michael Cordell

Broadcaster ABC

Sales & Distribution ABC Commercial

Synopsis Tim Flannery and John Doyle undertake their third quixotic journey through the Australian landscape, this time exploring The Great Dividing Range. To the east of the Divide are abundant rivers, fertile land and ever-burgeoning population. To the west are uncertainty, drought and vast tracts of ‘emptiness’. As Tim and John follow the range northward they are undertaking more than a geographical journey, they are also exploring the ‘great divides’ in Australian life. Arguments over water, population and nuclear power will all feature, as well as more profound debates – like Holden vs Ford.

WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE 4

Artemis International Pty Ltd & Serendipity Productions Pty Ltd

Executive Producer for Artemis Brian Beaton

Executive Producer for Serendipity Margie Bryant

Series Producer Celia Tait

Broadcaster SBS

Sales & Distribution SBS Content Sales

Synopsis Well-known Australians play detective as they go in search of their family history, revealing secrets and surprises from the past.

Documentary – International

THE GRAMMAR OF HAPPINESS

Essential Media and Entertainment

Producer Chris Hilton

Director Randall Wood

Broadcaster ABC, Arte France, Smithsonian

Sales & Distribution Essential Media and Entertainment

Synopsis Amongst perhaps the only truly happy people on earth, maverick linguist Daniel Everett sets out to discover if the language we speak defines the way we think. In fresh studies of the culture and language of the Amazonian Pirahã tribe he seeks evidence for groundbreaking concepts that, if proven, will end the ostracism and insults Everett has endured from his own savage tribe of academics and expand our idea of what it means to be human.

MACQUARIE THE FATHER OF AUSTRALIA

Intomedia Pty Ltd

Producers Stuart Scowcroft and Seona Robertson

Director Les Wilson

Broadcaster Foxtel, BBC Scotland

Synopsis Lachlan Macquarie took the jail settlement of Sydney Cove from a penal outpost to a British colony in 10 short and tumultuous years. In doing so he paved the way to nationhood. This is his story.

ROCKET COMPULSION

Firelight Productions Pty Ltd and Paper Bark Films Pty Ltd

Producers Marcus Gillezeau and Ellenor Cox

Director Gregory Read

Writer Simon Nasht

Broadcaster Discovery Networks Asia

Sales & Distribution Off The Fence, ABC Enterprises

Online Blink Digital

Synopsis This is the story of a tenacious Australian jet pilot, David Mayman, as he strives to achieve his childhood dream of building and free-flying his very own Rocket Belt, only to discover he faces a nearly impossible task. Collaborating with the world’s leading Rocket Belt engineers David risks life and limb to become the world’s next Rocketman. Rocket Compulsion will take the audience on a ride that shows point blank why less people have flown Rocket Belts than have walked on the Moon.

THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE EUROVISION SONG CONTEST

Electric Pictures Pty Ltd

Producers Andrew Ogilvie and Andrea Quesnelle

Writer/Director Stephen Oliver

Broadcaster SBS, Ch4, DR, NPS/VPRO, NRK, RTE, SVT, VRT, WDR, YLE

Sales & Distribution BBC Worldwide

Synopsis Some see it as an outdated, second-rate entertainment show. But as the contest enters its second half century in robust health, this is an opportunity to take it seriously (well, most of the time) in a documentary series that mixes politics and pop music, fun, gossip, and – sometimes – real international intrigue, to tell the behind-the-scenes stories of one of the great institutions of European broadcasting. A winning blend of humour and insight, the program will peer beyond the glitz and sparkle to examine the Eurovision Song Contest and how it has tracked – and at times even influenced – the changing social and political life of Europe.

< Prev		Next >