Department of Arts Axed

• This is the BIG news of the week. We are still trying to work out what it might mean for the screen industry, but the message from the Federal government is dismissive to say the least. More from us on the mess here and over at ArtsHub here.

Box Office

• Nobody’s surprised that Frozen 2 is at the top of the charts as we head towards school holidays. In Australian film, Ride Like a Girl might be on its last legs, but it’s completing a champion run with $11.5m, and Happy Sad Man is in  limited release Top 20, with a tiny but heroic outing.
• A handy summary of the MPDAA’s scorecard for Australian films for 2019 [PDF] has been published by IF. It’s not been a great year. The sums we’re looking at for most films are very very small.

On the Move

• Claire Dobbin AM is leaving the Melbourne International Film Festival. She has been Chair of MIFF since 2003. Her replacement is philanthropy expert and social entrepreneur Teresa Zolnierkiewicz. 
• Richard Sowada has been announced as the new director of the St Kilda Short Film Festival, taking over from long-running director Paul Harris.

Vale

• Farewell to Martin Armiger, screen composer and cultural inspiration. 
• Clive James has finally gone silent, and we are very sad.

TV

• Australian screenwriters Kris Mrksa and Giula Sandler’s UK true crime six-parter White House Farm has been acquired by HBO Max for North America. We talked to Sandler earlier this year about her career and writing process and her top tips for working in a writer’s room.
• Foxtel’s Upright is a little beauty, says Chris Boyd in his 5-star review for Screenhub. Developed and written for the screen by Tim Minchin, Kate Mulvany, Leon Ford and Chris Taylor, the 8 x 30 min drama stars Minchin and young star Milly Alcock as a reluctant duo on a road trip across the Nullarbor.
• We’re watching Years and Years, The Mandalorian, The Crown and Total Control in the latest edition of Artshub/Screenhub’s Small Screen Highlights. With a shout out to Briggs’ ‘Life is Incredible’ music video and a cute donut game. 

Agency News

• SBS and Screen Australia have announced ten short form projects for development as part of the Digital Originals initiative, providing opportunities for writers from underrepresented backgrounds.
• The South Australian Film Corporation and Screen Australia have announced production investment for writer/director Anthony Garland’s feature film debut, Alternate, a time-traveling sci-fi thriller to be shot at Adelaide Studios in 2020. Producers are Anna Vincent (I am Mother), Ali Mueller (Ophelia) and Anita Gou (The Farewell) and exec producer Timothy White (The Luminaries).
• The second series of The Bureau of Magical Thinking, Jonathan M. Shiff’s live action kids’ series, goes into production in Queensland this December, with original cast returning for the 20-part series, made for Network Ten plus ZDF Germany and Nickelodeon.
• Adelaide visual effects company Rising Sun Pictures has been named winner of the Creative Industries Award category in AusTrade’s 2019 Australian Export Awards, announced in Canberra this week. The 24-year-old company exports to USA, Canada, China and the UK, with clients including Disney, Marvel, 20th Century Fox etc, working on recent titles like Captain Marvel and Spider-Man: Far From Home.
• Three South Australian stories will be developed as audio documentaries though a partnership between the SAFC and Audible Australia: Kade Richardson’s The Gaslight, a 6-hour serialised drama about a family member entrapped in an international love-scam operation; Anthony Frith’s Tulpas: From Buddhism to Bronies looks at real life imaginary friends; and Louise Pascale’s Homebirth – A Modern Day Witchhunt gives insight into Australia’s ‘most controversial midwife’.

Glitz, Glamour, Gongs

• The 2019 AACTA Awards luncheon was held on Monday. Mark Poole attended and wrote about it for us.
• David Tiley watched Wednesday’s big AACTA Awards Ceremony on TV and shares his mixed but quixotic reflections.
• Big winners included Lambs of God (9 awards, including Best Telefeature or Mini Series), The Nightingale (6 wins, including Best Film, Best Director for Jennifer Kent and Best Lead Actress for Aisling Franciosi), The King (4 wins including Best Supporting Actor for Joel Egerton and Cinematography for Adam Arkapaw) and Total Control (3 awards, including Best Drama Series and Best Lead and Supporting Actresses for Deb Mailman and Rachel Griffiths). 
• Best Documentary went to The Australian Dream, written by Stan Grant and directed by Daniel Gordon. It was a strong turnout for First Nations talent all round, with NITV cutely calling it the ‘BlaAACTAs‘.
• Best Independent Feature Film to Rodd Rathjen’s Buoyancy.
• Actor Sam Neill was awarded the Longford Lyell Award for lifetime achievement.
• P.J. Voeten won the 2019 Byron Kennedy Award for creative enterprise, with special mention of his work as assistant director on Mad Max: Fury Road, Aquaman and Lambs of God. His long career in assistant directing stretches way back to 1984 and Mad Max Beyond the Thunderdome.
• The Australian Production Design Guild held its annual awards on Sunday. Winners included costume designer Edie Kurzer for Judy and Punch; Katie Sharrock, Felicity Abbott, Sophie Nash, Joanna Pullen and Tanie Einberg for their work on set decoration for Ladies in Black; Fiona Donovan and Diana Robertson for production design on TV’s A Place to Call Home; and Jacqui and Merryn Schofield for design work on short film The Egg.
• The Casting Guild of Australia Award winners and rising stars for 2019 have been named. Casting director Kirsty McGregor won three, including ‘Best Casting in a TV Comedy’ – Mr Inbetween Series 2 and two shared with Gemma Brown for ‘Best Casting in A Feature Film’ – Hearts & Bones, and ‘Achievement in Casting’ – The Unlisted.

Documentary

• Alice Burgin, CEO of the Australian International Documentary Conference, talks about strategy, tactics and challenges ahead of the 2020 event (1 – 4 March, State Library, Melbourne).
• Rising star Dylan River’s first feature Finke: There and Back is out now and we interviewed him about the challenges of documenting his hometown of Alice Springs and the mammoth outback road race that obsesses him.
• Australian director Selina Miles talks about making Martha: A Picture Story, one of the year’s audience favourite docos about the now 75-year-old New York photographer who captured the history of graffiti.

Short Films

• The 2020 Flickerfest Short Film Festival (10 – 19 January) will announce its official program on 9 December. In the meantime the promo trailer has dropped, a Grease parody set in the fest’s home suburb of Bondi this time.
• Shot on an iPhone, Sad Sachs, winner of Best Film at the Smartfone Film Festival (SF3) has made its online premiere on NoBudge, the US-based online platform for new independent films. Joel Perlgut’s short black comedy about three siblings, a country wedding and an anti-semitic taxi driver has done the 2019 festival circuit, including Flickerfest and Cinefest Oz.    

Tasty Entry Level Opportunities

• Electric Yak is offering a paid 6-week attachment for a Tasmanian Flash Animator on its web series Moments of Clarity. Deadline is midnight Sunday 8 December.