Front Row (kneeling) L-R: Grace Taylor, Sara West, Maren Smith, Stef Smith
Back Row (standing) L-R: Timothy Spencer, Rosie Braye, Joshua Longhurst, Rebecca Janek, Adrian Chiarella, Vonne Patiag, Alissar Gazal, Fadia Abboud, Jonny Hawkins, Morgan Benson-Taylor.
Create NSW and SBS have backed six teams of emerging filmmakers with $180,000 to create shorts which will air next year as part of SBS’s coverage of the 40th Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.
This funding is a result of Create NSW’s Generator: Emerging Filmmakers Fund, which this year had a LGBTIQ focus.
The successful projects are: Concern for Welfare (director Fadia Abboud), Black Lips (director Adrian Chiarella), Cherry Season (director Joshua Longhurst), Tomgirl (director Vonne Patiag), Joy Boy (director Stef Smith) and Disco Dykes (director Sara West).
Each team will receive $15,000 in production finance grant from Create NSW and a $15,000 licence fee from SBS. The shorts will be filmed and post-produced in NSW and be delivered by the end of January for programming through SBS.
Production company CJZ will EP of all the shorts.
NSW Minister for the Arts Don Harwin said that the fund is an exciting and valuable way of introducing greater diversity into the Australian screen industry.
“I am immensely proud of this initiative and its aims for funding productions that shape a more diverse Australian screen sector, both on-screen and off. We are delighted that with our partners at SBS, these projects will create 155 screen jobs that support LGBTIQ creatives, show strong representation for female practitioners, those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and include jobs for young people.
“This year’s emerging filmmakers already have some promising early credentials under their belt and we are confident that their shorts will showcase impassioned and thought-provoking LGBTIQ stories that audiences will find meaningful and sincere.”
SBS Managing Director, Michael Ebeid, said: “Delivering positive outcomes for emerging LGBTIQ creatives and talent, this year’s selected stories span a range of important themes from across the community and we look forward to featuring these as part of SBS’s overall Mardi Gras coverage next year.”