Sydney Film School is proud to announce their first student film to achieve a national DVD distribution deal, to be released on September 18. In 2006 Maya Newell created her first feature length documentary Richard as part of her studies at Sydney Film School, and 2 years later it is being distributed to the general public for viewing by Siren Visuals.
Sydney Film School believe in a flexible structure to study, where the creative voice is nurtured and encouraged rather than stifled by adherence to a rigid institutionalised program. Due to this, the school as successfully produced a feature length documentary that has commercial viability and longevity; an Australian film school first.
This is the latest development in the long line of initiatives that Sydney Film School actively pursues to create constructive pathways for their students into a career in filmmaking. It successfully complements the dedicated distribution arm that has seen, since inception, 32 SFS films screen in 43 prestigious film festivals locally and abroad with 6 first prizes. In 2007 Sydney Film School was one of only three international film schools invited to screen 6 of their student films at the Cannes Film Festival, which included Richard.
Maya Newell’s first full length documentary Richard (50min), is a stark, bittersweet and at times humorous portrait of Richard Blackie – consummate eccentric, toy collector and former Michael Jackson impersonator – whose public obsessions and private torments are laid bare in this devastating portrayal of the last few months of his life. This local Sydney identity made headlines when he took his own life in July 2006. What few people knew at the time was that a 17 year-old student filmmaker had developed a curious friendship with Blackie. She had gained access to this most private of private characters and his extraordinary and utterly bizarre toyshop, and was filming his life and the obsessions that drove him, when he took his own life.
Maya Newell completed Richard as part of her studies at Sydney Film School in 2006, working closely with joint Heads of Documentary Amanda King and Fabio Cavadini, credited as Executive Producers on behalf of SFS. Newell undertook all key crew rolls including Camera, Editing, Writing and Directing, working with Annie Breslin as Sound Designer. Breslin’s feature film credits as Sound Designer/Editor include Mad Max 2, Evil Angels, High Tide, The Well, Soft Fruit, Unfolding Florence, and most recently Unfinished Sky.
In 2005 Maya Newell’s short film Lacuna won Best Senior Fiction at the Robin Anderson Film Awards. The film toured Australia as part of the Silent Cells Film Festival and was selected for publication in the 2005 New South Wales Young Writers Fellowship. On the strength of this film, in 2006 Sydney Film School offered her the Robin Anderson Scholarship to undertake their one year Diploma of Screen, where she completed Richard. She won the 2006 Sydney Film School Chairman’s Award for excellence in filmmaking which came with a $5000 prize.
The strength of her achievement was ably supported by the Sydney Film School distribution program, which saw Richard premier at the 2006 Perth Revelation International Film Festival. Since then it has also screened at the Asian Festival of First Films in 2007 where it won Best Documentary Director, and was part of the program of films that Sydney Film School presented at the Marche du Films at the Cannes Film Festival in 2007.
The approach to study at Sydney Film School is based on creating a community environment that presents a realistic path to creating films that nurture experimentalism with all students involved on an equal footing. This has proved a successful alternative to following a more institutionalised format that adheres to a structured hierarchical pathway, championing entrepreneurial and alternative approaches to filmmaking and distribution, that is becoming more the norm in the “real world”, as funding tightens and avenues narrow.
Maya Newell’s vision and dedication to her craft have achieved big things in her short career to date. Through the support of Sydney Film School who actively promote their students quest for creative storytelling, Newell has proved herself to be an up and coming filmmaker to watch.
ABOUT SYDNEY FILM SCHOOL
Sydney Film School has seen a marked surge in enrolments, especially from international students, as the school’s reputation continues to grow beyond our shores. In 2008 100 students are enrolled with 42 of these arriving from overseas. This represents a 45% increase in international students, with 18 countries represented: India, USA, Korea, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, China, South America, Italy, Japan, Brazil, Holland, France, Egypt, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and the UK.
Sydney Film School is Sydney’s fastest growing filmmaking community made of current students, graduates and teachers, working together towards common goals: to learn, to grow, to make good films, to be seen by audiences worldwide. Since the school began in 2004 the school’s community has grown to over 400 strong. Producing the largest number of films in Sydney every year, Sydney Film School generated 130 productions in 2007 alone. These consist of quality documentaries, dramas and individual thesis films exploringall manner of cinematic forms.
Since inception, 32 SFS films have screened in 43 prestigious film festivals locally and abroad with 6 first prizes. These have included Best Documentary at the 2008 St Kilda Film Festival (My Dad Susan), Best Film and Best Editor for the 2007 Aust-Japan Short Film Forum (Go Quickly), and screenings at the 2008 Singapore Short International Film Festival, 2008 Dungog Film Festival, 2007 Cannes Film Festival, 2007 Kyoto International Film Festival, 2007 Calgary International Film Festival, and 2007 Palm Springs Festival of Short Films in the US.
www.sydneyfilmschool.com