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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-02-19 Daily Xml
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ADELAIDE FILM FESTIVAL

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (14:19): My question is directed to the Premier.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Ms BEDFORD: Could the Premier tell the house about the exciting film events in Adelaide this month?

Members interjecting:

The Hon. M.D. RANN (Ramsay—Premier, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Social Inclusion, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Sustainability and Climate Change) (14:19): Apparently, this is something else that they want to trash.

The Hon. K.O. Foley: But he'll be there.

The Hon. M.D. RANN: He'll be there because he likes the red carpet. He loves that red carpet. In the spirit of bipartisanship, I will allow—and, in fact, encourage, invite and even watch—the Leader of the Opposition to walk down the red carpet tonight because all of his imaginations will come to light. But let's talk about an outstanding event.

Ms CHAPMAN: A point of order, Mr Speaker: subject?

The SPEAKER: There is no point of order.

The Hon. M.D. RANN: It is certainly an exciting time for all lovers of the moving image to be here in Adelaide. For those opposite who sneer, there are about 3,000 film festivals in the world. Variety magazine—and I will explain what that is to the Leader of the Opposition afterwards—came out and said that there are 50 film festivals in the world out of that 3,000 that are not to be missed. The only one in Australia is the newest—the Adelaide Film Festival. And why is it so? Also conceived in genius—why is it so? Because it is one of the very few in the world that actually invests in making films. It does not just passively screen other people's films, it invests in every step of the creative process. What does that mean, and what have the results been?

Mr Pisoni interjecting:

The Hon. M.D. RANN: TV commercials, he said. If you want to undermine the likes of Rolf de Heer, Scott Hicks and others who make movies in this state, let me tell you the results. Their first film, Look Both Ways, starred at the Cannes Film Festival and won nearly every AFI award. Their second film, 10 Canoes, starred at the Cannes Film Festival and won nearly every AFI award. Then, there is Forbidden Lies—you'd love that one. It is about someone who makes announcements every day, but does not mean what they say or say what they mean. When I saw the script I thought it was about the Leader of the Opposition.

The festival, curated by director Katrina Sedgwick, celebrates contemporary screen culture, exploring and showcasing innovation across the screen industries, and it promises to be the best festival yet. This year, the festival is branded as the 2009 BigPond Adelaide Film Festival, reflecting major sponsorship support provided by Telstra BigPond.

Given the festival's encouragement for innovation and the use of new technologies—like Twitter; not the Daniel Gannon one, but the real one—launched on 22 January, the program features screenings of over 150 feature films, documentaries, shorts, animations, and new media work from 49 countries, plus other events, to be presented over 11 days. Twenty-one films, including features and short films, will be world premieres.

Tonight's opening night event will feature a red carpet screening of Sarah Watt's new comedy, My Year Without Sex, exploring the horrors and delights of suburban family life. The prestigious Don Dunstan Award, presented in recognition of outstanding contribution to the Australian film industry, will be presented at the Ron Radford Auditorium on Friday 20 February. Previous winners have been David Gulpilil in 2003, Dennis O'Rourke in 2005, and Rolf de Heer in 2007.

This year, the award goes to the energetic and visionary film producer Jan Chapman, whose credits include The Last Days of Chez Nous. I knew that the Leader of the Opposition would like that, with his interest in French literature, and his study of that great and outstanding Camus. Jan's credits also include: The Piano, Love Serenade,Holy Smoke,Walk the Talk and Lantana. Earlier in her career, Jan directed shorts and worked in the education and drama departments of the ABC, where she produced the series Sweet and Sour. She is widely noted for her generous support for young filmmakers.

Importantly, with support provided through the Adelaide Film Festival Investment Fund, this year's festival will feature new Australian works, including five feature films, one feature length documentary, four short films, and a gallery-based video installation piece, which I saw yesterday. This builds on the festival's reputation of supporting groundbreaking filmmakers, and brings to a total of 31 the number of Australian works brought to the screen since the inception of the Adelaide Film Festival—31 films produced as a direct result of a film festival.

The festival hub will remain at the Palace Cinema complex in Rundle Street East, with a range of other venues across the city centre and suburbs of Adelaide, including the Piccadilly, the Mercury, the Mawson Lakes Planetarium, the Garden of Unearthly Delights in Rundle Parkland (maybe that will the site for their next hospital) and the Gepps Cross Drive-in.

Further afield, there will be events and screenings at Mount Barker, Henley Square, Aldinga, Port Augusta and Victor Harbor, and even in a privately owned replica of an old-style movie palace set up in an Adelaide suburban backyard shed. The festival will again present the Natuzzi International Award for Best Feature Film at the festival, with a cash prize of $25,000 going to its director.

Last night, as part of the festival's visual arts program, I was delighted to launch Lynette Wallworth's exciting and visionary exhibition, Duality of Light. The BigPond Adelaide Film Festival is steadily building a reputation as a unique event in the state's artistic calendar. This year will see many eminent guests coming to Adelaide, including festival programmers from Cannes, Toronto, Edinburgh, Pusan, Yamagata, the Sheffield DocFest, New Zealand and each of the major Australian film festivals.

High-profile guests will include Miranda Otto, Natalie Imbruglia, Hugo Weaving, Sam Neill, Aden Young, Bruce Beresford, Stephan Elliott, Matt Day, Peta Wilson and recent stars of Dr Plonk and Indian Bollywood movies. This year, two prestigious national film industry events are bookending the festival. The Australian International Documentary Conference, launched on Tuesday night, is being held in Adelaide each year until 2012. The conference sees about 600 delegates converge on Adelaide to network, share experiences, showcase work and make deals.

The Australian Writers' Guild National Screenwriters Conference will be held from 25 to 27 February in the Barossa Valley. It will bring together local and international screenwriters and key industry professionals across film, television and new media. As I say, these exciting events, in conjunction with other fantastic events like the Adelaide Fringe, WOMADelaide, Clipsal and the Rugby Sevens, all happen in Adelaide at this time of the year. Please, come and buy some tickets and we will see you at the movies.

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