• The Government's new screen support agency Screen Australia will come into being 1 July 2008. Screen Australia brings together the functions of the FFC and Film Australia, as well as most of the functions of the AFC. On 20 June Arts Minister Peter Garrett announced the Chair and board of the new agency. Read the Minister's release as well as a statement from the new Chair, Glen Boreham. See also a message from Screen Australia's Interim Chief Executive Lyn Maddock.



• The NFSA, previously part of the AFC, has been established as a separate statutory authority and will take on a number of programs previously managed by the AFC including Big Screen, Black Screen, School Screen and australianscreen online. Minister Garrett announced the agency's new board on 20 June. Read the Minister's release.



• Ten recordings have been announced by Arts Minister Peter Garrett as the 2008 entries for the NFSA's Sounds of Australia National Registry of Recorded Sound, including the familiar tunes Aeroplane Jelly, Slim Dusty's Pub With No Beer, as well as Australian bird calls and the voices of the 1930 Ashes winners. More details.



• The AFC has announced $720,000 in grants and loans to four companies as part of its initiative to assist the growth and sustainability of Australian screen businesses through the Screen Business Venture Program (SBVP). More details.



• The animated Australian television series I Got A Rocket! won an Emmy at the 35th Annual Creative Arts and Entertainment Daytime Emmy Awards in the New Approaches - Daytime Children's category. More details
  
  
• Australian short film Jerrycan (w/d: Julius Avery, p: Stuart Parkyn,), was awarded the Jury Prize by the short film jury at the closing ceremony of the 2008 Cannes Film Festival. Full details.



• The Edinburgh International Film Festival will screen 6 Australian films in its 2008 program including The Black Balloon, Son of a Lion, Death Defying Acts and Burley!. Full details.



• The value of retail video (DVD and VHS) titles sold in Australia grew from $151 million to $1,231 million over the last 10 years. Of the top 1,000 titles in Australian retail outlets in 2007 the value of Australian titles was 8.5 per cent ($52 million), up from 7.1 per cent ($40.3 million) in 2006. Details.

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• The AFC's script writing hothouse Sp*rk took place in Bryon Bay 9-15 June. Eight writers met with eight advisors from Australia and overseas to discuss their projects in one-on-one meetings over the course of the week. More details.



• Screen Australia Development Funding Guidelines are now available for drama, documentary, animation, cross-platform digital media and practitioner support. More details.



• Screen Australia development funding deadlines in July and August:
  
  PROJECT & PRACTITIONER
  DRAMA DEVELOPMENT
  Seed Feature Funding (formerly Strand B) - 11 July
  IndiVision Project Lab and Script Development - 11 July
  Feature Drama Development - 25 July
  
  DRAMA PRODUCTION
  Short Drama Production (formerly Strand H) - 8 August
  IndiVision Low-budget Feature Production - 22 August
  
  DOCUMENTARY
  Development (formerly Strands J and K) - 1 August
  Shooting Time-critical Material - 11 July / 15 August
  
  CROSS-PLATFORM DIGITAL MEDIA
  Production - 18 July
  Development - 25 July
  
  PRACTITIONER SUPPORT
  Internships - 25 July
  
  SCREEN BUSINESS VENTURE PROGRAM
  Business Growth Strand, Expression of Interest - 25 July
  
  INDUSTRY AND CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT
  New Projects Fund - 25 August
  Interactive Media Fund - 25 August



• AFC funding approvals.

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• Former recorded sound industry executive Michael Smellie offered some fresh ideas to boost the Australian music industry as he delivered the inaugural Thomas Rome lecture at the NFSA in Canberra on 18 June. Smellie identified some familiar concerns and challenges facing the Australian music industry and went on to offer some key ideas to boost the industry. More details.



• In early June a delegation of nine senior Arnhem Land men visited Canberra to audition cultural materials held in national collecting institutions for repatriation into their own community-based collections and databases. More details.



• On 3 July the NFSA will open a special photographic exhibition of unique film stills Shooting Stars - Women from the Taussig Collection. The exhibition celebrates women in film and showcases the magical art of black and while film stills photography. It features beautiful images of American and European actresses from the 1920s and 30s, including Mae West, Katherine Hepburn, Marlene Dietrich, Ingrid Bergman and Josephine Baker. More details.



• Daniel Syron completed the NFSA's inaugural Indigenous Research Fellowship in early June. He has been researching the career and influence of his uncle Brian Syron. Daniel's work on Brian's filmography and the accompanying NFSA Journal article will soon be completed. More details.



• A newly rediscovered print of Australia's earliest surviving sound film, 10 minutes of coverage of the 1927 arrival of the Duke and Duchess of York in Sydney, has been screened at the Dungog Film Festival. More details.



• The June program for the Arc Cinema continues with Tim Burstall's Alvin Purple (1973); Thornton Freeland's Flying Down to Rio (1933) and Powell and Pressburger's The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943). View the complete calendar.

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• The newly formed Screen Australia will host a visit by Pusan International Film Festival scout, Ms Cho Young Jung, who will be in Sydney to view new Australian films completed no earlier than October 2007. Submission deadline to Screen Australia is 9 July. More details.



• Congratulations to all the filmmakers whose AFC-funded / supported films have recently won awards or been selected to screen at other festivals around the world. More details.



• The Australian films
  Children of the Silk Road,
  Ten Empty and
  Unfinished Sky
  are screening in June and July so keep an eye out for them at your local cinema.

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• The AFC screening programs Big Screen, Black Screen and School Screen, as well as australianscreen online, have been transferred to the NFSA from 1 July. The RDSN, Embassy Roadshow and the Industry and Cultural Development funding program will operate out of Screen Australia. Read the Minister's release.
  
  
• In early June AFC's Big Screen traveled to Tenterfield to screen Death Defying Acts, Cactus and Elephant Tales on 35mm; and Briagolong where Frankie J Holden appeared as their special guest to introduce his film Clubland. Big Screen will also travel to Babinda in far north Queensland later in June. Visit the Big Screen website for future programs.



• The AFC's Regional Digital Screen Network has enjoyed a bumper year screening many titles including Lucky Miles, The Home Song Stories, September, The Black Balloon and most recently Cactus. Admissions for monthly screenings have grown by 56% over the year with most of the titles booked for run on seasons. In July, Screen Australia will present Anthony Hayes' new drama Ten Empty on the RDSN after a successful sell out screening at the Sydney Film Festival. Visit the RDSN webpage for more details.



• School Screen continues to joins forces with Big Screen in June with screenings in Briagolong, Tenterfield, Traralgon, Cairns and Babinda. School Screen will also hold two special Reconciliation screenings with the Port Augusta Library at Cinema Augusta for local schools. The three Indigenous themed films Wrong Side of the Road, Sister If You Only Knew and Why Me? were filmed in South Australia.
  
  In May/June School Screen, Black Screen and the Wakakirri National Story Festival presented an Indigenous short film screening program to schools students in Yuendumu (NT), Bloomfield (QLD) and Cunamulla (QLD) as part of their Outback Tour program.
  
  Bookings for the majority of these screenings can be made online on the Australian Teachers of Media (ATOM) website. If your school is not able to access any screenings on offer, you can contact the AFC's Education Programs Coordinator, Bob Percival robert.percival@afc.gov.au, to discuss organising a screening in your local cinema, or a free screening at your school if there is no cinema nearby. Visit the School Screen webpage for more details.



• June sees the first Embassy Roadshow in Saudi Arabia. The festival will screen Strictly Ballroom and Rabbit Proof Fence with Arabic subtitles.

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• Recent additions to australianscreen include the features We of the Never Never, The Fringe Dwellers and 1915 silent film The Hero of the Dardanelles the earliest surviving feature depiction of Australian First World War troops. Other additions include the groundbreaking 1980s documentary television series Nature of Australia and the first local animations to be screened regularly - a series of First World War propaganda newsreels, Cartoons of the Moment.
  
  Following February's call for expressions of interest, new curators writing for the site include: Richard Kuipers, Sandy George and Lynden Barber (features); Anne Lucas and Kate Matthews (television); and Jenny Fraser (Indigenous).
  
  In April, the site attracted more than 60,000 visitors from 157 different territories. Daily visits to the site continue to rise, with a mid-week peak in May of 4700. The most viewed feature was Wolf Creek. australianscreen also continues to highlight new feature films and documentaries in cinemas by linking to their official website or trailer.
  



• Positions vacant: for current vacant positions at the AFC.



• Are you looking for details of a particular Australian film title - feature, short, TV drama or documentary? The Searchable Film Database includes Australian and co-produced features and TV drama telemovies from 1970, TV drama mini-series and documentaries from 1980 and TV drama series and short films from 1988. It is updated on the AFC website each month.



• Latest updates to industry statistics in Get the Picture Online.

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• The AFC's Industry and Cultural Development Division proudly supports the following upcoming festivals and events:
  
  
  15/15 Film Festival
  7-29 June (touring nationally)
  
  In the Bin Short Film Festival
  4-25 June (Qld, NSW, Vic)
  
  World of Women (WOW) National and Regional Tour
  Until June
  
  Sydney Travelling Film Festival (TFF) 2007/08
  Until June
  
  Revelation Perth International Film Festival 2008
  3-13 July (WA)
  
  Melbourne International Film Festival 2008
  25 July - 10 August



• QPIX is calling for applications for RAW NERVE 2008, applications close 30 June; NOVA INTERNATIONAL 2, applications close 1 August; and interested crew for their Short Film Productions. Visit the QPIX website for more details.



• The ACT Filmmakers' Network is a not-for-profit cultural film and television industry agency that delivers a range of workshops for practitioners in the national capital and region.



• Metro Screen is a non-profit organisation that offers training, equipment hire and production support to filmmakers and digital media practitioners. They have monthly Metro Screen Network meetings and Filmmakers' Studio events.



• OPEN CHANNEL is a screen resource organisation located in Melbourne's Docklands. They run training courses, have support programs and hire out production equipment.



• OzDox, a joint initiative of documentary filmmakers, industry bodies and academics, to foster, promote and provide a monthly forum for documentary culture, holds regular industry events.



• ScreenWest and PAC Screen Workshops run the PAC Script Labs, rehearsed readings of WA feature film scripts on the last Wednesday of every second month. The aim is to hone WA scripts and increase the profile, quality and awareness of WA film projects.



• Popcorn Taxi, a regular film event where filmmakers and film lovers can meet, watch films of all types, and discuss the filmmaking process all year round, runs in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane and Darwin.



• Other AFC-supported activities and events.

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Screen Australia aims to expand the potential of the film industry and the opportunities available to the 50,000-plus people currently working in the sector. It will build on the valuable contribution the industry already makes to the Australian economy.

Since my appointment on 18 March this year, I have been engaged in the challenging task of managing the merger of the existing agencies, ahead of the appointment of the incoming Board and permanent CEO.

I have consulted extensively with employees from the three agencies and received widespread input on the new structure. There is welcome enthusiasm for combining forces and working together. The Sydney headquarters will be at 140 and 150 William Street, Woolloomooloo, with Screen Australia Studios continuing at Lindfield; the Melbourne office will be at 144 Moray Street, South Melbourne; and Brisbane at 420 Brunswick Street, Fortitude Valley.

I have also consulted with key industry groups and will continue to offer updates on developments as Screen Australia takes shape.

The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts, Peter Garrett, has confirmed that existing film agency guidelines for continuing programs will remain in place under Screen Australia until the end of the year "to provide certainty for the industry and avoid any hiatus in production activity".

The new Screen Australia website will provide the gateway to these ongoing programs from 1 July, at www.screenaustralia.gov.au

The Minister also stated that "This timeframe will give the new Screen Australia Board time to properly review all of the organisation's programs and structures. This will ensure they are appropriate to the functions and responsibilities which Screen Australia will have in strengthening the industry through building screen businesses and supporting projects of cultural merit."

Led most recently by Daryl Karp at Film Australia, Chris Fitchett at the AFC and Brian Rosen at the FFC, staff of all three agencies - past and present - are to be congratulated for the effort and passion they have contributed to building our current vibrant screen industries.

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