ACS Short Ends - National eNews - 1st February 2022
Greetings Members, Sponsors and Friends,
This is my final National E news report and it must be said that I will miss the last minute rush to provide as much information as I can to our current editor; David Burr ACS.
It has been an amazing ride and I assure you I will miss it enormously having almost direct contact with you all. However, I will not be far away and will continue to support our new incoming President; Erika Addis and the Office Bearers, on Sunday 1 May. I will also remain as Sponsorship Manager and general nuisance, which is what all Past Presidents become.
A reminder that the applications for both the Panavision-John Leake OAM ACS Emerging Cinematographer Award and the Bob Miller - ACS Technical Innovation Award will close at the end of February, so if you intend applying contact me now at: rjohanson@cinematographer.net.au
The organisation of the 2022 National Awards is well underway and you will have full details very soon. The Awards take place in Adelaide at the very flash, but affordable Hilton Hotel on Saturday 30 April with Ray Martin AM as Master of Ceremonies.
Thank you all once again, if someone can steady the horse before I ride off into the sunset it would help.
Take care and my warmest regards,
Ron
AFTRS Presents
Digital Futures Summit
The Digital Futures Summit brings together leaders and visionaries from across industry, education and government to talk about the big questions facing Australia’s screen and broadcast industries.
On Thursday 17th February, AFTRS will present the second summit in the series, The Business of Australia’s Digital Future. This summit focuses on the future of business in the Australian screen sector and explores how we can adapt business and leadership models to meet the challenges and opportunities of the new digital age.
When: Thursday 1th February, 3:30pm to 9:00pm (AEDT) Where: 100% Online What: Five Sessions Cost: Free to Registrants
The summit will open with Metaverse visionary Matthew Ball in conversation with Claire Evans taking a deep dive into what the Metaverse means for the Australian screen and broadcast industries. Other session topics include a discussion on the impact of digitisation on the screen business model, a look at the Career Pathways research commissioned by AFTRS and what it can show us about the future of Australia’s talent pipeline, and a look inside the journey of taking a start-up to market in the digital age.
This live and interactive online event includes guests from TikTok, Film Victoria, AFTRS, Ai-Media, AusFilm, Mod, ABC, New Canvas, SARA, Mighty Kingdom, Common Ground, Viewie, Harber Consulting and more.
It is with overwhelming sadness that I inform you of the passing of our dear friend and colleague Mark “Supa” Hayward ACS, who died suddenly on Thursday, 27th January 2022. Words cannot express the absolute feeling of loss, particularly for his immediate family.
“Supa” had a heart of gold, a unique character with a laconic sense of humour who began his career at Cambridge Films Melbourne in the mid sixties. Firstly as camera assistant to Keith Wagstaff ACS and then as his 2nd unit DOP on “The Man from Snowy River” feature films.
In the seventies, Mark went freelance as a DOP working primarily on top end TVCs, winning awards both here and overseas for his superb cinematography. A long time member of the ACS, Mark served on the committee of the Victorian branch for many years where he was able to share his knowledge freely with workshops for younger cinematographers.
He has been taken from us way too early, and we are now left with fond memories of all who knew and worked with him.
RIP Mark
Alan Cole ACS
Miller
Long time ACS supporter and sponsor, Miller, wish to advise their change of address.
As of, 31st January 2022, Miller has moved factory, showroom, parts and service to
6, Ross Place, Wetherill Park.
Opening hours are Monday to Friday 9.00 am to 4.00 pm. The Miller Artarmon operation is now closed.
Michelle Pizanis
Outside the Box Studios
Many ACS members, especially those in NSW, would be aware that ACS friend Michelle Pizanis for the past three years has been in the process of setting up Outside the BoxStudios with the aim of teaching students with disabilities the skills to work with post production software.
Michelle is happy to announce Outside the Box Studios will be doing its first test case in March having joined forces with Jigsaw and Fighting Chance Pty Ltd.
Outside the Box Studios and Michelle are in need of footage to be used whilst training students in the skills of editing. Michelle says "ultimately our long term aim is to be a viable post production house where we can do the work in house and eventually even shoot and produce our own content, but for the moment our aim is to provide students with a skillset sufficient enough for them to gain employment, and allow us to be production ready".
Michelle is also looking for trainers in any of the software programs mentioned below and in our attached flyer. The main qualification for suitable trainers being that they have the patience to work with the students.
Industry professional trainers would be versed in software including:
Outside the Box Studios will be starting in early March 2022 (dates to be confirmed) and everyone involved with the training will be paid. The program will ideally run for 6 months, for 6 hours a day (9am-3.00pm) for 3 days a week (Mon, Tues, Wed).
Starting with 6 students, our test case will establish Outside the Box Studios future needs.
Jigsaw has partnered with Outside the Box Studios to run an Australia first NDIS-funded 6-month program to provide training and work experience in video editing and visual effects.
The program will operate within Jigsaw's 'prepare for work' model using current NDIS funding. Trainees on the program will continue to develop their 20 employment capabilities, alongside specialist training in video editing and visual effects.
The program will take place at St Leonards (120 Ground Floor, 120 Pacific Hwy, Greenwich NSW 2065) with Michelle's long term goal being to move to Fox Studios.
It's a first for the sector in Australia and was inspired by a similar program in the US called Exceptional Minds.
Michelle hopes that ACS members or Sponsors may be able to assist? For further information please contact Michelle Pizanis.
Producer and executive Jill Robb has been remembered by friends and colleagues as an inspiration and driving force in shaping the modern Australian screen industry.
Robb, the first marketing and distribution manager of the South Australian Film Corporation (SAFC) and the inaugural CEO of the Victorian Film Corporation, today’s Film Victoria, died January 16, aged 87.
Among her credits as a producer and executive producer were films Dawn!, the multi-AFI Award-winning Careful, He Might Hear You, The More Things Change… and Eight Ball, and the TV series Phoenix, Secrets, Silent Reach, Stark, and Snowy River: The McGregor Saga.
Over her career, Robb was also an executive producer for the ABC, and a founding member of the board of the Australian Film Commission. She served on the Film Victoria board from 1983-1989.
Born in England, Robb’s film career began in 1958, when she was a stand-in for English actress Jill Adams in Lee Robinson’s Dust in the Sun, starring Chips Rafferty.
There, she landed herself a further gig working in the production office, beginning a lifelong passion for filmmaking.
In her early years, she was production coordinator on Michael Powell’s 1965 classic They’re a Weird Mob, and in 1967, Robinson brought Robb on to work as an associate producer on Skippy.
It was on the seminal show that Robb gave Sue Milliken one of her first jobs, working in continuity. It would prove the beginning of a lifelong friendship.
“Jill had an innate self-confidence. She was a grounded person, very sure of herself and quite a creative thinker,” Milliken tells IF.
“When she got opportunities, she made the most of them.
“She’s almost the only person I can think of who was a really talented, creative producer and a really talented and competent bureaucrat. That just doesn’t happen.”
While Robb could be tough, Milliken recalls that she was also kind and generous, considerate of the people who worked for her and would look to support them in their careers. For Milliken, she was a mentor.
“What I liked about Jill, she was one of those people who had no pretensions. She was completely open,” she says.
“She would find opportunities and help you if she could. I really liked that. Also, she had a wonderful, dry and very sardonic sense of humour. She could see pomposity a mile off and had no time for it. She was entertaining and a very good person.”
Another to receive their first break from Robb was Matt Carroll – one of her neighbours in Sydney’s Paddington during the ’60s.
Robb got the then architecture student a job working in Skippy‘s art department during his university holidays, where he initially filled up production vehicles with petrol, and then worked in the kangaroo unit.
“I always blamed Jill for my ending up not an architect, but a film producer,” he tells IF.
The duo would go on to work together at the SAFC, and Carroll considers Robb’s work there pivotal to the international success of films like Sunday Too Far Away, which she got into Cannes’ Directors Fortnight, and Breaker Morant, which was in the official competition in 1980.
He remembers her as a brilliant executive, one that “didn’t take prisoners” in an era where there were few women in leadership positions.
“She was just the most extraordinary person,” Carroll reflects.
“We just adored her because she was so clever, so supportive and made us love the film industry.
“She was a really clever businesswoman, as well as great creatively and a great leader. There’s only ever been one of her.
“The industry was very lucky to have her.”
Greg Ricketson worked as a production manager on Careful, He Might Hear You and associate producer on The More Things Change…, and developed with Robb a series about Australian war hero Nancy Wake that ultimately did not go ahead.
He remembers her as a “one of a kind” and a “magic woman in every sense of the word.”
When Robb interviewed him for Careful He Might Hear You, Ricketson remembers her telling him: “There are lots of things that I am incredibly good at and I’m always going to be in control of. There are some other things which I’m not as good at, and I need somebody like you to run it for me. But I expect you to keep me informed when you make decisions so that I understand them. I’ll keep you informed when I make decisions that are not in your control so that you understand them. And we both must promise that if we disagree, we’ll talk it out.“
For Ricketson, the encounter was an early hint to Robb’s way of running a production, where her openness and trust of those in her employ gave room to an egalitarian and collaborative environment. She was also inquisitive, genuinely appreciative of the role of each member of the crew and unafraid to get her hands dirty.
“You just adored her because she took notice of you and took notice of your work. When she made suggestions they weren’t orders, they were more a collaborative suggestion. But because she was such a wonderful, collaborative person, 99 times out of 100 people said, ‘Okay, let’s try that’,” Ricketson tells IF.
“Everybody who worked with Jill just fell in love with her.”
In the early days of her career, Robb also ran a modelling school, and was casting director on Ted Kotcheff’s Wake in Fright in 1970.
In a statement posted on social media, Film Victoria called Robb a “ground-breaking woman”, noting “she became a role model for many, particularly women working in the screen sector”.
Her career was recognised on numerous occasions, named a Member of the Order of Australia, awarded AFI’s Raymond Longford Award, and honoured by Film Victoria in its annual Jill Robb Award, which recognises the achievements of women in the industry.
Recipients of the Jill Robb Award include Sue Maslin, Jill Bilcock, Nadia Tass, Sonya Pemberton, Fiona Eagger and Deb Cox, Mitu Bhowmick Lange and Claire Dobbin.
Robb is survived by her daughter Louisa and brother David, and their families.
Film Critics Circle of Australia
Annual Awards
The Film Critics Circle of Australia has announced the nominations and winners for the films of 2021.
Nominations and winners listed in alphabetical order:
Best Film High Ground
Producers: David Jowsey, Maggie Miles, Wityana Marika, Greer Simpkin, Stephen Maxwell Johnson
Nitram
Producers: Nick Batzias, Virginia Whitwell, Justin Kurzel, Shaun Grant
The Dry
Producers: Bruna Papandrea, Jodi Matterson, Steve Hutensky, Rob Connolly, Eric Bana
Best Director
Robert Connolly, The Dry Stephen Maxwell Johnson, High Ground
Justin Kurzel, Nitram
Best Screenplay Chris Anastassiades, High Ground
Robert Connolly & Harry Cripps, The Dry
Shaun Grant, Nitram
Best Cinematography
Sam Chiplin, Penguin Bloom Andrew Commis, High Ground
Stefan Duscio, The Dry
Best Actor
Eric Bana, The Dry Caleb Landry Jones, Nitram
Jacob Junior Nayinggul, High Ground
Best Actress Judy Davis, Nitram
Noni Hazlehurst, June Again
Naomi Watts, Penguin Bloom
Best Actress - Supporting Role Essie Davis, Nitram
Claudia Karvan, June Again
Miranda Tapsell, The Dry
Best Actor - Supporting Role
Anthony LaPaglia, Nitram Sean Mununggurr, High Ground
Stephen Hunter, Ruby’s Choice
Cine Gear Expo 2022
Cine Gear Expo LA 2022 is the premier annual event for professionals engaged in the film and entertainment technology industry. This year’s event will take place June 9th – 12th at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
Cine Gear features exhibits, new product and service introductions, complimentary seminars led by industry leaders, master classes, awards ceremony, film series competition, and ample opportunity to network with peers.
Attendee & Exhibitor registration will be available in the months leading up to the event.
Visit the Cine Gear website for more information.
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