Industry Alert: Screen Australia gives $.9 million of funding for documentaries to inform and entertain

Screen Australia congratulates six successful documentary filmmaking teams who will share in more than $2.9 million of funding from Screen Australia's Documentary Broadcast program. From a pulse-check on the state of Australia's health industry, to a fly-on-the-wall look at an urban Indigenous family and a three-part series that delves into the defining moments of Australian comedy, these projects were chosen for their high-quality ideas and their enduring cultural value.

This round of funded projects also includes the story of actor Rod Taylor and a two-part series on the potential of our superhuman' future. These documentaries both one-off and series will be broadcast in 2016 on ABC TV, NITV and Foxtel Arts HD. This round also includes Played: Inside Australia's Failed World Cup Bid which was broadcast on ABC TV in November 2015.

Successful projects in this round of funding include:

Lowlands Media's Rod Taylor: Pulling No Punches will bring the story of Australian actor Rod Taylor to a new generation of audiences through Foxtel's Arts HD channel. His rugged on-screen and off-screen persona created a brand of Australian masculinity that remains a legacy for Australian actors.

Family Rules is a documentary series from Metamorflix. Broadcast on NITV, it seeks to tackle the stereotypes of Indigenous Australians through the prism of one unique urban Aboriginal family.

Southern Pictures' Played: Inside Australia's Failed World Cup Bid was broadcast on ABC TV in 2015 and tells the tale of how Australia got played' in the dirty game of World Cup Football; how corruption, power and dirty politics sabotaged Australia's dream of hosting the World Cup and how one of Australia's most powerful people came unstuck in the world of international football.

Screentime's Stop Laughing: This is Serious (Series 2) is a three-part documentary series for ABC TV that charts the history of Australian comedy, delving into the defining moments that have helped to shape our comedic voice of today.

Keeping Australia Alive is a landmark documentary series from ITV Studios. Broadcast on ABC TV in 2016, Keeping Australia Alive looks at the health of our health system. Using 100 cameras over 24 hours, this tells the story of who we are, what we value, how we live, and how we die.

The Feds' Becoming Superhuman explores whether technology could give us superhuman powers. How might our brains and bodies adapt? Might the human brain prove itself as the ultimate computer? In this two-part series for ABC TV, a boy's impossible wish is granted and we catch a glimpse of our superhuman future.

Liz Stevens, Senior Manager, Documentary at Screen Australia said, This batch of Broadcast Program projects reflects the diverse and agenda-setting work produced by Australian documentary makers. The teams have presented stories that are funny, fascinating and urgent and their experience in telling those stories will engage audiences beyond the first broadcast.

The Documentary Broadcast Program was established as part of last year's documentary guidelines review allocating notional funding for domestic broadcasters to support projects that offer compelling vision with cultural resonance beyond broadcast.

Screen Australia's Documentary Broadcast program will accept online applications with a commercial broadcaster or subscription television channel (other than the ABC and SBS) for the next batch through the new Application Portal, with a deadline of 19 February 2016.

Click here to see the full list of announced Documentary Broadcast projects for this round.

LINK:	http://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/news_and_events/2015/gn_151223_docob...
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