Screen Australia announces Indigenous Australian screen luminaries headed for LA

18 10 2018 - Media release Screen Australia announces Indigenous Australian screen luminaries headed for LA

Leah Purcell, Warwick Thornton (photo credit Dominic Lorrimer)

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Screen Australia and Australians in Film Foundation today announced that seven Australian Indigenous screen practitioners will travel to Los Angeles next month for a series of high level networking opportunities. The delegation includes Cam ra d Or-winning director Warwick Thornton (Sweet Country, Samson & Delilah), powerhouse actor, writer and director Leah Purcell (Wentworth, Cleverman), and acclaimed writer and director Steven McGregor (Sweet Country, Mystery Road TV Series).

This extension of Screen Australia's Talent USA initiative coincides with the Australian Federal Government screen agency celebrating 25 years of Indigenous screen stories.

The week-long (5-10 November) program will focus on setting up business connections for the delegates with US film and television industry stakeholders, as well as providing opportunities to learn from established LA-based creators and decisions makers.

Participants were selected based on considerable international success and/or having established interest in the US.

It is fantastic to be able to offer this incredible opportunity to luminaries of our industry, which will assist in opening new doors to expand their already successful careers in the US market, said Penny Smallacombe, Head of the Indigenous Department at Screen Australia.

This program is about fostering new relationships to ensure that our Indigenous stories can continue to find international audiences and possible financing beyond Australia. As we've seen recently with the Mystery Road series on Acorn TV, there is definitely an appetite for our stories in the US and interest in what our creators can deliver.

This program has been supported with a grant from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association to Australians in Film Foundation.

President of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Meher Tatna said, The Hollywood Foreign Press Association is proud to support the first delegation of Australian Indigenous story-tellers coming to Los Angeles. We are thrilled to be able to enable a diverse group of filmmakers to meet the people who will help them tell those stories around the world.

The Australians in Film Foundation was established to provide opportunities for Australian screen creators to develop their craft in the US market, and we are excited to be working with Screen Australia's highly-acclaimed Indigenous Department in bringing some of the top Indigenous Australian filmmakers to Los Angeles, along with the incredible support of the Hollywood Foreign Press Foundation, said President of Australians in Film Foundation, Kate Marks.

TALENT USA: INDIGENOUS CONTINGENT Erica Glynn An AFTRS graduate, Glynn's story-telling career spans over 20 years. Erica developed her skills working for the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA) in Alice Springs before directing the award-winning short film My Bed Your Bed, which screened at over 14 film festivals around the world. Along with directing short film and documentary, Glynn's television works include working as an executive producer on the AACTA Award winning TV series Redfern Now, and the ground-breaking Indigenous-led drama series Gods of Wheat Street and 8MMM Aboriginal Radio. Erica also headed up the Indigenous Department at Screen Australia, in which she developed numerous feature films, and Indigenous filmmakers. Her credits also include writing for the Logie winning animated series Little J & Big Cuz and directing the ABC Comedy series Black Comedy. Erica is currently developing a feature film, and new drama series.

David Jowsey* A former Executive Producer with the ABC, Jowsey has extensive experience in the Australian television industry. In 2009, he transitioned into film as he formed the production company BUNYA Productions alongside acclaimed director Ivan Sen. Jowsey has since gone on to produce a range of award-winning films, notably Toomelah, which was selected for the Cannes Film Festival in 2011, and Sweet Country, which won the Special Jury Prize at the 2017 Venice Film Festival and the Platform Prize at the 2017 Toronto Film Festival. Jowsey also worked as a producer on Mystery Road and its sequel Goldstone along with the ABC series of the same name (Mystery Road TV Series), which has received international acclaim as it has become available on the BBC in the UK and Acorn TV in the US.

Danielle MacLean MacLean is an award winning writer, director and producer with an extensive range of credits across film, television and documentary. She wrote and directed the drama Queen of Hearts, winning the AFI Award for best non-feature screenplay. MacLean also won an AWGIE for her writing on the children's TV series Double Trouble, and wrote two episodes of the Logie winning animated series Little J & Big Cuz, as well as writing for NITV's children's series Grace Beside Me. Her 2014 ABC documentary to coincide with the 40th anniversary of Cyclone Tracy, Blown Away, was also nominated for an ADG Award. Danielle is a director of Tamarind Tree Productions along with Steven McGregor.

Steven McGregor An award-winning writer and director, McGregor co-wrote Sweet Country, which was selected to screen at numerous international film festivals, taking home the Special Jury Prize at the 2017 Venice Film Festival and the Platform Prize at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival. McGregor also worked as a writer on Redfern Now, Ready for This, and the Mystery Road TV Series, which ranks as the most watched non-children's series of all time on the ABC's iview platform. The series was also selected as a New York Times Critic's Pick in August of 2018.

LINK:	https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/sa/media-centre/news/2018/10-18-ind...
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