Three Australian projects selected for Sundance Film Festival 2021
16/12/2020
Playing with Sharks
Feature documentary Playing with Sharks, virtual reality project Prison X - Chapter 1: The Devil & The Sun and short film GNT will screen at Sundance Film Festival, taking place both online and in-person across the US from 28 January to 3 February 2021.
Sundance has a history of launching Australian works into the US market including feature films Relic (2020), The Nightingale (2019) and Sweet Country (2018), as well as documentaries such as Casting JonBenet (2017).
Screen Australia's CEO Graeme Mason said, Congratulations to these teams, this selection is an incredible accomplishment. These projects each have a distinctive Australian voice and demonstrate the breadth and ingenuity of our industry on the world stage. It's fantastic to have three projects representing Australia all helmed by female directors in this year's program. Last year we saw the influence of the festival and its ability to launch careers with Natalie Erika James' debut feature Relic selected and celebrated and we are delighted that these three can follow in that path.
Playing with Sharks, a documentary about iconic Australian diver and filmmaker Valerie Taylor, will make its world premiere in the World Documentary Competition.
Director Sally Aitken said, To launch this film at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival is a dream come true. Valerie's daredevil exploits and her astounding rich underwater archive are a potent mix for any director. It is a privilege to sink my teeth into her pioneering story. That she is still diving and fighting for sharks at the age of 85 shows Valerie's incredible passion and that her thirst for adventure remains undiminished. Her life-affirming journey as an unlikely conservationist proves to all of us just what is possible with our interconnectedness to the natural world, if we allow it.
Virtual reality animation Prison X The Devil & The Sun will make its world premiere in the New Frontier section which showcases emerging media storytelling, multimedia installations, performances, and films across fiction, nonfiction and hybrid projects. The project takes viewers on a mythological journey inside a Neo-Andean underworld.
Prison X director Violeta Ayala said, As a storyteller, VR gave me the tools and technological capacity to push my imagination to a further degree. But it takes a community to make a film, and I m very proud that the team behind Prison X represents the Australia that we see on the streets. Prison X is a team effort pushing the boundaries of filmmaking, animation and technology from the minds of Bolivian-Australian, Ghanaian-Australian and Filipino-Australian creatives.
Animated short film GNT, which won the Yoram Gross Animation prize at Sydney Film Festival 2020, will screen in the Short Film section. The film follows one woman's outrageous mission to conquer social media and upstage her friends.
Creators Sara Hirner and Rosemary Vasquez-Brown said, We are absolutely thrilled that our debut short film, GNT, will be featured at Sundance Film Festival. We put so much love into this chaotic four minutes, and feel especially humbled that it will be shown at Sundance, alongside the same talent that we are continually inspired by. We hope it makes you giggle, or at the very least, question your choices on social media.
Australian projects at Sundance 2021: PLAYING WITH SHARKS
Wildbear Entertainment Pty Ltd
Director: Sally Aitken
Producer: Bettina Dalton
Executive Producer: Alan Erson
Australian Distributor: Madman
International Sales: Dogwoof
Synopsis: Valerie Taylor is a shark fanatic and an Australian icon. A marine maverick who forged her way as a fearless diver, cinematographer and conservationist. She filmed the real sharks for Jaws and famously wore a chain mail suit, using herself as shark bait, in experiments that changed scientific understanding of sharks forever.
Production credit: Playing with Sharks is a Wildbear Entertainment production. Principal production investment from Screen Australia in association with Screen NSW.
Media contact: Tracey Mair
PRISON X THE DEVIL & THE SUN
UNF Pty Ltd
Writer/Director: Violeta Ayala
Producers: Violeta Ayala, Dan Fallshaw, Roly Elias
Australian Distribution: Contact UNF Films
International Sales: Contact UNF Films
Synopsis: A virtual reality project where heavy doors open up and suck you in as a world of magical realism swirls around you, where you have to hang onto your soul so the devil doesn t take it away.
Production credit: Prison X The Devil & The Sun is an UNF production. Principal production investment from Screen Australia and developed with support from Screen NSW. Financed with support from Sundance Institute, the MacArthur Foundation and Tribeca Film Institute.
Australian media contact: Annette Lin
International media contact: Ingrid Hamilton, GAT PR
GNT
Writer/Directors: Sara Hirner, Rosemary Vasquez-Brown
Producers: Sara Hirner, Rosemary Vasquez-Brown
Synopsis: An animation that follows Glenn, a woman on an unwholesome mission to conquer her clique and social media at large.
Media contact: Sara Hirner and Rosemary Vasquez-Brown
A history of Australian titles at Sundance is available here
Related MaterialsDownload PDF
Media enquiries Amy Burgess | Senior Publicist
61 2 8113 5800 | 61 413 190 195 | [email protected]
Lidia Williams | Publicist and Events Officer
61 2 8113 1091 | 61 468 784 170 | [email protected]
All other general/non-media enquiries Sydney 61 2 8113 5800 | Melbourne 61 3 8682 1900 | [email protected]
LINK: | https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/sa/media-centre/news/2020/12-16-aus... |
See more stories from screenaustralia |
Asia, Australia & Oceanic Stories
24/04/2024
SBS marks Earth Day as The Cook Up with Adam Liaw becomes first Australian show to have its carbon footprint validated through SSA
SBS marks Earth Day as The Cook Up with Adam Liaw becomes first Australian show ...
24/04/2024
Save money every day with SBS's Ricardo Gonalves and Peggy Giakoumelos on new Cost of Living Secrets podcast
Save money every day with SBS's Ricardo Gon alves and Peggy Giakoumelos on n...
24/04/2024
Screen Australia celebrates Australian projects bound for Cannes Film Festival 2024
24 04 2024 - Media release Screen Australia celebrates Australian projects bound...
23/04/2024
Social entrepreneur Hedayat Osyan wins Les Murray Award for Refugee Recognition
Social entrepreneur Hedayat Osyan wins Les Murray Award for Refugee Recognition 23 April, 2024 Media releases The prestigious award is now in its third yea...
22/04/2024
SBS marks Earth Day with Australian TV milestone as The Cook Up with Adam Liaw becomes first show to measure its carbon footprint
SBS marks Earth Day with Australian TV milestone as The Cook Up with Adam Liaw b...
18/04/2024
Alone Australia goes from strength to strength
Alone Australia goes from strength to strength 18 April, 2024 Media releases The program again delivers for SBS with significant uplifts in digital BVOD vi...
18/04/2024
Screen Australia and Dynamic Television announce new Scripted Initiative
18 04 2024 - Media release Screen Australia and Dynamic Television announce new Scripted Initiative Savage River Screen Australia and Los Angeles-based telev...
16/04/2024
ABS Agility Beyond Space announces Appointment of Mark Rigolle as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
ABS Agility Beyond Space announces Appointment of Mark Rigolle as its Chief Ex...
11/04/2024
Alone Australia Ep 2 reaches over 1m Australians
Alone Australia Ep 2 reaches over 1m Australians 11 April, 2024 Media releases The program continues to consistently grow week-on-week in linear audience w...
11/04/2024
Screen Australia and Meta launch fourth year of First Nations Creators Program for Instagram
11 04 2024 - Media release Screen Australia and Meta launch fourth year of First...
10/04/2024
Screen Australia announces over $2.3 million for nine documentaries
10 04 2024 - Media release Screen Australia announces over $2.3 million for nine documentaries Guardians of the River Screen Australia has announced nine doc...
09/04/2024
Groundbreaking NITV documentary series Our Law expands across Australia from Thursday 9 May
Groundbreaking NITV documentary series Our Law expands across Australia from Thu...
09/04/2024
Psst; inflo transcribes with Whisper
Techtel, the creators of inflo, today announced that a new speech to text transcription engine from openai called Whisper, is available to inflo customers who a...
04/04/2024
Manu Feildel, Miranda Otto and Pat Rafter join life-changing new season of Who Do You Think You Are?
Manu Feildel, Miranda Otto and Pat Rafter join life-changing new season of Who D...
04/04/2024
Alone Australia season 2 continues to redefine Australian TV viewing through on-demand digital consumption
Alone Australia season 2 continues to redefine Australian TV viewing through on-...
27/03/2024
Living Black, the longest-running Indigenous current affairs television program in Australia, returns for its 21st year with new guests
Living Black, the longest-running Indigenous current affairs television program ...
26/03/2024
Crime is relative in SBS's new Canneseries nominated crime-family dramawith a difference
Crime is relative in SBS's new Canneseries nominated crime-family drama with...
25/03/2024
SBS gears up for Season 2 of Alone Australia with the creation of Alone Cologne'
SBS gears up for Season 2 of Alone Australia with the creation of Alone Cologne...
22/03/2024
SBS Learn partners with the Islamic Museum of Australia to support classrooms in understanding Ramadan and Eid with new teacher resource
SBS Learn partners with the Islamic Museum of Australia to support classrooms in...
21/03/2024
Screen Australia announces over $1.6 million in support of the games industry
21 03 2024 - Media release Screen Australia announces over $1.6 million in support of the games industry Which Way Up: Galaxy Games Screen Australia has anno...
18/03/2024
Screen Australia and VicScreen launch new Screen Careers initiative
18 03 2024 - Media release Screen Australia and VicScreen launch new Screen Careers initiative LTR Denise Eriksen, Esther Coleman Hawkins, Caroline Pitcher, K...
15/03/2024
The Creators 2024 Participants Announced
15 03 2024 - Media release The Creators 2024 Participants Announced The Creators program recipients. L-R Thomas Duncan-Watt, Vanessa Gazy, Sarah Lambert, Lea...
14/03/2024
SBS to mark Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr with all Australians
SBS to mark Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr with all Australians 14 March, 2024 Media releases Content in 22 languages*, a collection of movies to stream free on d...
14/03/2024
Notice of Nominees for Directors (Resolution planned, June 19, 2024)
March 14,2024 -- KDDI Corporation KDDI Corporation resolved at a meeting of the Board of Directors held today to change (newly appointed, retire) a director ...
13/03/2024
Screen Australia announces dramas Critical Incident and Sunny Nights for Stan
13 03 2024 - Media release Screen Australia announces dramas Critical Incident and Sunny Nights for Stan Critical Incident: Akshay Khanna and Zoe Boe. Photo c...
07/03/2024
Explore the afterlife with SBS podcast Grave Matters'
Explore the afterlife with SBS podcast Grave Matters' 6 March, 2024 Media releases Most of us are woefully unprepared for one of life's few certai...
06/03/2024
Multi-award winning electronic music duo to represent Australia at this year's Eurovision Song Contest in Malm, Sweden
Multi-award winning electronic music duo to represent Australia at this year'...
06/03/2024
GITAI and KDDI Successfully Demonstrates Robotics Construction Capabilities for Lunar Communications Towers
Developing Lunar 3GPP Mobile Network Technologies for Moon Exploration GITA...
04/03/2024
SBS announces new development fund to discover Australia's biggest and riskiest new factual hit
SBS announces new development fund to discover Australia's biggest and riski...
28/02/2024
Yumi Stynes returns for season two of SBS podcast SEEN'
Yumi Stynes returns for season two of SBS podcast SEEN' 26 February, 2024 Media releases Eight new trailblazers join feminist Australian icon Yumi Sty...
28/02/2024
Screen Australia announces over $810,000 in development funding for 29 projects
28 02 2024 - Media release Screen Australia announces over $810,000 in development funding for 29 projects Willy Screen Australia has announced 23 feature fi...
27/02/2024
Michael Ebeid AM appointed as new Screen Australia Chair
27 02 2024 - Media release Michael Ebeid AM appointed as new Screen Australia Chair Michael Ebeid AM and Megan Brownlow The Hon. Minister for the Arts, Tony...
26/02/2024
KDDI, Sony Honda Mobility Start Collaboration to Drive Connected Businesses Globally
Supporting AFEELAs entertainment experience and global launch with a communicati...
21/02/2024
Screen Australia and Australians in Film Announce Applications Open for UNTAPPED 2024
21 02 2024 - Media release Screen Australia and Australians in Film Announce App...
21/02/2024
Sony and KDDI Accelerate Efforts to Promote Digital Transformation in the Broadcasting and Media Industries
Aiming to deliver new video-related solutions utilizing 5G SA this year Son...
21/02/2024
KDDI Teams Up with Kyoto Sanga F.C. to Start Demonstration Test for Fan Engagement Services with Smartphone Game
Support the team with gifts while enjoying AR games in the stadium KDDI COR...
21/02/2024
U and Google's Gemini model to Provide Generative AI Services for Everyday Use
KDDI CORPORATION February 21,2024 -- Tokyo, February 21, 2024 From February 2...
20/02/2024
The Approval of SORACOM's Listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Growth Market
KDDI CORPORATION February 20,2024 -- KDDI announces that its consolidated subsidiary, SORACOM, INC. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo, CEO: Ken Tamagawa, herei...
15/02/2024
Alone Australia Season 2 Returns 27 March | Meet the Cast
Alone Australia Season 2 Returns 27 March | Meet the Cast 15 February, 2024 Media releases Smash hit series Alone Australia returns Wednesday 27 March on S...
15/02/2024
NITV's flagship footy show Over the Black Dot returns Tuesday 5 March, live and in high definition
NITV's flagship footy show Over the Black Dot returns Tuesday 5 March, live ...
15/02/2024
Screen Australia announces over $560,000 for crew and gamemaker skills programs
15 02 2024 - Media release Screen Australia announces over $560,000 for crew and gamemaker skills programs Liz Keogh Palmer (Australian Production Design Guil...
13/02/2024
2024 is a landmark year for SBS's award-winning current affairs line-up, covering the most impactful local and global stories
2024 is a landmark year for SBS's award-winning current affairs line-up, cov...
13/02/2024
Six Australian projects bound for South by Southwest Festival in the US
22 01 2024 - Media release Six Australian projects bound for South by Southwest Festival in the US Audrey, Birdeater, The Moogai Six Australian screen projec...
12/02/2024
Screen Australia and YouTube Australia Launch Skip Ahead 9
12 02 2024 - Media release Screen Australia and YouTube Australia Launch Skip Ahead 9 Uncovering Street Dance: Australia from Skip Ahead 8. Photographed by Ry...
08/02/2024
Screen Australia and ABC announce Bay of Fires is back for season two
08 02 2024 - Media release Screen Australia and ABC announce Bay of Fires is back for season two Marta Dusseldorp as Stella in Bay of Fires ABC, Screen Austr...
07/02/2024
4 in 10 Australians battling sleep issues as nation's sleep crisis grows
4 in 10 Australians battling sleep issues as nation's sleep crisis grows 7 February, 2024 Media releases Dr Michael Mosley and the sleep scientists fro...
06/02/2024
Six screen creatives selected for the 2024 SBS Emerging Writers' Incubator initiative
Six screen creatives selected for the 2024 SBS Emerging Writers' Incubator i...
02/02/2024
SBS Scripted TV Lunch sessions return for another year of connecting with creatives
SBS Scripted TV Lunch sessions return for another year of connecting with creati...
02/02/2024
Financial Results for the Third Quarter of the Fiscal Year Ending March 2024
February 2,2024 -- KDDI Corporation KDDI announced the financial results for the third quarter of the fiscal year ending March 2024. Summary In the third q...