Screen event offers foot in the door for Far North filmmakers
An international film industry showcase coming to Cairns will offer a wildlife filmmaking masterclass and professional insight into how locals can get screen projects off the ground.
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An international film industry showcase offering a masterclass on wildlife filmmaking and professional insight into how locals can get screen projects off the ground will be crammed into a one-day event in Cairns this week.
Screen Queensland in association with Screenworks and the Australian International Documentary Conference will host the second Regionality Cairns on Friday.
Pitched as an opportunity for regional talent to connect and learn from some of the best creators in the business, Regionality Cairns will champion Far North factual filmmakers ahead of a state-of-the-art film studio due to open later this year.
Creative director of the Melbourne-based Australian International Documentary Conference Natasha Gadd is also the event director of Regionality Cairns.
She said teaching emerging Far North film makers how to pitch story ideas to Australian broadcasters such as SBS and the ABC and international streaming companies was an important skill broached by the event.
“It’s a real skill to pitch an idea and to get interest from broadcasters, we are designing a pitch ready tool kit to help people shape their pitch,” she said.
“We wanted to create an opportunity for practitioners to have access to masterclasses, pitch workshops, industry panels and one-to-one meetings to help them pitch their local story that can reach a global audience.”
A masterclass in wildlife filmmaking will bring together production companies and cinematographers who are using emerging technologies to stunning effect when capturing creatures and landscapes of the Far North.
Richard Fitzpatrick of leading aquatic production company Biopixel, will join Cairns-born Phil Breslin who is the host of factual documentary First Weapons, now showing on SBS, and Dr Teresa Carrette of Scientific Synergy, to talk about new ways of capturing the unique natural landscapes of the region.
“I’m involved in a session to show how we make natural history documentaries … we will all be on stage discussing the pros, the cons, the joys of making natural history documentaries,” Mr Fitzpatrick said.
“Being in Far North Queensland we have a number of world heritage areas on our doorstep, we have the rainforest and we can head up to the Tablelands and head out west to the savannah, so it’s the diversity of habitats and the animals as well.”
First Weapons host Mr Breslin also joins the special panel aimed at celebrating the First Nations storytellers.
“There’s so much happening in First Nations storytelling and I’m looking forward to an incredible array of talent,” Ms Gadd said.
In an update from the state government, a spokesman said works to complete the $12.6m Screen Queensland studio at the former Portsmith Bunnings site are progressing well.
Tickets to the Regionality Cairns event this Friday cost $80 and are available from the AIDC website.
Originally published as Screen event offers foot in the door for Far North filmmakers
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