AFFIF Slate

Established in July 2003, the Adelaide Film Festival Investment Fund [AFFIF] is an initiative by the Premier of South Australia, the Hon Mike Rann. The AFFIF gives the Adelaide Film Festival a unique position in Australia's festival calendar. The Festival not only showcases the best of international screen culture but also commission's new and innovative Australian works, which will premiere at the biennial Festival.

Projects to receive funding through AFFIF, and to subsequently premiere at the 2005 and 2007 Adelaide Film Festivals were:

AFFIF 2007 Slate

Features

Boxing Day

Director/ Co-writer/ DOP: Kriv Stenders Producer: Kristian Moliere
Co-writer/ Lead Actor: Richard Green
82 mins Digi beta

Boxing Day is the story of a father's impassioned struggle to reunite his estranged family over the course of a single afternoon. Living alone on home detention, Chris Sykes is preparing a Christmas lunch for his teenage daughter, when an old friend turns up at his doorstep and exposes the disturbing truth about his ex-wife's new boyfriend. The film unfolds in real time, documenting in authentic, painstaking detail, the harrowing journey of a divided family on the verge of disintegration. As the situation slowly and inevitably escalates we are drawn into the compelling story of a father who finally exposes the dark and brutal secret that has torn his family apart.

Investor: Adelaide Film Festival

Festivals
Adelaide FF; Sydney FF; Dungog FF; REVelation FF; Australia- Israel Cultural Exchange (AICE) (Israel); Brisbane FF 2007; Melbourne FF 2007; Pusan FF 07; Festival du Cinema Nouveau (Montreal) 07; London Australian F F; OzFlix Australian Film Weekend (Toronto & Vancouver) 08; New Zealand Film Festival's 2008; World Cinema Showcase 08; Bradford International Film Festival, UK 2008; Eilat International Film Festival, Israel 2008; Bucharest Film Festival, 2008; IndieLisboa Film Festival, Portugal 2008; Festival de Cinema des 3 Ameriques, Canada 2008; Wisconsin Film Festival, USA 2008; Berkshire International Film Festival, USA 2008

Awards
Winner- Best Actor- Festival du Nouveau Cinema 07(Montreal) (Richard Green)
Special Jury Mention- Festival du Nouveau Cinema (Montreal)
Winner- Kriv Stenders- Australian Directors Guild / Directors Guild of America Finders Screening Award
Nominated for FIPRESCI Award - Brisbane FF
Nominated- Best Director- If Awards 07
Nominated- Best Actor- If Awards 07
Runner up in SPAA's inaugural SPAAtan Award for Best Australian Digital Feature.

Lucky Miles

Director/ Co-writer: Michael James Rowland Co-writer: Helen Barnes
Producers: Jo Dyer & Lesley Dyer Executive Producer: Michael Bourchier
105 min 35mm
Starring: Rodney Afif, Srisacd Sacdpraseuth, Sawung Jabo, Arif HIdayat

It's 1990 and an Indonesian fishing boat abandons Iraqi and Cambodian refugees in a remote part of Western Australia. Whilst most are quickly caught by officials, three men with nothing in common but their misfortune and determination escape arrest and begin their epic but confused journey into the heart of the Australia. Pursued by an army reservist unit more interested in catching fish, our three heroes wander deeper into the desert, desperately searching for a Western-style democracy amongst the stones of the Pilbara. Or at least a bus to Perth.

Co-Investors: Film Finance Corporation, SA Film Corporation, Adelaide Film Festival, Private
Australian Distribution Company - Dendy Films

Festivals
Opening Night film- Adelaide FF 2007; Sydney FF 2007; Karlovy Vary FF 07(In Competition); Australia- Israel Cultural Exchange Australian FF 2007 (Israel); Saint-Tropez Antipodes FF; Pacific Meridian FF 07; Middle East FF 07 (Vladivostok); London Australian FF 08

Awards
Winner- Audience Award – Sydney FF 2007
Winner- Special Jury Prize- Karlovy Vary FF 07
Winner- Black Pearl Jury Prize –Middle East FF
Winner- Best Script- Pacific Meridian FF (Vladivostok)
Winner- Best Film -Saint-Tropez Antipodes FF
Co-winner- Best Film-3rd Asian Festival of 1st Films 07
Nominated- Best Film - If Awards
Nominated- Best Cinematography-If Awards
Nominated- Best Screenplay- If Awards
Nominated- Best Editing- If Awards
Nominated- Best Production Design- If Awards
Nominated- Best Film- AFI Awards
Nominated- Best Screenplay- AFI Awards

Dr Plonk

Director/ producer/ writer: Rolf de Heer and producer Julie Ryan
83 mins 35mm
Cast: Nigel Lunghi ("Mr Spin"), Paul Blackwell, Magda Szubanski

DR PLONK is a black and white, silent comedy feature in the style of the old silent comedies but with substantial contemporary relevance. Accompanied by a music score written specifically for the film (and able to be performed live if required), Dr Plonk features many of the elements of the old silent - slapstick, thrills and spills, romance, action and, above all, laughs... But the story will link the silent comedy world of the past, and the innocence it represents, into today's darker times, holding a mirror to aspects of our society with unexpected and humorous result.”

Co-Investors: Film Finance Corporation, Adelaide Film Festival, SA Film Corporation, Fandango Australia Australian Distribution Company - Palace Films

Adelaide FF 2007- Closing Night film
Brisbane FF 07; Toronto FF 07; Goteburg FF 08:

The Home Song Stories

Director/ Writer: Tony Ayres Producers: Michael McMahon & Liz Watts
Executive Producers: Wouter Barendrecht, Michael J. Werner, Daniel Yun, Liz Koops
105 mins 35mm
Starring: Joan Chen, Qi Yuwu, Joel Lok, Irene Chen, Steven Vidler and Kerry Walker

The Home Song Stories is the story of Rose, a glamorous Shanghai nightclub singer, and her struggle to survive in Australia with her two young children. Based on a true story, this is an epic tale of mothers and sons, mothers and daughters, unrequited love, betrayal and hidden secrets that span continents and decades.

Investors: Film Finance Corporation, Film Victoria, MediaCorp Raintree Pictures, SBS Independent, Private
*Please note AFF investment is a marketing investment
Australian Distribution Company - Dendy Films

Festivals
World Premiere 2007 - Official Selection 2007 Berlin FF 07
Adelaide FF 2007- in Competition
Sydney FF 2007; The Longest Night Festival, Hobart 2007 - Opening Film
Melbourne FF 2007; Toronto FF 2007; Brisbane FF 07; Golden Horse (Taiwan) FF 07; Hawaii FF; International Eurasia FF 07 (Turkey); Edinburgh 2007; Toronto FF 2007; Vancouver FF 2007; Torino FF 07; London Australian FF 08

Awards – 31 national and international nominations or wins
NSW Premier’s Literary Prize 2007 - Winner of the Script Writing Award
Winner- AWGIE award in the Original Feature Film category (2007)
Winner- FIPRESCI Award, Best Asia Pacific Film, Brisbane 07
Winner- Best Original Screenplay - Golden Horse Film Awards (Taiwan)
Winner- Best Actress- Golden Horse Film Awards (Taiwan)
Winner Best Director – If Awards 07
Winner- Best Direction- AFI Awards
Best Lead Actress-- AFI Awards
Best Cinematography- AFI Awards (Nigel Bluck)
Best Editing- AFI Awards (Denise Haratzis)
Best Original Music Score- AFI Awards (Anthony Partos)
Best Costume Design- AFI Awards (Cappi Ireland)
Best Production Design- AFI Awards (Melinda Doring)
Winner- Best Actor (Joel Lok)- If Awards
Winner- Best Actress (Joan Chen)- If Awards
Winner- Best Production Design (Melinda Doring)- If Awards
Winner- Achievement in Acting (Joan Chen) Louis Vuitton Hawaii FF
Winner-Best Feature Film- Hawaii FF
Winner- Best Actress (Joan Chen) - Turino FF
Winner- Best Actress- Film Critics Circle of Aust
Winner- Best Screenplay- Film Critics Circle of Aust

Nominated
Best Film - If Awards
Best Film - AFI Awards
Best Screenplay (Original or Adapted)- AFI Award
Best Sound- AFI Awards
Best Lead Actor - AFI Awards
Young Actor Award- AFI Awards
Best Supporting Actress - AFI Awards
Best Music- If Awards
Best Cinematography- If Awards
Best Film- Golden Horse Film Awards (Taiwan)
Best Performance by Actress- Asia Pacific Screen Awards
Competition selection- International Eurasia FF 07 (Turkey)
Competition selection- Torino FF
Australia’s official entry into the Foreign Oscar Category for the 2008 Academy Awards

Forbidden Lie$

Director/ producer/ writer: Anna Broinowski and producer Sally Regan, Liberty Productions
100 min feature documentary Digibeta

In July 2004, Norma Khouri, best-selling author of Forbidden Love, was exposed as a fake. She's won fame and fortune as a Jordanian virgin with a fatwah on her head for her campaign against honour killings. But she was really Norma Bagain, an alleged Chicago con artist on the run from the FBI for one million dollars of fraud. Spinning murder, greed and literary scandal into a web that entangles us all, FORBIDDEN LIE$ is a real-life thriller for our time.

Co-Investors: Film Finance Corporation, Adelaide Film Festival, SA Film Corporation, New South Wales Film and Television Office Australian Distribution Company - Palace Films

Festivals
Adelaide FF 2007; HOTDOCS Festival 2007(Canada)
Melbourne FF 2007; Vancouver FF 07; Sheffield Documentary FF 07; London Australian FF 08

Awards
HOTDOCS Festival 2007(Canada) Voted in Top 5 for Audience Award
Winner- CULT Prize for Best Documentary - Rome FF 07
Winner- Best Documentary- 2007 AFI Awards
Winner- Best Editing in a Documentary- AFI Awards- (Vanessa Milton & Alison Croft)
Winner- Best Documentary- Film Critics Circle of Aust
Winner- Best Documentary – Australian Film Critics Association
Winner- Golden Award –Aljazeera Documentary Film Festival (Qatar)
Winner -Special Jury Prize in the San Francisco International Film Festival
Winner- NSW Premier’s Script Writing Award 2008

Kalaupapa - Heaven

Director Paul Cox and producer Mark Patterson
90 min feature documentary Digibeta

This project developed out of the relationships established between filmmakers and the community in 1998 during the filming of Paul Cox's Molokai. 20 minutes by plane from modern Honolulu is Kalaupapa, a peninsula on the island of Molokai. With its swaying palms, unspoiled beaches and stunning mountains this is a paradise on earth, with a history from hell. Kalaupapa is a leper colony. In 1998 Paul Cox was permitted by the patients to make a biopic of their hero Father Damien. Now he has been invited to return to the island and make a documentary focusing on the last remaining leprosy patients of the island. Using interviews, home movies, photographs and music, this is a film about survival and the celebration of life in the face of adversity.

Co-Investors: Adelaide Film Festival, SA Film Corporation

Festivals
Adelaide FF 2007; Melbourne FF 2007; Louis Vuitton Hawaii FF 07; London Australian FF 08

Awards
Special Mention- Louis Vuitton Hawaii FF 07

Words from The City

Writer/Directors: Natasha Gadd & Rhys Graham and Producer : Philippa Campey
85 mins feature documentary Digibeta
Featured artists include: Hilltop Hoods, TZU, MC Trey, Wire My Cuz, Downsyde.

Words from the City is a feature documentary exploring Australian hip hop through intimate and candid observations of some of the nation's most potent and compelling artists. Focusing on several diverse characters from around Australia, including the Hilltop Hoods, Downsyde, TZU, Trey and Wire My Cuz, Words From the City follows the daily lives of these artists across one long hot summer, as they cement their positions at the vanguard of Australian hip hop, a movement that's exploding onto the musical landscape as one of our most powerful and energetic creative forms.

Co-Investors: Australian Film Commission, Film Victoria, Adelaide Film Festival
Australian Distribution Company - Madman

Festivals
Adelaide FF 2007 ; Sydney FF 2007; REVelation FF 2007; Brisbane FF 2007; Melbourne FF 07; Calgary FF 07

Awards
Nominated - Best Documentary- 2007 AFI Awards
Nominated- Best Direction in a Documentary –AFI Awards
Nominated -Best Cinematography in a Documentary – AFI Awards
Nominated -Best Editing in a Documentary – Paul Williams AFI Awards
Nominated Best Sound in a Documentary – Pete Smith & Emma Bortignon AFI Awards

Short Films

Crocodile Dreaming

Writer/ Director: Darlene Johnson and Producer: Sue Milliken
25 mins 35 mm
Key cast: David Gulpilil, Tom E. Lewis -

Crocodile Dreaming is the story of two estranged half-brothers, Burrimmilla and Charlie, who must struggle against their own jealousy and distrust for each other. When there is a violent death in the community upsetting the spiritual world, Burrimmilla is unexpectedly called upon to fulfill an ancient tribal obligation. As a result he embarks on a journey to find the sacred stone which holds the power of his mother's dreaming. If he finds the stone, he must return it to its secret belonging place.

Co-Investors: Australian Film Commission, SBS Independent, NSW FTO, Adelaide Film Festival, National Geographic "All Roads" Film Project

Festivals
Adelaide FF 2007;
Message Sticks Film Festival 2007 – Opening Night film
National Geographic All Roads Film Festival 2007 (USA); Melbourne FF 2007

Awards
Winner- Best Short Film - National Geographic All Roads Film Festival 2007
Nominated- Best Short Film- If Awards

Sweet & Sour

Director/ Writer: Eddie White Producer: Sam White
10 mins animation Digibeta

Sweet & Sour is a co-production between the talented South Australian based The People's Republic of Animation and the world renowned Shanghai Animation Film Studio [SAFS] and Reckless Moments. It is a warmly comic fable exploring issues of identity and culture through the eyes of Errol, a mongrel dog. Sweet and Sour is only the 2nd short film co-production SAFS has undertaken and the first with an Australian studio, the PRA.

Co-Investors: Shanghai Animation Film Studio, SA Film Corporation, Adelaide Film Festival & Idrawf

Festivals
Adelaide FF 2007; Sydney FF 2007
St Kilda FF 2007; Edinburgh FF 2007; L.A Shorts Festival (USA)
Sapporo Shorts Festival (Japan)

Awards
Winner- Yoram Gross Animation Award, Sydney FF 2007
Nominated- Best Animation- If Awards

SWING

Director Christopher Houghton and producer Louise Pascale 25 mins
Cast: Chris Haywood, Giang Le Huy

Swing was written by SA based writer Cath Moore [winner of AFF's 2005 InSite competition]. It explores the experience of an adolescent girl - born in Australia but of Vietnamese heritage -struggling to find her identity as she inhabits two different cultures. It has a truthfulness that comes from the writer's own experience as an Australian with Irish & West Indian heritage. It's an intriguing and intimate portrait of adolescent s in contemporary Australia.

Co-Investors: SA Film Corporation, Adelaide Film Festival

Festivals
Adelaide FF 2007; Sydney FF 2007; St Kilda FF 2007; Short Films Today (New York); Libertas FF 08 (Croatia)

Awards
Winner - Best Short Film at St Kilda Sydney Film Festival.
Nominated: Best Short Film - 2007 AFI Awards

SPIKE UP

Writer/Director Anthony Maras and producer Kent Smith 30 mins

A confronting, character-driven story exploring themes of family, friendship, sin and redemption. The story is told through the eyes of Steve, a well meaning but volatile suburban cop, who undergoes a crisis of conscience throughout an agonising night spent with his drug-addict cop buddy, Tolly

Co-Investors: Australian Film Commission, Adelaide Film Festival

Festivals
Adelaide FF 2007; Rotterdam 08; Austin 07; Santa Barbara 08; Flickerferst 08; Bilbao International Short Film Festival 07

Awards
Winner- Best Short Fiction Film – 2007 AFI Awards
Winner- Australian Cinematographers Society Awards - Gold Award
Nominated- Best Short Film- ATOM Awards
Nominated- Best Short Film- Australian Directors Guild Award
Finalist -Austin Film Festival - Best Short Film

WHAT THE FUTURE SOUNDED LIKE

Director Matthew Bate and producer Claire Harris; Executive producer Ian Collie
26 mins; documentary

Explores the life of South Australian based composer and innovator Tristram Cary, whose ground breaking work in the field of electronic and electro-acoustic composition and TV scores ( including Dr Who) has had a major influence on contemporary music around the globe.

Co-Investors: Australian Film Commission, SA Film Corporation, Adelaide Film Festival

AFFIF 2005 Slate

The total projected economic impact in SA for the 2005 slate through these productions is over $5.9 million.

Speaking of the AFFIF, producer Bridget Ikin said, ‘Within the Australian context, it's a unique cultural intervention; the board's desire to take risks and to support innovation is very welcome. The investment - and enthusiastic support - from the AFFIF for Look Both Ways made it possible to make the film.'

In 2006 AFFIF invested in feature film Ten Canoes, directed by Rolf de Heer and Peter Djiggir, and written by de Heer and the people of Ramingining, Arnhem Land. The world premiere was held during the 2006 Telstra Adelaide Festival of Arts.

Features

Look Both Ways

Writer/Director Sarah Watt and producer Bridget Ikin 90 mins 35mm

The first feature to be funded through AFFIF, Look Both Ways follows four people over one weekend, as they each grapple with messy, unexpected, life-changing news. They wonder whether the hand that fate has dealt them is deserved, whether they have an entitlement to happiness.

Co-Investors: Film Finance Corporation, Hibiscus Films, Adelaide Film Festival, SA Film Corporation, Film Victoria, SBSi, Private Investors

Festivals
Adelaide FF 2007; Sydney FF 2007
Berkshire International FF 2007 (USA); Melbourne FF 07
Sheffield Doc/Fest 07; Global Doc Days Austin Texas 08

Awards
Queensland Literary Awards - 2004 Best Film Script
Discovery Award: Toronto Film Festival, 2005
FIPRESCI Award, Brisbane film Festival, 2005

4 AFI Awards, 2005:
Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor (Tony Hayes)

5 Film Critics Circle awards, 2005:
Best Film, Director, Actor (William McInnes), Screenplay, Editing

3 IF Awards, 2005: Best Director, Screenplay, Editing

Winner: Audience Award: Adelaide Film Festival, 2005
Audience Award: Brisbane Film Festival, 2005
Audience Award: Australian Film Festival, London 2006
Audience Award: International Women's Film Festival Dortmund in Cologne 2006

Best Screenplay: Mar del Plata Film Festival, 2006
Best Actress (Justine Clarke): Mar del Plata Film Festival, 2006

Critics Award: Rotterdam Film Festival 2006

Critics Award: NatFilm Festival (Denmark) 2006

Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature: San Francisco Film Festival 2006

Best Actress (Justine Clarke): Vladivostock Film Festival, 2006

Nominated
European Film Academy: Non-European Film Award category

Ten Canoes

Shot on the extraordinary Arafura Swamp in north- eastern Arnhem Land, Ten Canoes is the first Australian feature film to be made in Indigenous language. Ten Canoes is set in the distant past, tribal times. Dayindi covets one of the wives of his older brother. To teach him the proper way, he is told a story from the mythical past, a story of wrong love, kidnapping, sorcery, bungling, mayhem and revenge gone wrong.

Director Rolf de Heer, co- rirector: Peter Djiggirr and produced by Julie Ryan 90 mins

Co-Investors: SA Film Corporation, Adelaide Film Festival

Awards
Awarded Special Jury Prize by the Un Certain Regard Jury, Cannes 2006

Best Film, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Editing and Best Sound - AFI Awards 2006

Best Film, Best Editing (Tania Nehme) & shared award for Best Cinematography (Ian Jones) with Jindabyne (David Williamson) - Film Critics Circle of Australia

Winner grand prize: Cinema des Antipodes, France, October 2006

Winner grand prize: Flanders International Film Festival 2006

Nominated as Australia's entry to 2006 Academy Awards for Best Foreign Film

Nominated Best Feature, Director, Actor, Cinematography, Script, Sound for IF Awards 2006

Nominated Best Film, Best Direction, Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Sound, Best Production Design, AFI Awards 2006

2006 Film of the Year - Australian Catholic Film Office

Selected as Opening Night film, 2006 Sydney Film Festival

Winner Queensland Premier's Literary Award for best screenplay

Winner NSW Premier $15,000 Audio Visual History Prize 2006

Nominated Film Critics Circle Awards 2006 for Best Film, Director, Original Screenplay, Cinematography and Editing

Documentary Features

I told you I was Ill: Spike Milligan

Writer/director and producer Cathy Henkel and co-producer Jeff Canin 90 mins - feature documentary

This is an intimate and deeply personal portrait of Spike Milligan through the eyes of his brother Desmond, his daughters Jane and Laura, and his third wife Shelagh. Through their eyes we see Spike as a father, a big brother, a deeply troubled and difficult husband and a man who trod the thin line between genius and debilitating depression.

Co-Investors: Film Finance Corporation, ABC TV, SA Film Corporation, Adelaide Film Festival

Nominated for an international award: the DVDA Brilliance Award.

Cross - Platform

usmob.com.au

Director David Vadiveloo, producer Heather Croall and executive produced by the Tangentyerre Council.

A multi platform project [ www.usmob.com.au], , shot in and around Alice Springs with an all indigenous cast UsMob.com.au is an immersive interactive series that transports young viewers from around Australia and the globe to the little known world of the Hidden Valley. Set in the central deserts of Australia, UsMob.com.au focuses on teenagers Barney and Jacquita and their Aboriginal bush community friends encountering the extraordinary challenges, exciting cultural experiences and dramatic external forces that shape their lives in the Town Camps of Alice Springs.

Co-Investors: SA Film Corporation, Adelaide Film Festival

Short films

Nascent

Writer/director and producer Gina Czarnecki with Australian Dance Theatre -10 mins - experimental short

A hybrid form existing between visual art, experimental media, technology and dance - inspired by human machinations - biological, psychological and mechanical - a collaborative combination of live performance and the recorded mediums.

Awards
Winner- Best Dance Film at the ReelDance Awards for Australia and New Zealand.

Winner- Australian Dance Awards Award for Dance on Film (Garry Stewart -choreographer and Gina Czarnecki - director)

Delegates' Choice - dance screen Brighton 2005

Napolidanza Videodance Festival May 2005 Special mention

Azadi

Writer/director Anthony Maras and producer Scott McDonald 15 mins - short drama 35mm

Azadi tells the story of an Afghani family who fled their strife-torn homeland to find a safer life but once they reached Australia seeking asylum they were not recognised by the authorities as genuine refugees. Following Australian law, they were detained and imprisoned in the South Australian desert at Woomera.

Co-Investors: Australian Film Commission, Adelaide Film Festival, Private Investors

Awards
Nominated AFI Awards Best Short Film

Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films
"Critics and Audience Choice" commendation

Aust Cinematograpers Awards- 2005 Gold Award

Nominated -ATOM Awards 2005 Best Short Film

Austin Film Festival Best Short Film - Finalist

Finalist - Dendy Awards - Sydney Film Festival 2005

Official Selection - Adelaide Film Festival; Valladolid; Sao Paulo; Florida; Sydney; Fort Lauderdale ;Foyle Film Festival; Los Angeles International Short Film Festival; Athens; Vermont International Film Festival; Drama; Tiburon International Film Festival; Bermuda International Film Festivals; Hamptons International Film Festival

Fritz Gets Rich

Written and directed by the People's Republic of Animation (PRA) 7 mins - animation

Fritz Gets Rich is a darkly comic animated fable warning of the dangers of spiralling entrepreneurial greed. When Fritz's tooth falls out a "magical" trade takes place with the Tooth Fairy. Fritz wakes up to find a shiny new one-dollar coin under his pillow. Fritz's first encounter with money ignites his six-year old entrepreneurial spirit and from that moment on everything changes.

Co-Investors: Adelaide Film Festival, SA Film Corporation

Awards
Nominated for Best Animation, AFI Award 2006

Bradford Animation Festival (UK) 2005 winner - Best Film for Children

ZOOM! Awards - Australia -2005 Winner - Best Animation

Annecy 2005 Animated Film Festival - France - June 2005

Official Short Film Panorama - Non-competitive

Snowyfest Film Festival - Australia - June 2005

Official Selection and Finalist - Best Film