Dungog Film Festival
Encyclopedia
The Dungog Film Festival is an annual event held in the Hunter Region town of Dungog
. Dungog Film Festival is a not for profit arts organisation that is dedicated to celebrating and promoting Australian screen industry. The festival is committed to education and nurturing the health of the Australian film and TV industry through a range of dynamic initiatives. Some proceeds of the festival have gone towards preserving the James Theatre. The festival aims to support the Australian Film and TV Industry in a non-competitive environment that exclusively showcases Australian screen content.
Dungog Film Festival showcases feature films, short films, television, documentaries, Australian classics and music videos. The festival also runs an extensive education program, including workshops, seminars, master classes with prominent directors, and the In The Raw script readings for television series, miniseries and feature films scripts. It is considered the biggest festival of Australian cinema in the world, as well as the largest short film festival in Australia. Screenings take place in local venues including the iconic James Theatre and the RSL auditorium. The 2010 festival attracted over 9,000 people and national media coverage including Sunrise
, NBN News and Network Ten
.
Over the years, film luminaries, emerging talent, actors, film buffs, students, industry executives, journalists and switched-on audiences have flocked to Dungog in increasing numbers. Film industry professionals have enjoyed the Festival because it offers a truly world-class festival experience with a laid-back vibe and intimate atmosphere, which promotes camaraderie away from the bustle of the city. Attendees love the Festival as it provides the opportunity to immerse in a cultural experience with the rare chance to meet and engage with filmmakers and celebrities.
, 76 km (47 mi) north of Newcastle
and 52 km (32 mi) north of Maitland
in the Hunter Region of New South Wales
. It is historically known for its timber, cattle and dairy produce and is also home to the James Theatre, the oldest still operating purpose-built cinema in Australia. Prior to white settlement the area was populated by the Gringai tribe, who called the region "Tunkok" or "Tungog", or "the place of thinly wooded hills" in the Awabakal dialect. The area is also renowned for its magnificent cedar trees, which were used in the construction of the Sydney Opera House
. Every year Dungog transforms during the film festival into a hub of film-makers and tourists.
(Xavier Samuel, Sophie Lowe, Bob Morley, Georgina Haig) screened at the 2010 Festival and was initially unable to obtain a theatrical release. However, due to the media coverage the festival was able to generate for the film, a distribution deal and funding were secured. In 2009 the Dungog campaign for Unfinished Sky
kicked off its national release. The film went on to earn the second highest box office result for an Australian film that year. The Jammed
, initially heading straight to DVD, was picked up for a theatrical release at 2007 festival by John L. Simpson
Producer and CEO of Titan View
. It went on to be a box office hit and won the IF Best Film and Screenplay Awards that year.
). Other programs are Speed Auditioning, Rural Schools Program and the Dungog Collection on iTunes. Dungog Film Festival's Rural School's program gives students in regional communities the opportunity to be mentored by industry professionals in screen arts. DFF has also run workshops on film editing, visual effects and postproduction run by volunteers from the University of Newcastle
. In 2010, Dungog Film Festival also partnered with Jennifer's Words and managed a mentoring program where students from Dungog High School scripted, filmed and edited an advertisement, which was screened at the closing night of the Festival.
This program allows writers, actors and producers to road test their work on a real audience before heading into produciton. Two screenplays previously read at "In the Raw" have gone into production: Pauline Chan’s Mei Mei (starring Claudia Karvan and Guy Pearce) and Julia Leigh’s Sleeping Beauty (starring Emily Browning, Michael Dorman and Ewen Leslie).
(The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Chopper
) and Jim Mcelroy (Picnic at Hanging Rock
, The Last Wave
, The Year of Living Dangerously
), directors Gillian Armstrong
(My Brilliant Career
, Little Women
), Ray Lawrence (Bliss
, Lantana
, Jindabyne) and Jeremy Sims
(Beneath Hill 60
) Bruce Beresford
(Breaker Morant
, Driving Miss Daisy
, Tender Mercies
, Mao's Last Dancer
) and Margaret Pomeranz
(ABC1's At The Movies). In 2008 the festival's "In The Raw" program also showcased two feature film scripts which have since gone into production: Sleeping Beauty, starring Emily Browning
and Michael Dorman
, and Mei Mei, starring Guy Pearce
and Claudia Karvan
.
Dungog, New South Wales
Dungog is a country town on the Williams River in the upper Hunter Valley in New South Wales, Australia. Located in the middle of dairy and timber country, it is the centre of the Dungog Shire Local Government Area and at the 2006 census it had a population of 2,102 people. The area includes the...
. Dungog Film Festival is a not for profit arts organisation that is dedicated to celebrating and promoting Australian screen industry. The festival is committed to education and nurturing the health of the Australian film and TV industry through a range of dynamic initiatives. Some proceeds of the festival have gone towards preserving the James Theatre. The festival aims to support the Australian Film and TV Industry in a non-competitive environment that exclusively showcases Australian screen content.
Dungog Film Festival showcases feature films, short films, television, documentaries, Australian classics and music videos. The festival also runs an extensive education program, including workshops, seminars, master classes with prominent directors, and the In The Raw script readings for television series, miniseries and feature films scripts. It is considered the biggest festival of Australian cinema in the world, as well as the largest short film festival in Australia. Screenings take place in local venues including the iconic James Theatre and the RSL auditorium. The 2010 festival attracted over 9,000 people and national media coverage including Sunrise
Sunrise (TV program)
Sunrise is an Australian breakfast television program, broadcast on the Seven Network. On weekdays the programme follows Seven Early News, and runs from 6am through to 9am.-History:...
, NBN News and Network Ten
Network Ten
Network Ten , is one of Australia's three major commercial television networks. Owned-and-operated stations can be found in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, while affiliates extend the network to cover most of the country...
.
Inception
The festival was established in 2007 by film-makers Allanah Zitserman (Festival Director) and Stavros Kazantzidis (Managing Director). Their aim was to foster a greater appreciation for Australian films among Australian audiences, strengthen bonds within the Australian film and television communities, and present a cultural experience in a distinctly Australian rural setting.Over the years, film luminaries, emerging talent, actors, film buffs, students, industry executives, journalists and switched-on audiences have flocked to Dungog in increasing numbers. Film industry professionals have enjoyed the Festival because it offers a truly world-class festival experience with a laid-back vibe and intimate atmosphere, which promotes camaraderie away from the bustle of the city. Attendees love the Festival as it provides the opportunity to immerse in a cultural experience with the rare chance to meet and engage with filmmakers and celebrities.
Dungog
Dungog is located 215 km (134 mi) north of SydneySydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, 76 km (47 mi) north of Newcastle
Newcastle, New South Wales
The Newcastle metropolitan area is the second most populated area in the Australian state of New South Wales and includes most of the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie Local Government Areas...
and 52 km (32 mi) north of Maitland
Maitland, New South Wales
Maitland is a city in the Lower Hunter Valley of New South Wales, Australia and the seat of Maitland City Council, situated on the Hunter River approximately by road north of Sydney and north-west of Newcastle...
in the Hunter Region of New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
. It is historically known for its timber, cattle and dairy produce and is also home to the James Theatre, the oldest still operating purpose-built cinema in Australia. Prior to white settlement the area was populated by the Gringai tribe, who called the region "Tunkok" or "Tungog", or "the place of thinly wooded hills" in the Awabakal dialect. The area is also renowned for its magnificent cedar trees, which were used in the construction of the Sydney Opera House
Sydney Opera House
The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in the Australian city of Sydney. It was conceived and largely built by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, finally opening in 1973 after a long gestation starting with his competition-winning design in 1957...
. Every year Dungog transforms during the film festival into a hub of film-makers and tourists.
James Theatre
The James Theatre is the oldest operating purpose-built cinema in Australia. Opened in 1913, the site was originally used as an open-air theatre. Under the control of James Stuart (hence the James Theatre) by 1914 it had been roofed and in 1930 it underwent extensive reconstruction, equipping it for talkies. It is believed that the Spanish-style façade, which gives the theatre its flair, was also added in the 1930s. In the 1980s the Dungog Shire Council acquired the building as a community centre and the cinema operation continued under the expert care of Ken Reeve, a regional cinema hero, until his retirement in 2007. The cinema is currently operated by the Hopson family.Raising awareness for Australian films
Media coverage of the festival generates important public relations for Australian films. Dungog Film Festival acts as a platform for these films to gain much-needed exposure in the market. Road TrainRoad Train (film)
Road Train is an Australian horror film, known as Road Kill in the U.S., directed by Dean Francis and written by Clive Hopkins. It stars Xavier Samuel, Bob Morley, Georgina Haig and Sophie Lowe.- Plot :...
(Xavier Samuel, Sophie Lowe, Bob Morley, Georgina Haig) screened at the 2010 Festival and was initially unable to obtain a theatrical release. However, due to the media coverage the festival was able to generate for the film, a distribution deal and funding were secured. In 2009 the Dungog campaign for Unfinished Sky
Unfinished Sky
Unfinished Sky is a 2007 drama film written and directed by Peter Duncan. It is based on the 1998 Dutch film De Poolse bruid.- Plot :...
kicked off its national release. The film went on to earn the second highest box office result for an Australian film that year. The Jammed
The Jammed
The Jammed is a 2007 thriller film written and directed by Dee McLachlan.The film is a story about human trafficking and the sex slave trade in Melbourne, and the search for three girls trapped by a trafficking syndicate...
, initially heading straight to DVD, was picked up for a theatrical release at 2007 festival by John L. Simpson
John L. Simpson
John L. Simpson is an Australian film and theatre producer, writer and distributor. He is the CEO and founder of Titan View...
Producer and CEO of Titan View
Titan View
Titan View is an Australian feature film distributor and production company, founded in July, 2007 by John L. Simpson, who is the current CEO of the company. Titan View is the 2010 recipient of the Innovative Distribution Funding from Screen Australia, and CEO John L. Simpson pioneered a 'do it...
. It went on to be a box office hit and won the IF Best Film and Screenplay Awards that year.
Education programs
The Dungog Film Festival's education programs include the Student Program, In The Raw - live script reads, Master Classes, Workshops, Seminars and Meet the Filmmaker sessions (in collaboration with iTunesITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
). Other programs are Speed Auditioning, Rural Schools Program and the Dungog Collection on iTunes. Dungog Film Festival's Rural School's program gives students in regional communities the opportunity to be mentored by industry professionals in screen arts. DFF has also run workshops on film editing, visual effects and postproduction run by volunteers from the University of Newcastle
University of Newcastle, Australia
The University of Newcastle is an Australian public university that was established in 1965. The University's main and largest campus is located in Callaghan, a suburb of Newcastle in New South Wales...
. In 2010, Dungog Film Festival also partnered with Jennifer's Words and managed a mentoring program where students from Dungog High School scripted, filmed and edited an advertisement, which was screened at the closing night of the Festival.
In the Raw
The festival's In the Raw script development program presents live script readings of some of Australia's most exciting new screenplays, read by professional actors. It offers a unique opportunity for audiences to witness first-hand the development of some of the most promising yet-to-be produced screenplays, as well as the chance to actively take part in a discussion regarding their development.This program allows writers, actors and producers to road test their work on a real audience before heading into produciton. Two screenplays previously read at "In the Raw" have gone into production: Pauline Chan’s Mei Mei (starring Claudia Karvan and Guy Pearce) and Julia Leigh’s Sleeping Beauty (starring Emily Browning, Michael Dorman and Ewen Leslie).
Speed auditioning
In its inaugural year, 2010, "Speed Auditioning" had an overwhelming response from young actors around Australia. This program offers budding talent the chance to get their name up in lights, in a "so you think you can act" competition. Actors brave a two minute, open, speedy audition, with only ten finalists invited to the festival to compete in the final round. At the festival, the finalists chose a genre and were given a scene to read to camera. They also performed the scene live for the judges. These included Jeremy Hartley Sims, Nadia Tass, Brendan Cowell, Rowan Woods, Denise Roberts, Cameron Daddo and CEO of Paramount Mike Selwyn. This program gives young actors an unparalleled chance to shine in front of the Australian film industry and a wide audience.Community involvement
Each year young people from the local community join up with the festival's volunteer program. During the 2010 festival over 150 community members aged from 16 to 75 participated in the program. Local businesses along the main street, Dowling Street, become involved in the festival's annual window competition. Retail businesses along the main street dresses their shop-front window to reflect an Australian film. Prizes are awarded to the most creative design. As well as working with students from the local high school on film-making workshops, Dungog Film Festival provides assistance to the Council run visitor information centre in order to deal with the increase of visitors during the festival.Notability of festivals
Dungog Film Festival has played host to a variety of film practitioners participating in the Festival's education programs. Producers Al ClarkAl Clark
Al Clark may refer to:*Al Clark , Academy Award for Best Film Editing-nominated film editor*Al Clark , former baseball umpire*Al Clark ,...
(The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Chopper
Chopper (film)
Chopper is a 2000 Australian film, written and directed by New Zealand film-maker Andrew Dominik and based on the semi-autobiographical books by Mark Brandon "Chopper" Read. The film stars Eric Bana as the title character, and co-stars Vince Colosimo, Simon Lyndon, Bill Young and David Field...
) and Jim Mcelroy (Picnic at Hanging Rock
Picnic at Hanging Rock
Picnic at Hanging Rock is a 1967 drama and mystery novel by Australian author Joan Lindsay. She wrote it over a four-week period at her home Mulberry Hill in Baxter, on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula. It was first published in 1967 in Australia by Cheshire Publishing and was released in...
, The Last Wave
The Last Wave
The Last Wave is a 1977 Australian film directed by Peter Weir. It is about a white Australian lawyer whose seemingly normal life is disrupted after he takes on a murder case for Aborigine defendants...
, The Year of Living Dangerously
The Year of Living Dangerously
The Year of Living Dangerously is a 1982 Peter Weir film adapted from the novel The Year of Living Dangerously by the author Christopher Koch. The story is about a love affair set in Indonesia during the overthrow of President Sukarno...
), directors Gillian Armstrong
Gillian Armstrong
Gillian May Armstrong is an award-winning Australian director of feature films and documentaries.- Career :Born in Melbourne, Victoria, Gillian Armstrong grew up in the eastern suburb of Mitcham. She graduated from Swinburne Technical College in 1968 where she studied theatrical costume design and...
(My Brilliant Career
My Brilliant Career
My Brilliant Career is a 1901 novel written by Miles Franklin.It is the first of many novels by Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin , one of the major Australian writers of her time. It was written while she was still a teenager, as a romance to amuse her friends...
, Little Women
Little Women
Little Women is a novel by American author Louisa May Alcott . The book was written and set in the Alcott family home, Orchard House, in Concord, Massachusetts. It was published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869...
), Ray Lawrence (Bliss
Bliss
Bliss can be a state of profound satisfaction, happiness and joy, a constant state of mind, undisturbed by gain or loss.The word can also refer to the following:-People:* Aaron T. Bliss , U.S...
, Lantana
Lantana
Lantana is a genus of about 150 species of perennial flowering plants in the verbena family, Verbenaceae. They are native to tropical regions of the Americas and Africa but exist as an introduced species in numerous areas, especially in the Australian-Pacific region. The genus includes both...
, Jindabyne) and Jeremy Sims
Jeremy Sims
-Personal life:He was educated at Wesley College, Perth, 1977–83. Sims was married to film director Samantha Lang. They have two daughters, Frederique and Evelyn Rose.-Career:...
(Beneath Hill 60
Beneath Hill 60
Beneath Hill 60 is a 2010 Australian war film directed by Jeremy Sims and written by David Roach.Set during World War I, the film tells the story of the 1st Australian Tunnelling Company’s effort to mine beneath a German bunker and detonate an explosive charge to aid the advance of British troops...
) Bruce Beresford
Bruce Beresford
Bruce Beresford is an Australian film director who has made more than 30 feature films over a 40-year career.-Early life:...
(Breaker Morant
Breaker Morant
Harry 'Breaker' Harbord Morant was an Anglo-Australian drover, horseman, poet, soldier and convicted war criminal whose skill with horses earned him the nickname "The Breaker"...
, Driving Miss Daisy
Driving Miss Daisy
Driving Miss Daisy is a 1989 American comedy-drama film adapted from the Alfred Uhry play of the same name. The film was directed by Bruce Beresford, with Morgan Freeman reprising his role as Hoke Colburn and Jessica Tandy playing Miss Daisy...
, Tender Mercies
Tender Mercies
Tender Mercies is a 1983 American drama film directed by Bruce Beresford. The screenplay by Horton Foote focuses on Mac Sledge, a recovering alcoholic country music singer who seeks to turn his life around through his relationship with a young widow and her son in rural Texas...
, Mao's Last Dancer
Mao's Last Dancer (film)
Mao's Last Dancer is a 2009 Australian biographical film, directed by Bruce Beresford, based on ballet dancer Li Cunxin's autobiography Mao's Last Dancer. Li Cunxin is portrayed by Birmingham Royal Ballet Principal Dancer Chi Cao , Australian Ballet dancer Chengwu Guo and Huang Wen Bin...
) and Margaret Pomeranz
Margaret Pomeranz
Margaret Pomeranz AM is an Australian film critic and television personality.-Early life:Pomeranz was born in 1944 in Waverley, a suburb of Sydney, and was educated at the Presbyterian Ladies' College, Sydney in Croydon, the then newly opened Macquarie University, and the Playwright's Studio at...
(ABC1's At The Movies). In 2008 the festival's "In The Raw" program also showcased two feature film scripts which have since gone into production: Sleeping Beauty, starring Emily Browning
Emily Browning
Emily Jane Browning is an Australian film actress and fashion model, known for her roles as Violet Baudelaire in Brad Silberling's 2004 film Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, as Anna Ivers in the 2009 film The Uninvited, as Babydoll in Zack Snyder's 2011 action thriller Sucker...
and Michael Dorman
Michael Dorman
Michael Dorman is a New Zealand actor based in Australia, best known for his work on the television series, The Secret Life of Us and his supporting work in such acclaimed films as Suburban Mayhem and West.-Filmography:...
, and Mei Mei, starring Guy Pearce
Guy Pearce
Guy Edward Pearce is an English-born Australian actor and musician, known for his roles as Leonard Shelby in Christopher Nolan's Memento, Lieutenant Ed Exley in L.A...
and Claudia Karvan
Claudia Karvan
Claudia Karvan is an Australian actress popular for her roles in the television series The Secret Life of Us and Love My Way. She is also a producer and writer on Love My Way. She currently stars in the drama series Spirited...
.
Growth of the festival
The 2010 Festival saw over 9,000 people attend over four days, an increase on the 2009 attendance figure of 6,500. The number of films screened during the festival increased from 57 films in 2007 to 164 films in 2010. The number of venues utilised by the Dungog Film Festival has also increased, and the reach of the Festival has broadened through partnerships with iTunes, AFTRS, NIDA, and Newcastle University.Directors
- Allanah Zitserman - Founder and Festival Director
- Stavros Kazantzidis - Founder and Managing Editor