SFF Industry Day Friday June 5
June 2nd 2009 00:32
In Conversation with Finola Dwyer
8.30-10am Yum Cha - Breakfast
Sky Phoenix Level 3 Sky Garden
77 Castlereagh Street Sydney
Finola Dwyer!s recent credits include:
SFF Closing Night film An Education (Producer) and Dean Spanley (Executive Producer).
Host: Megan Simpson Huberman
Co-production – What new partnerships & opportunities does the offset create? 10:30am Hilton Hotel Conference Room
Level 4 488 George Street Sydney
Jack Arbuthnott Development Editor, BBC Films (UK) Marian Macgowan Producer, co-productions include Death Defying Acts (Aust/UK)
Finola Dwyer Producer, co-productions include Dean Spanley (NZ/UK), Opal Dream (Aust/UK).
Host: Sally Browning
Investment Manager, Screen Australia
Case Study: Bright Star 12.00pm Hilton Hotel Conference Room
Producer Jan Chapman discusses deal structures, sales and marketing strategy and Bright Star!s journey to date.
12.45pm Networking Lunch
Light lunch provided
European Sales and Marketing Strategies – Who is buying? What is selling?
1.45pm Hilton Hotel Conference Room
Christophe Mercier Vice President, Fox Searchlight Europe,
Liz Watts Producer Animal Kingdom, The Home Song Stories, Little Fish,
Sue Murray Producer, and marketing and financing consultant for filmmarketing
Director, Creative Partnerships,
NSW Film & Television Office
Meet the creative forces behind SFF Official Competition films The Maid and Bronson 3.15pm Hilton Hotel Conference Room
Sebastian Silva - Director, The Maid
Brock Norman Brock - Writer, Bronson
Host: Clare Stewart
Festival Director, Sydney Film Festival.
NSW FTO Industry Reception and Disgrace premiere celebration 4.30 -6pm Arthouse Hotel
275 Pitt St, Sydney
Separate RSVP required
SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES
Jack Arbuthnott is a Development Editor at BBC Films, joining in Febuary 2008 from the UK Film Council where he worked as a Development Executive. He previously worked at New Line Cinema / Fine Line Features, and is a graduate of the UK's National Film & Television School and Oxford University.
Brock Norman Brock An award-winning screen writer Brock previously worked for the UK Film Council and was an executive for a number of films including Gosford Park, The Constant Gardener, Ladies in Lavender, The Proposition, Valiant, Vera Drake and The Importance of Being Earnest. His original screenplay Bronson premiered in the world cinema dramatic category at Sundance 2009, his writing collaborators have included Nick Cave and Bruce la Bruce, and his writing credits include Dogging: A Love Story, Guardian of the Frontier and Come as You Are.
Sally Browning is Investment Manager at Screen Australia and was formerly Investment Manager at the (former) Film Finance Corporation and Head of Development and Investment at NSW Film and Television Office. There, Sally designed and implemented the renowned Aurora script development program. Little Fish, Somersault and the upcoming films Accidents Happen, Prime Mover and Animal Kingdom have come out of Aurora. Sally is also a multi award-winning producer of international documentaries.
Jan Chapman AO is one of Australia!s most highly regarded producers. She has produced some of Australia's most critically successful and popular films - including AFI Best Film winner, Lantana directed by Ray Lawrence, Academy Award winner, The Piano directed by Jane Campion, and Camera d!Or winner Love Serenade directed by Shirley Barrett. Jan's most recent film, Bright Star, screened in Official Competition at this year!s Cannes Film Festival.
Finola Dwyer most recent production An Education, written by best-selling author and screenwriter Nick Hornby and directed by Lone Scherfig (Italian For Beginners; Wilbur Wants To Kill Himself) won the Audience Award at Sundance 2009 and is the 2009 Sydney Film Festival!s closing night film. Her producing credits include Iain Softley's Backbeat; Stephan Elliott's Welcome to Woop Woop; Chris Menges' The Lost Son, Sandra Goldbacher's Me Without You, Antonia Bird's The Hamburg Cell; and Stephen Woolley's Stoned. Finola produced the Golden Globe, EMMY-nominated and BAFTA-winning Tsunami: The Aftermath and Executive Produced Dean Spanley.
Ashley Luke is currently the Director, Creative Partnerships for the New South Wales Film and Television Office. Ashley has worked extensively in sales and acquisitions for variety of international companies including Fortissimo, Dendy Films, Channel Four TV and Jane Balfour Films.
Marian Macgowan has produced six feature films including the AFI Best Film winner, Two Hands written and directed by Gregor Jordan and starring Heath Ledger. Most recently she executive produced Ana Kokkinos! upcoming Blessed and produced Gillian Armstrong!s Death Defying Acts. She will produce South Solitary written and directed by Shirley Barrett with pre-production beginning in July 2009.
Christophe Mercier is the London-based Vice President for Fox Searchlight Europe. Previous to his tenure at Fox, Christophe headed the acquisition & distribution activities of Indie Circle; was the Vice President, Specialty Films at London-based Warner Bros. Pictures International; and was Manager of International Distribution at PolyGram becoming later UPI (Universal Pictures Intl) where he oversaw feature film distribution in more than 60 territories. He supervised the marketing strategies for films such as Billy Elliot to Notting Hill and Bridget Jones' Diary as well as US indies Being John Malkovich, The Big Lebowski & O Brother, Where Art Thou?.
Sue Murray is Executive Director of Fandango Australia, a production company set up in
February 2002 with Rolf de Heer, Richard Lowenstein, Domenico Procacci and Bryce
Menzies. At Fandango she has executive produced Dr Plonk (2007),Ten Canoes (2006), the
documentary The Balanda and the Bark Canoes (2006) and Tom White (2004) and co-
produced Alexandra!s Project (2003). She is also a marketing and financing consultant to a
range of film agencies and producers with the company filmmarketing, set up by Victoria
Treole.
Sebastian Silva Chilean director Sebastian Silva!s The Maid won the Grand Jury Prize in World Competition at this year!s Sundance Film Festival as well as the Best Actress Award for Catalina Saavedra. The Maid is Silva!s second feature as director (he is also a painter, musician and illustrator), and the first La Vida me mate (2007) attracted great critical attention in Chile and on the festival circuit.
Megan Simpson Huberman is the Director, Creative and Enterprise Development, at the NSW Film and Television Office. Megan has worked extensively in script and story for Screen Australia, the Australian Film Commission, The Australian Film Finance Corporation, the Pacific Film and Television Corporation, Screen Tasmania, and Screenwest, as well as
private companies. She helped create the AFC!s IndiVision initiative, and was the Director of
Screen Australia!s IndiVision Project Lab. She is the writer/director of Dating the Enemy,
starring Guy Pearce.
Clare Stewart
is Festival Director of Sydney Film Festival. She was previously the first Head
of Film Programs at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image and programmed for the
Australian Film Institute for five years and the Melbourne Cinémathèque for seven years. She
has lectured in Cinema Studies and worked as a broadcaster and critic. Clare was a past
recipient of the Queen's Trust Award for Young Australians.
Liz Watts is an independent producer and principal director of Porchlight Films based in
Sydney. Her credits include Tony Ayres! The Home Song Stories starring Joan Chen, Rowan
Woods Little Fish starring Cate Blanchett, Jewboy by Tony Krawitz and Walking on Water
starring Vince Colosimo. Her films have won numerous awards globally and screened in
prestigious festivals including Un Certain Regard in Cannes, Sundance, Berlin and Toronto.
The 56th Sydney Film Festival spools from Wednesday 3 June – Sunday 14 June 2009.
For more information visit www.sff.org
About Sydney Film Festival
Sydney Film Festival screens feature films, documentaries, short films and animations across the city at the State Theatre, GU George Street Cinemas, Dendy Opera Quays and the Art Gallery of NSW. The festival is a major event on the New South Wales cultural calendar and is one of the world!s longest running film festivals. In 2008, SFF introduced the Official Competition, a FIAPF-accredited competition for "new directions in film!, which rewards courageous and audacious filmmaking. The Official Competition is supported by Events NSW and the $60,000 cash prize is provided by Hunter Hall Investment Management. Celebrated Australian filmmaker Rolf de Heer heads up the 2009 jury of three international and two Australian industry figures.
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