It’s the 40th anniversary of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras in 2018, if you can believe it! Screen Australia and ABC TV Arts have announced LOVE BITES, a brand new documentary initiative for LGBTQI filmmakers. Create NSW and SBS have also announced they will fund up to six short films in the lead up to Mardi Gras as part of Create NSW’s annual Generator: Emerging Filmmakers Fund.
Each of the ‘Bites will be a series of 10 x 5 minute documentary short films made by filmmakers from the LGBTQI community across Australia.
The content and tone, and even the interpretation of what they mean by ‘documentary,’ will be entirely up to the creator. ABC Arts will assess the entries and screen a curated selection that will premiere on the ABC Arts channel on iView during Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras in March 2018.
“Last year’s milestone study Seeing Ourselves showed that we need to see Australians from all parts of our community both on screen and behind the camera,” said Liz Stevens, Senior Manager of Documentary at Screen Australia. “Our documentary unit is proud to partner with ABC TV Arts to offer LGBTQI filmmakers an opportunity to create short-form content for a premier online platform and work with a major Australian broadcaster.”
ABC TV and Screen Australia will commit a total of $100,000 to this initiative, offering 10 filmmakers $10,000 each to make the short film for delivery in January 2018. Each team will be supported by a Screen Australia Investment Manager and an ABC Digital Arts Commissioning Editor.
LOVE BITES is now open for submissions and will close at 11pm Sunday 6 August 2017. To read the guidelines and for more information on how to apply, visit their website.
For the Create NSW and SBS process, applications are sought for projects that explore LGBTIQ themes and issues, appealing to a wide audience, with at least one key creative on the project identifying as LGBTIQ.
Successful applicants will receive $30,000 in production funding to realise their ambition; $15,000 from Create NSW and a $15,000 licence fee from SBS.
The fund is open to drama, factual, animation or experimental projects of up to 15 minutes duration, and must be made entirely in NSW.
Producers will need to raise any additional finance they require. The initiative is part of Create NSW and SBS’s commitment to promoting greater diversity in the screen industry and providing opportunities which support increased participation from people from under-represented groups.
Applications open Tuesday June 23 and close Sunday 13 August. Projects need to be close to being production-ready at the time of application and be capable of being delivered no later than by 29 January 2018.
For guidelines and applications: http://bit.ly/2tAy9dB
