More success for MRC filmmakers

South Australian filmmakers Maddie Parry and Daniel Joyce have been accepted into the Brisbane International Film Festival with their first film, Murder Mouth which has also been nominated for an IF award in the best short documentary category after being nominated for best documentary at the St Kilda Film Festival. Maddie also won emerging filmmaker of the year at this year’s South Australian Screen Awards.

SA emerging filmmakers Megan Huitema, Simon Williams and Brendan Skinner were also recently nominated for an IF award with their short film, Toot Toot. Toot Toot has also been shortlisted for Best Short Fiction at the ATOM Awards. Brendan Skinner’s script came second at the National Pitch Competition, receiving a special recommendation.

Members of the MRC, Maddie and Daniel made Murder Mouth through its Raw Nerve program, which supports filmmakers to make their first short film. MRC Manager of Production, Shane McNeil supervised the development of the project and encouraged them to approach John Saffran to be the project’s mentor. The eighteen minute short follows Madeleine as she tries to reconnect her food to where it comes from: if she can’t kill it, she won’t eat it.

Funded by Screen Australia, Raw Nerve supports aspiring filmmakers to make their first professional film with a budget and access to experienced industry mentors. In SA, it is part of the MRC’s structured production initiative program, which assists SA filmmakers to build a track record into the professional industry, allowing them to make up to five films through the MRC.

2008 graduates of the MRC’s Raw Nerve program, Bettina Hamilton and Dave Wade have recently been nominated for an Australia Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Award (formerly the AFIs) with their short film, Cropped. Other recent MRC filmmaker participants include Dario Russo and Dave Ashby, the team responsible for the SBS TV series, ‘Danger Five’ which will screen in January.

Filmmakers Cameron Edser and Michael Richard also had great success winning Runner Up at 2010 Tropfest with their MRC animation, My Neighbourhood Has Been Over Run by Baboons and in the same year Dimi Poulitis won the Tropfest Bright Spark Award with his MRC film, Moment of Grace.

Toot Toot filmmakers were located and mentored at the MRC for the duration of the production, as part of Megan Huitema’s South Australian Screen Awards’ prize as Emerging Producer of the Year. The MRC recently selected Brendan Skinner from the team to represent SA at the National Pitch competition at Metro Screen in Sydney, where the prize is to be Australia’s representative at the Beijing Emerging Filmmaker Workshop. The MRC and Metro Screen are their state’s member of Screen Development Australia, which provides Australia-wide development and production opportunities for emerging Australian filmmakers.

MRC Manager of Production Shane McNeil said “This is a fantastic result for the 2010 films produced through the MRC. This follows on from the recent international success of our Frame-by-Frame animations; Top Dog being accepted into the Palm Spring International Film Festival and Sumo Lake screening at the Seoul International Cartoon and Animation Festival and the San Francisco International Festival of Short Films.”

MRC Chairperson Sandy Cameron said “Emerging SA filmmakers engaging with the MRC’s production program are now having success on the international stage and we hope for similar results from the crop of the 20 or so films in production now at the MRC. This success stems from the fact that the MRC production team are all active and talented filmmakers themselves, with Shane McNeil being the team’s lynchpin.”