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Member LoginNorthern Territory Committee now stretches across 2000km!
September 2006
Following this year’s AGM, the NT committee now has representation from Ayers Rock to Darwin. And free video conferencing using laptops with broadband is how they plan to keep in touch.
Membership increase
Membership has increased 10-fold since the formation of the NT branch in February 2005, despite the unusually high turnover of the NT population. And it’s still rising.
Films play major role in success of Alice Desert Festival, September 2006
In a program coordinated by the ACS NT, films and television programmes created in the Territory
played, for the first time, a major part in the success of the Alice Desert Festival.
“The film events were the highlight of this year’s Festival,” said one Alice Springs resident at the conclusion of this year’s successful Cinema in the River. Destined to become a feature of the Alice Springs calendar, the Australian Cinematographers Society’s “Cinema in the River” – the Territory’s own Film Festival – drew crowds of 550, despite the cold easterly winds.
Most stayed throughout the evening, some well-prepared with their own swags laid out on the banks of the Todd River, to see a diverse programme of Territory films that included:
- Chris Tangey’s latest music videos that have hit the country charts;
- Dave Nixon and Shane Mulcahy’s images from around the Centre;
- Short films from several Darwin film-makers;
- Two of CAAMA’s award-winning productions, including “Green Bush”, the delightful story of a DJ on an aboriginal community; and
- A preview of David Curl’s latest film “From Ayers Rock to Uluru”, which tells the story of our most famous national park 20 years on from “Handback” – a film that will, next year, promote the region to 100 million potential tourists around the globe.
The program also included short films from up-and-coming Territory film-makers, with the moving story of “Alex”, a young boy with cancer, by Tyronne Swift, and “Swing Time”, a day in the life of a swing, by Biddy O’Loughlin. For the Cinema in the River, a huge screen was suspended over the dry Todd River, and people sat in the river and on the banks to watch.
“This is the first year that film and TV have played a major part in the Alice Desert Festival,” said NT President of the ACS, David Curl. “And given the enormous popularity of our events so far, this looks like a tradition that’s here to stay.”
Nearly 1000 people came to the various film-related events at this year’s Festival, which also included a talk and workshop by Ten Canoes cinematographer Ian Jones, an evening with acclaimed screenwriters John Romeril (One Night the Moon) and Andrew Bovell (Lantana, Strictly Ballroom), as well as the Outback Youth Film Festival.
This program of events was created by the ACS NT, NT Writers, and the Outback Youth Film Festival in association with the Alice Desert Festival, and with support from the NT Film Office and all the film-makers who contributed their work.
For further information, contact: Elke Deppner, ACS NT Tel/fax: 1800 000 432