ABC TV and Screen Australia seek LGBTQI short films to celebrate Mardi Gras 40th anniversary
ABC PRESS RELEASE: ABC TV and Screen Australia announce LGBTQI iview initiative ‘Love Bites’
In celebration of the 40th Anniversary of Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras in 2018, Screen Australia and ABC TV Arts are pleased to announce Love Bites, a brand new documentary initiative for LGBTQI filmmakers.
Love Bites will be a series of 10 x 5 minute documentary short films made by filmmakers from the LGBTQI community across Australia. The successful projects will provide an accessible, engaging and entertaining insight into the lives and interests of the LGBTQI community.
The content, tone and style of the short films are entirely up to the creator, so all interpretations of the medium of documentary are encouraged. All proposals will be assessed against the ABC TV Arts vision statement ‘Where Life and Culture Collide’.
The curated series of documentary shorts under the banner Love Bites will premiere on the ABC Arts channel on iview during Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras in March 2018.
“ABC Arts on iview seeks to reflect the great diversity of stories and storytellers that exist across the country,” said Mandy Chang, Head of ABC TV Arts. “Love Bites is a great opportunity for us to work with LGBTQI filmmakers in a pan ABC celebration of the 40th anniversary of Mardi Gras.”
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.
“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.”
“Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras are delighted about the announcement of Love Bites, an initiative that will see 10 new LGBTQI short documentary films supported across Australia in celebration of the extraordinary 40 years of Mardi Gras,” said Terese Casu, CEO of Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. “We can’t wait to see what these diverse film makers will produce in support of the LGBTQI community in our big 40th year.”
Applicant teams must consist of at least a director and a producer, one of whom identifies as part of the LGBTQI community and one of whom has at least one screen credit in their respective roles on a project that has already been publicly released.
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, please click here.
