By Travis Johnson
Ozflix, Australia’s movie global streaming service, will present the inaugural Ozflix Independent Film Awards (the “Ozzies”) on Saturday, April 7, at The Alex Theatre, St Kilda, in Melbourne.
Ozflix is the naming sponsor of the awards, which will actually be run by The Australian Film Future Foundation Limited (AFFF Ltd.) a non-profit organization whose mandate is restore and digitise Australia’s lost films.
AFFF Ltd. Chairman Alan Finney co-founded Ozflix in 2015 with the organisation’s CEO, Ron Brown.
The Ozzies will celebrate and champion independent, low budget Australian film, with a budget ceiling of $5m on entries, and awards presented across the usual spectrum of categories: Best Film, Best Performance, Best Script, Best Cinematography and Best Production Design, to Best Costume Design, Best Sound, Best Editing, Best Visual Effects Best Score, etc.
This is in reaction to what has been perceived as smaller films effectively being shut out of the established awards, most notably the AACTAs, by the presence of big budget, prestigious projects, often at least partially fudned with overseas money.
As the Ozzies press release states, “Over the last decade, the financial divide between local features has increased significantly, resulting in the emergence of two distinct groups; those films with multi-million budgets that are in stark contrast to the majority of projects, which are produced for often less than $5 million.
“It is the former category that frequently reaps accolades and recognition at industry Award Ceremonies, to the detriment of features and documentaries produced with leaner resources.
“Ozflix believes that it is vital that Australia have an Awards event that recognises the important indie sector of our film industry and the sterling efforts of the many fine practitioners, from both sides of the camera, who work within.
“Therefore, the “Ozzies” will celebrate the outstanding accomplishments of production crew in tandem with their high-profile on-screen counterparts by honouring all at the one Awards Ceremony, rather than relegating the ‘foot soldiers’ to a separate, low-key event. The “Ozzies” will also concentrate on film, and not television.
As Ozflix Co-Founder Ron Brown noted, “We have created the Ozflix Independent Film Awards to recognize the great achievement of making a successful film for under $5 million as opposed to a budget in excess of $20 million. When you consider that 76% of all local features are produced for less than $6 million, we are long overdue in celebrating this consistently tenacious industry sector. Extracting a good result within the restraints of a tiny budget, rather than a large one, requires substantially more ingenuity, creativity and sheer commitment. Therefore, every achievement is that much greater.”
A Steering Committee that includes producer/director/writer Jocelyn Moorhouse, producer/distributor Tait Brady, producer/director/writer Enzo Tedeschi, director Beck Cole, writer/director Matthew Holmes, documentary writer/director Sally Aitken, actor/producer Rosie Lourde and Ozflix CEO Ron Brown, himself a producer/director, in order to establish the awards rules and protocols.
Meanwhile voting jurors have been drawn from the ranks of the industry, and include Bruce Spence, Gillian Armstrong, Phil Noyce, Philippe Mora, Nadia Tass, Kriv Stenders, Brian Trenchard-Smith, David Parker, Tony Ayres, Kylie du Fresne, Polly Stanford, David Williamson, Nigel Westlake, David Hirshfelder, Jules O’Loughlin, and more.
Voting for the inaugural Ozflix Independent Film Awards will close on March 21, 2018 with nominations to be announced shortly thereafter. Keep track over on the Ozflix site.
Pic: Alan Finney and Ron Brown (supplied)
