By Travis Johnson
Lexus Australia and the Sydney Film Festival have selected four emerging Australian talents to receive a Lexus Australia Short Film Fellowship. Anya Beyersdorf, Brooke Goldfinch, Alex Murawski and Alex Ryan will each receive $50,000 to make a short film, which will premiere at the 2017 Sydney Film Festival. The announcement came at the world premiere of Damian Walshe-Howling’s short film, MESSiAH, starring David Gulpilil, at the NSW State Theatre on June 14. The film, made in conjunction with The Weinstein Company, is the result of Walshe-Howling’s win at the international Lexus Short Films initiative.
The four were picked from a shortlist of 21 competitors, itself whittled down by The Weinstein Comapny from 355 Australian entries into the worldwide Lexus short film series. Renowned Australian actress Judy Davis acted as Jury Chair alongside Sydney Film Festival Director Nashen Moodley, Lexus Australia’s Adrian Weimers, Australian producer and SFF board member Jan Chapman AO and indigenous Australian producer Darren Dale.
Davis said, “Each of these four young filmmakers has shown incredible promise and vision in their Fellowship submissions. They have demonstrated tenacity and dedication, creativity and capacity, as well as the passion to follow their dreams. The jury is very much looking forward to seeing what this new generation of Australian filmmakers will create in the coming year.”
Heartfelt congratulations to all the winners – we look forward to seeing what they create in the coming year.
