By Travis Johnson
The IF Awards have been “on hold” since 2012, and our own dearly beloved Filmink Awards are sleeping with the fishes, but it seems that a new slate of Australian film awards have emerged to fill the niche, in the the form of the Ozflix Independent Film Awards, or “Ozzies”.
Focusing on Australian films with budgets below $5m, the Ozzies will be announced at a gala event at Melbourne’s Alex Theatre in St Kilda on April 7th, 2018 and live streamed globally on Ozflix.tv.
Categories include Best Film Under $500K, Best Film Under $2 million, Best Film Under $5 million, Best Web Series, Best Performance Male and Female, Best Emerging Talent, Best Direction and Best Achievement in Indigenous Filmmaking, and more – there are 20 categories of prizes in total.
The Ozzies are overseen by a steering committee that includes Producer/Distributor Tait Brady, Producer/Director/Writer Jocelyn Moorhouse, 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.
The Ozzies represent a concerted effort to laud films outside of the mainstream efforts hailed by the likes of the AACTAs.
“When you consider that 76% of all Australian feature filmmaking is budgeted under $ 6 million, it is way past time we celebrated this tougher end of the industry.” Brown said. “If you are working within these budget constraints, every achievement is that much greater.”
In terms of eligibility, features and documentaries completed in 2016 and 2017 and produced in Australia, by Australians or under official Australian co-production treaties are eligible if the total budget is less than $5 million are viable, while Indigenous films can be either narrative, documentary or shorts (non-indigenous shorts are not eligible in 2018) Entry is open until January 21st with an entry fee of $25 (Under $500K budget category and indigenous shorts) or $50 (budget over $500K), with entries up until February 7th attracting a late fee.
A diverse jury will include filmmakers, performers, critics, distributors and exhibitors from across the indie community.
“It is important that indie filmmakers have faith that our new Ozflix Independent Film Awards are truly independent, fair and represent all sectors of the industry,” Brown said. “Our Steering Committee is well aware of the need to hear all voices in the judging process”.
Entries are open now. Entry forms and submission details are available from www.ozflix.org/awards-2018.
