by FilmInk Staff
Award winning actress and filmmaker Rachel Griffiths has been announced as Jury Chair of the annual CinefestOZ Film Prize – the country’s richest $100000 film award for an Australian production – recognising excellence in Australian filmmaking and held as part of the CinefestOZ Film Festival (31 August – 8 September).
“I’m honoured to be chair of this year’s Jury and to finally experience one of the most loved film festivals in the country and of course to experience the people and landscapes of the great south west region of WA, which I have never visited,” said Ms Griffiths.
“I’m looking forward to meeting this year’s filmmakers and joining a stella jury to celebrate the films in selection. After Covid, festivals like CinefestOZ are more important than ever creating and connecting community around one of the oldest of human activities – telling and sharing stories.”
Joining Ms Griffiths on the Film Prize Jury is prolific US filmmaker Gary Foster (Sleepless in Seattle, The Soloist, Denial); accomplished documentary writer, director and producer Nel Minchin (Firestarter – The Story of Bangarra, Matilda and Me, The Way We Wore); and, award winning actress Tasma Walton (How to Please A Woman, Sweet As, Mystery Road).
Together the panel will decide which of the four short-listed films – Runt, The Moogai, and MIFF@CinefestOZ films – Audrey and Memoir of a Snail – will take home the title of Film Prize Winner.
The Jury will attend each of the Film Prize red carpet premieres as well as the special Film Jury In Conversation breakfast at Shelter Brewing Co, where they will discuss each of the finalists and share stories of their own filmmaking journey, ahead of their announcement of the winner at the Film Prize Celebration on Saturday 7 September.
CinefestOZ Chair Margaret Buswell said “Once again we are delighted to have such a high calibre of film industry talent join us to adjudicate and award the 2024 CinefestOZ Film Prize, share their knowledge as part of our Industry Program, and inspire us at special meet the filmmaker events.”
“The CinefestOZ Film Prize was established ten years ago to recognise and reward excellence in Australian filmmaking, and we know that our industry jury will again have a tough decision with such dramatically different finalists.”
Previous year’s Film Prize winners include Shayda (2023); Of An Age (2022); Nitram (2021), His for Happiness (2019), Jirga (2018), Ali’s Wedding (2017), Girl Asleep (2016), Putuparri and the Rainmakers (2015), and Paper Planes (2014).
Australia’s largest destination film festival 2024 Program features over 200 film screenings and events and celebrates its 17th year. The nine-day festival will be held from 31 August – 8 September in Western Australia’s South West and will provide festival-goers with the opportunity to see some of Australia’s best new films first, and connect with filmmakers and visiting talent at the region’s cinemas, wineries, restaurants, boutique breweries, small bars and galleries in Augusta, Bunbury, Busselton and Margaret River.
Book tickets https://tix.cinefestoz.com/Events of for more information on the program visit www.cinefestoz.com
About the Film Prize Jury Panel
Rachel Griffiths – one of Australia’s most prolific industry professionals, Rachel Griffiths is a multi-award-winning Australian actor and filmmaker. After starting her career on the Australian stage, Rachel made her screen debut in the iconic Muriel’s Wedding. Since then, her film credits include The Rookie, Blow, Hacksaw Ridge, Hilary & Jackie (for which she was nominated for an Academy Award), and most recently Will Gluck’s Anyone But You. In television, Rachel has starred in the acclaimed HBO series Six Feet Under, Brothers & Sisters, and Amazon’s the Wilds. Rachel boasts significant achievements with her company Magdalene Media, directing and producing the highest-grossing Australian feature of 2019, Ride Like A Girl. She also co-created, executive produced, and starred in the internationally acclaimed political drama Total Control. She sits on the board of the nation’s leading museum of moving image, ACMI, and was awarded an Order of Australia (AM) for her contribution to the arts in 2021.
Gary Foster – a 1983 graduate of the University of Southern California. At the age of 25, he produced his first film, Short Circuit. In 1993, Foster produced the Oscar® and Golden Globe-nominated hit Sleepless in Seattle, which has become a classic. He has produced Just Cause, The Amazing Panda Adventure, Big Bully, Tin Cup starring Kevin Costner, The Score, which brought together the talents of Robert De Niro, Edward Norton and Marlon Brando. In 2003, he began a series of three movies for Marvel Studios: Daredevil (Fox/New Regency) starring Ben Affleck, followed in 2005 by Elektra (Fox/New Regency) starring Jennifer Garner, and Ghost Rider (Sony) in 2006 starring Nicolas Cage and Eva Mendes. He produced THE SOLOIST starring Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey, Jr. Gary Executive Produced the acclaimed series COMMUNITY for all 6 seasons. Other films include EMPEROR and MY OLD LADY. Foster produced the BAFTA nominated film DENIAL. In 2023 FINESTKIND written and directed by Brian Helgeland and starring Ben Foster, Toby Wallace, Jenna Ortega and Tommy Lee Jones was released by Paramount +.In 2020, Foster started HUMANITY ON SET, a program designed to educate and train filmmakers on leadership, communication and building positive culture on sets around the world.
Nel Minchin is a director, writer and producer with a reputation for making smart, compelling and thought-provoking documentaries. Her work has won a Rose D’Or, Walkley Documentary Award, AACTA Award and an Australian Director’s Guild Award among others and been nominated at Mipcom Cannes, the Logies, Screen Producers Australia and AIDC. She started her career in London and Brighton working at RDF, Tiger Aspect, Ricochet TV and Maverick Television, followed by a stint in the creative lab at Google. Moving back to Australia she worked as a development producer at Fremantle Media before commencing a decade of documentary directing. Works include feature documentary Firestarter – The Story of Bangarra, Matilda and Me about Tim Minchin and Matilda the Musical, controversial sports series Folau about rugby player Israel Folau and social history fashion series The Way We Wore with Celeste Barber. Nel currently sits on the Gender Matters Taskforce at Screen Australia.
Tasma Walton is an award-winning actress with an extensive career in film, theatre and television. Tasma has appeared in numerous films and her most recent features include How to Please a Woman, Sweet As, Looking for Grace, Blessed, Dreamland and Ivan Sen’s critically acclaimed Mystery Road and the just released Kid Snow. In television, Tasma became a household name for the role of Dash McKinley in several seasons of Blue Heelers. Other television projects include Mystery Road (Series 1 & 2) from the feature of the same name, Cleverman (Series 1 & 2), Rake (Series 4 & 5), Little Oberon, It’s a Date, City Homicide, McLeod’s Daughters, The Secret Life of Us and most recently The Twelve Series 2. In theatre, Tasma most recently performed in Belvoir’s production of Winyanboga Yurringa. Prior theatrical productions include Dinner and Live Acts On Stage (Black Swan Theatre Company), Men of Honour (Ensemble Theatre), The Marriage of Figaro (Phoenix Theatre) and Vagina Monologues (Valhalla Theatre). Tasma’s work in the film and television series Mystery Road saw her nominated for AACTA, FCCA and AFCA Awards and she won the Logie Award for Best New Talent for her work in Blue Heelers.
About CinefestOZ
CinefestOZ in the South West region of Western Australia is a celebration of Australian filmmaking that includes premieres and events in cinemas, wineries, small bars and galleries across Augusta, Bunbury, Busselton and Margaret River. The festival offers a lucrative film prize of $100,000 – the largest for an Australian film in the country – and has cultivated a reputation as both an industry event and film festival destination. The event has since grown with CinefestOZ Albany returning for its second year this April. The most recent addition is CinefestOZ Broome to be held in November – WA’s Indigenous film festival held in conjunction with Goolarri Media, a wholly owned and run Indigenous media organisation.
CinefestOZ thanks our Presenting Partner, DLGSC, Premium Partners City of Busselton and Screenwest, and acknowledges strong support from Lotterywest and Screen Australia.
