'ELAGABALUS' SELECTED FOR NEW YORK'S BIGGEST LGBTQ+ FILM FESTIVAL

via AFTRS

Xanthe Dobbie’s (Master of Arts Screen, 2019) graduate work, Elagabalus, will have its international premiere at the 32nd annual NewFest, New York’s largest showcase of LGBTQI+ film and media. The short will screen in the festival’s first-ever virtual edition as part of a stellar lineup boasting over 120 films and series from 29 countries, panels and conversations, virtual live events and drive-in screenings.

Still from ‘Elagabalus’ | Dir. Xanthe Dobbie | Photo by Alexis Talbot-Smith

Directed and edited by Dobbie as their Master of Arts Screen capstone project, Elagabalus, a drag-ball retelling of the past set in the future, was made by a team comprised mainly of recent Master of Arts Screen and Bachelor of Arts Screen: Production graduates, writer Samuel Herriman (with story by Xanthe Dobbie and Samuel Herriman), producer Alexis Talbot-Smith, cinematographer Sidat de Silva, composer Jorde Heys, production designers Lily Bennet and Max Boutwell Draper, costume designer William Tran, sound designer Rowan Yeomans, sound recordist Tahira Donohoe-Bales, first assistant camera addition camera Petra Leslie, first assistant director Archie Chew, second assistant director Didi de Graaf, production assistant Alicia Easaw-Mamutil assistant editor Hannah Smith and pre-production VFX supervisor Andrew Brown.

Streaming online across the United States from Friday 16 October, Elagabalus will appear in the ‘Dream a Little Dream With Me’ short film session. The selection follows the film’s world premiere at this year’s CinefestOZ in August, alongside a stack of other student and alumni works.

NewFest runs from 16-27 October and features three drive-in screenings, 24 narrative features in competition, 14 documentary features in competition, three full-season episodics, one global episodic showcase, and 10 shorts program screenings. See the full lineup here.

WORLD PREMIERE IN COMPETITION FOR MA GRADUATE FILM ‘THE END, THE BEGINNING’

via AFTRS

Still from ‘The End, The Beginning’ | Dir. Archie Chew | Photo by Mark Chew

The End, The Beginning, the capstone project of 2019 Master of Arts Screen graduate Archie Chew is set to make its world premiere in competition at Uppsala Short Film Festival in Sweden. The film is nominated for the Academy-accredited Best Children’s Film prize and will screen this October at the annual festival, which features more than 300 short films across fiction, documentary, experimental works and animation.

Director Archie Chew developed the concept for the film with fellow 2019 Master of Arts Screen graduates, producer Alicia Easaw-Mamutil and writer Samuel Herriman. They worked on the short with a team of current students and recent alumni, including cinematographer Nick Najdov (Master of Arts Screen, 2019; Diploma in Camera, 2017), editor Xanthe Dobbie (Master of Arts Screen, 2019), composer Jorde Heys (Master of Arts Screen, 2019), third assistant director Peter Skinner (Master of Arts Screen, 2019; Graduate Diploma in Directing, 2013), sound recordists Tahira Donohoe-Bales (Bachelor of Arts Screen: Production, 2018) and Jeremy Nicholas (Master of Arts Screen, 2019), first assistant cameraperson Bebi Zekirovski (Graduate Certificate Screen: Cinematography, 2017; Diploma in Camera Fundamentals, 2016), second assistant cameraperson Jamie McVicker (Master of Arts Screen, 2019), assistant editor Hannah Smith (Diploma in Editing, 2017) and colourist Michael Angelis (Graduate Certificate Screen: Cinematography, 2017).

Freakishly prophetic – described by the creators as “a pre-COVID film about being isolated indoors” – The End, The Beginning takes place in the picture-book town of Collector and follows a young girl and her gang of rogue environmentalists, who are trying to save the planet as the world goes into lockdown. The girl’s father being the main target of their rebellion, the film centres around their father/daughter relationship which hangs in the balance.

Find out more about the film here.

See the full Uppsala Short Film Festival program here.

WORLD PREMIERES FOR AFTRS STUDENT WORKS AT THE 2020 CINEFESTOZ FILM FESTIVAL

via AFTRS

Still from ‘Elagabalus’ | Dir. Xanthe Dobbie

Twenty-six works by AFTRS students and alumni will screen virtually and IRL at this year’s CinefestOZ Film Festival in Western Australia. Among the eleven features, fourteen shorts and two graduate student projects in the program are three world premieres alongside now familiar titles that have made recent appearances on the local festival circuit.

Making their world premiere in competition as part of the ‘Borderless Shorts’ session will be two AFTRS graduate shorts: Xanthe Dobbie’s Elagabalus and Jaslyn Mairs’ Sunburn.

Led by writer/editor Xanthe Dobbie (Master of Arts Screen, 2019), the Elagabalus team is comprised mainly of recent Master of Arts Screen and Bachelor of Arts Screen: Production graduates, including writer Samuel Herriman (with story by Xanthe Dobbie and Samuel Herriman), producer Alexis Talbot-Smith, cinematographer Sidat de Silva, composer Jorde Heys, production designers Lily Bennet and Max Boutwell Draper, costume designer William Tran, sound designer Rowan Yeomans, sound recordist Tahira Donohoe-Bales, first assistant camera addition camera Petra Leslie, first assistant director Archie Chew, second assistant director: Didi de Graaf, production assistant Alicia Easaw-Mamutil, assistant editor Hannah Smith and preproduction VFX supervisor: Andrew Brown.

AFTRS Alumni Works Bound For Revelation Film Festival

via AFTRS

Revelation Perth International Film Festival’s virtual edition, COUCHED, which starts today and runs until 19 July, includes a great lineup of features, documentaries and shorts by AFTRS students and alumni. The films are available to view on streaming platform REVonDEMAND.

The Familiars, an AFTRS student production by alumna Millie Malcolm (Graduate Certificate Screen: Directing, 2018) will screen as part of the ‘Blood & Mayhem’ genre showcase. The short was made with a team of fellow AFTRS alumni that includes screenwriter Octavia B. Martin (Graduate Certificate Screen: Screenwriting, 2018; Advanced Diploma in Script Editing and Development, 2017; Advanced Diploma in Screenwriting: Feature Film, 2016), producer Alexis Talbot-Smith (Master of Arts Screen, 2019), cinematographer Calum Ridell (Master of Arts Screen, 2019), editor Xanthe Dobbie (Master of Arts Screen, 2019), composer Jorde Heys (Master of Arts Screen, 2019) and costume designer Laura McGenniss (Foundation Diploma, 2011).

Still from ‘The Familiars’ | Dir. Millicent Malcolm

Each film will be available for a 24 hour period throughout the festival. Get tickets and see the full program here.