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By every measure, the 2010 Festival has been a formidable success. The Festival generated extraordinary local, national and international coverage by commercial, public and community broadcast and print and web exposure.
Audience attendance increased significantly and the feedback from patrons regarding programming quality and accessibility has been overwhelmingly positive. It seems as if this Festival, which has been quietly gathering speed since 2004, has now become airborne.
Bill Shorten gave a powerful opening night speech that set the tone for a Festival that was here to do some serious film business. Forums were feisty, the Q&A's with filmmakers were enlightening and the Festival Club saw the births of many of the ideas that will continue to drive the festival forward. The singular success of this Festival has been the enthusiasm with which the Deaf community has embraced the inaugural Deaf screening program at the Festival. The screening of SEE WHAT I'M SAYING was one of the several sold out screening sessions.
As the Festival team recovers from Closing Night hijinks and starts to think about 2012, we ask ourselves - Is there anyone in Melbourne who doesn't know about Rob Spence, the Eyeborg guy with a camera in his prosthetic eye?
RICK RANDALL
FESTIVAL DIRECTOR
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After much deliberation, the OFF Award for Best Film has gone to German documentary NOBODY'S PERFECT. The judging panel comprised Academy Award winning filmmaker & OFF Patron Adam Elliot; WA-based filmmaker with less than 3% vision, Tony Sarre; Churchill Fellow and deaf filmmaker Sarah Tracton; and one-eyed Canadian filmmaker Rob Spence.
According to judge Tony Sarre, NOBODY'S PERFECT was chosen because "firstly, it is highly entertaining. Secondly, it takes a risky, uncompromising and defiant look at disability. The film is about people affected by Thalidomide being persuaded by the director to pose naked for a calendar, and then going through with it. The film shows how this experience changes the participants' perceptions of themselves as well as the viewers' perception of their disability. By stripping and posing naked, the participants are confronted with their own insecurities. The film makes a strong statement about society's acceptance of a person's disability by showing people with a disability taking control of their own body image. There is a gesture of power in stripping naked and hiding nothing - you are saying to the world 'Take me as I am!'
"For me, the other strong contenders were SHINING STAR, THREE OF US and WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE MY MOTHER, as well as of course Hilary Scarl's SEE WHAT I'M SAYING."
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The Festival was officially opened by Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities Bill Shorten MP, who reiterated his support regarding increase to the level of accessible cinema in Australia. Via the newly-formed Accessible Cinema Advisory Group (ACAG), there will be a significant rise in the level of cinema access with more than 240 cinema screens throughout Australia becoming accessible to people who are deaf or have hearing impairments, and people who are blind or who have visual impairments.
Special guest Gino Munari, General Manager of Village Cinemas, also confirmed his support of cinema access, announcing that Village Cinemas, Hoyts Corporation, Greater Union Organisation and Reading Cinemas will be investing in technical upgrades in cinemas across Australia to improve cinema access for many more Australians.
Gino Munari's announcement was picked up by The Age which published the story in last Friday's edition. Click on the link below to read The Age article.
Disability groups hail film deal
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CJ Jones, a deaf comedian from the USA will perform a 30min set at the Other Festival Club at 11pm on Friday evening 27 August. We'll be requesting a voluntary donation from the audience (which will all go directly to CJ to support his low budget visit!)
Flinders Street Station will boast two large vertical banners announcing the arrival of the 2010 festival thanks to the sponsorship and support of Metro Trains.
Look out for sneak previews of festival films on the big screen at Federation Square. This initiative is thanks to a new sponsorship from Fed Square. Check it out in the heart of the city starting the week before the festival.
The Other Film Festival is pleased to announce confirmation of significant funding from this important philanthropic program. We are prompted to recall that, in 2004, the festival was the beneficiary of a modest grant from the Percy and Ruby Haddy Foundation which assisted us to stage Australia' first disability film festival. It is testament to the ongoing support of sponsors like this that the festival has developed rapidly in its ability to deliver world's best practice in cinema accessibility and to deliver an exciting biennial film event that serves the whole community.
The Other Film Festival is pleased to announce confirmation of funding from the leading state and federal government screen agencies. For the festival, this represents an expression of ongoing confidence in the development of Australia's only disability film festival. It also indicates the level of interest in ensuring that the enjoyment of film culture becomes increasingly accessible for all Australians, regardless of disability or impairment.
The Other Film Festival is pleased to announce confirmation of Triennial Funding from City of Melbourne. This funding was made available through the Creative Community Partnerships stream of the Triennial Program (Arts and Culture) 2009 - 2011. Festival Director Rick Randall responded to this news enthusistically "The City of Melbourne have been a major partner in the development of The Other Film Festival since its inception in 2004. The importance of this funding cannot be overestimated; it not only allows us to plan our activities with increased confidence but, equally importantly, it allows us to dream boldly."
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