Creating networking opportunities for young filmmakers can help address a lack of industry experience that is contributing to a decline in Australian film productions, according to a rising young arts administrator.

Ryan Chow, who recently curated the first Australian Youth Film Festival (AUYFF), told Central News there needed to be more ways of showcasing new talent. 

“I started realising [that] there’s a lot of talent among youth, but not all have the ability to, first of all, afford to be able to take part in paid events,” he said. 

“They may also not have the actual confidence to actually try to get heard, or take on networking or just reach out to big organisations.

“My actual inspiration from this, I think, stems from when I was back in high school, many years ago. I was fortunate enough to have been part of a team that got involved with organisations such as Disney and HBO [in youth enterprise events].

“As a high school student I was just mind blown by that.”

Chow, who is originally from Canada but studied business management in New Zealand, launched the festival two years ago in Auckland, before bringing it to Australia earlier this month.

He said New Zealand had few opportunities for young filmmakers to get started and he felt that something like a film festival would have a large impact if done right.   

“So I endeavoured to try and take that challenge on,” he added.

There’s no question that in NSW and Victoria, over the last, probably, 18 months or so, there was a downward trend in the number of productions…. there have been fewer jobs.

AUYFF, a non-profit free-to-enter film festival for Australian youth aged 15-24, was held at University of Technology Sydney over two days. 

An Industry Day, involving discussion panels with experts, presentations on new technology by Black Design and Canon, and a tour of the ABC, was followed with a red carpet Award Ceremony live-streamed the following night.

Ken Crouch, the head of industry development at Screen Australia, said it was important to build skills for the industry through various roles, rather than focusing on specific areas. 

“There’s no question that in NSW and Victoria, over the last, probably, 18 months or so, there was a downward trend in the number of productions…. there have been fewer jobs,” he said.

“We are really conscious of it and are working really closely with each of the state agencies to look at the different situations… and shortages that they actually have, and how we can actually look at transferable skills.”

Nudzejma Avdic, a sales manager for Canon and a photographer, based in Randwick, said the company curates for not just emerging filmmakers, but even those with industry experience.

“Once people are established and have been working in the industry for 10+ years… there is an assumption that they know everything there is to know,” she added.

“What they tell us behind closed doors, is that they are in the same boat as others.” 

The festival received over 700 submissions, with just over 20 works being nominated for awards.

The award for Best Cinematography went to Liam MacMillan for Eat Sand, with the Best Indigenous Film going to Ada Turner for her film The Gap.

“It is always very tough for our judges to try to pick and select nominees from across the country….we’ve already begun working on and planning on new events,” Chow said. 

 

The Best Documentary award went to Claire Riverwood’s Understorey, alongside the Best Editing award that went to Oliver Ivin-Poole for his film More of This. 

Joy Zhou, a 22-year-old animator, was nominated for Best Overall Film for her animation Felled, which was inspired by the fantastical settings and emotional expressiveness of Japanese animators Studio Ghibli. Her film depicted a tree spirit’s tree that gets cut down by man, and incorporates environmental themes.

“The award ceremony was great…it’s nice to celebrate in a very glamorous way sometimes. They definitely went the extra mile,” Zhou said.

The ceremony ended with The Best Acting award going to Reggie Azwar for Miyu and the Best Overall Film to Harvey Abrahams for Substratum.

Chow said he expects the festival to expand further.

“We’re always looking at trying to do new things and seeing if we can actually expand and increase our impact. So I think we’re [very] impact focused,” he said.

Main image by Simran Shoker.