Amanda Duthie has been appointed to the role of Head of Production, Development, Attraction and Studios at the South Australian Film Corporation, responsible for investment in screen content development and production, and production attraction both nationally and internationally, with a key role in driving innovation in screen storytelling, for the State. Currently the Artistic Director and CEO of Adelaide Film Festival, she will commence in the role in November after the conclusion of the 2018 Adelaide Film Festival, 10-21 October.
Set to deliver an incredible lineup at the 2018 Adelaide Film Festival in the coming weeks, Duthie’s significant achievements during her tenure as Artistic Director and CEO include eight major events across the last six years – five Adelaide Film Festivals, two Hybrid World Adelaide events and the 2013 Adelaide Festival of Ideas. Through the Adelaide Film Festival FUND Duthie has enabled and presented many extraordinary new and award-winning works, and championed the careers of women, artists and indigenous filmmakers in the national screen industry. Working closely with the AFF Board, the festival team and strategic partnerships, Duthie has secured Adelaide Film Festival’s reputation as a major event in the international screen and cultural calendar, while building audiences locally.
Minister for Industry and Skills David Pisoni said, “Amanda Duthie’s proven track record in promoting South Australia’s brand of exceptional screen culture and delivering investment and jobs into the State will be an asset to the SAFC in this key executive role. The Marshall Liberal Government is committed to supporting the important opportunities that come with a vital and forward thinking South Australian Creative Industries which includes the biennial Adelaide Film Festival.”
CEO of the South Australian Film Corporation Courtney Gibson said, “Amanda Duthie brings to the SAFC a peerless track record in identifying and nurturing award-winning screen projects, along with extensive relationships within the local, national, international screen communities. Her creative vision and strategic leadership will be hugely advantageous to the agency moving forward and we couldn’t be happier that she’s joining us.”
Chair of the Adelaide Film Festival Sandra Sdraulig AM paid tribute to Duthie’s tenure as Festival Artistic Director and CEO: “The Adelaide Film Festival has been extremely fortunate to have Amanda Duthie at its helm and her legacy is incredibly rich. With her exceptional talent for investing in the bold, diverse and distinctive talents, Amanda has driven the success of the Adelaide Film Festival FUND to phenomenal new heights; collecting major prizes from Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Sundance and beyond. Amanda’s distinctive creative voice has enriched the screen culture of South Australia and far beyond, through the Adelaide Film Fest FUND and HIVE Fund, the film festival and Hybrid World Adelaide programmes, and through partnerships with Festival of Ideas and the Jim Bettison and Helen James Award.”
During Duthie’s term, the Adelaide Film Festival FUND, the first of its kind in Australia and a rarity worldwide, invested in and presented high-profile and award-winning works including the Venice two time award-winning The Nightingale set to premiere at the festival in October, Warwick Thornton’s Venice Special Jury Prize winner Sweet Country, Rolf de Heer’s Cannes selected Charlie’s Country, Sundance and Berlinale winner, Sophie Hyde’s 52 Tuesdays, and two films which won the CinefestOZ Prize, Rosemary Myer’s Girl Asleep and Jeffrey Walker’s Ali’s Wedding.
She commissioned 58 projects for the AFF FUND with 43% representation of women directors, and including 15 feature films, 9 documentary features and, unique to the AFF FUND, a spectrum of screen storytelling projects across short fiction and documentary, animation, VR, moving image and installation works. Four FUND features commissioned by Duthie for future premieres include Sophie Hyde’s feature adaptation of author-turned-screenwriter Emma Jane Unsworth’s best-selling novel Animals, and the heart-warming comedy from the team behind The Sapphires, Top End Wedding, co-written by and starring Miranda Tapsell, directed by Wayne Blair.
Duthie launched the Festival’s Documentary Competition in 2013 with Flinders University and Australia’s first juried VR Competition in 2017 in collaboration with AFTRS. Duthie’s commitment to innovative storytelling saw her commission VR projects through the FUND including Lynnette Wallworth’s Emmy-award winning VR Collisions and the first VR work by creative team Molly Reynolds and Rolf de Heer, The Waiting Room, which world premieres in the 2018 Festival lineup.
Alongside Adelaide Film Festival, Duthie delivered the Adelaide Festival of Ideas in 2013, has administered the Jim Bettison and Helen James Award providing opportunities for public presentation and discourse during the film festival with the recipients, and sustained the HIVE Lab and HIVE FUND to develop and fund new artist/film collaborations of national significance. Duthie elevated the prestigious Don Dunstan Award by editing and publishing three publications of essays celebrating the recipients.
In 2017, Adelaide Film Festival launched a new interactive tech based event, Hybrid World Adelaide with Duthie as CEO, featuring a Development Lab, Tech Conference and Interactive events program which saw attendance double in its second iteration in 2018.
The full program for the 2018 Adelaide Film Festival, 10-21 October, was launched last week and includes more than 130 features, documentaries, animation, shorts, VR, installation and moving image works. The 2018 event features 17 World Premieres, 30 Australian Premieres with 44% of the films Australian, and 22 created in South Australia. The 2018 festival opens on October 10 with Anthony Maras’ Hotel Mumbai, direct from its triumphant world premiere at Toronto. The ADL Film Fest FUND thriller stars Armie Hammer, Dev Patel and Adelaide’s own Tilda Cobham-Hervey. Tickets are now on sale at www.adelaidefilmfestival.org
Amanda Duthie said, “After six amazing years working with some truly exceptional people, it is time to pursue new challenges and I would particularly like to acknowledge the extraordinary team of talented people working across both the Hybrid World Adelaide and Adelaide Film Festival events, and the utter privilege it has been of being able to work with such brilliant minds across the Australian screen industry. I would particularly like to thank the AFF Board and Festival Patrons, Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton, for their support.”
Recruitment will begin ahead of the next biennial Adelaide Film Festival in 2020.
MEDIA CONTACT
Cathy Gallagher [email protected] 0416 227 282
Alicia Brescianini [email protected] 0400 225 603
IMAGE: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/jvsprk732o9z40v/AAC44ILlJFE8iCqpEDXqHJYWa?dl=0
ADL FILM FEST – 10 – 21 OCTOBER 2018
‘For a long time, the question of which film festivals in Australia were the most important and prestigious could be answered simply: the big ones in Melbourne or Sydney. In recent years, however, under the tenure of Amanda Duthie, the Adelaide film festival has more than held its own – making the gong for Australia’s best film festival very much a three-way race.’ The Guardian, 12 Sept 2018
The ADL Film Fest has secured a reputation around the globe as an essential screen culture event and was named in Variety Film magazine’s 50 Unmissable Film Festivals list. With a distinctively curated program of Australian and international screen culture, special events, awards and forums, the festival continues to be regarded as a premier destination for new and exciting screen projects. Each edition of the ADL Film Fest has three prestigious juried awards: Best International Feature Film, Flinders University International Feature Documentary Award, the AFTRS International Virtual Reality Award and the Audience Awards. The ADL Film Fest takes place immediately after the Venice and Toronto Film Festivals, signifying the beginning of the awards season. Australian screen industry icons Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton are patrons of the festival. www.adelaidefilmfestival.org
ABOUT SAFC
The SAFC boasts the country’s newest, state of the art production facilities. Adelaide Studios features world-class sound stages, production offices, a set construction workshop and outstanding post sound facilities and Australia’s most attractive PDV rebate. The studios, South Australia’s unique creative and collaborative screen hub, is the shared home of the SAFC and many top production companies and practitioners. Recent SAFC-supported projects include Tim Minchin’s Upright, Top End Wedding, Hotel Mumbai, Storm Boy, I Am Mother, and Venice award-winners The Nightingale and Sweet Country.