Expand your practice

Adelaide Film Festival’s Expand Lab is a collaborative development initiative where 30 Australian visual artists, video artists, filmmakers, writers, and XR and VR creatives come together to learn from each other, work with renowned mentors, and develop bold new moving image projects for Australian audiences and beyond.

It was launched in 2022 as a major professional development opportunity to take place alongside the annual Adelaide Film Festival and continues AFF’s commitment to supporting screen-based practice and its crossover with visual arts and interactive media.

Participants are selected through a competitive Expression of Interest process. There is no cost to attend the Lab and participants are supported with travel, accommodation and per diems. Mentors are highly experienced and accomplished artists, practitioners and producers who provide guidance and inspiration throughout the five full-time days of the Lab.

There have been three labs to date in 2022, 2023 and 2024.

Commissions

A major outcome of AFF Expand Lab is the Expand Moving Image Commission, with three commissions awarded to date for presentation in 2024, 2025 and 2026.

AFF/Samstag 2024 Expand Moving Image Commission

Samstag Museum of Art
11 October – 6 December 2024

The inaugural AFF/Samstag $60,000 Expand Moving Commission was awarded to Susan Norrie (NSW), Matthew Thorne (SA) and Emmaline Zanelli (SA). Premiering at Adelaide Film Festival 2024, the artists presented three experimental docu-fiction moving image works – FALLOUT by Susan Norrie, Extraction by Matthew Thorne and I take care of what’s mine by Emmaline Zanelli.

In three chapters, they follow the narrative threads of mining in Australia, focusing on fly-in-fly-out workers, their families, environmental impacts and the complex relationship experienced by First Nation custodians of the land on which resource extraction takes place. Together they offer counter perspectives to frequently cliched assumptions, excavating a more nuanced and in-depth understanding of this underrepresented but critical sector of contemporary Australia.

AFF/Samstag 2025 Expand Moving Image Commission

The $100,000 Expand Lab 2025 Moving Image Commission was awarded to Anna Lindner (SA), Nisa East (NSW) and Yasemin Sabuncu (SA) for 5 STEPS FOR BETTER LIVING, MAXIMUM GAINS AND MANIFESTING YOUR MOST OPTIMISED SELF! A satirical, critical reflection on the trends of hyper-masculinity in times of existential crisis. The work will premiere at the Samstag Museum as part of the 2025 Adelaide Film Festival.

AFF 2026 Expand Moving Image Commission

The $100,000 Expand Lab 2026 Moving Image Commission has been awarded to the three-person team of Naina Sen (NT), Naveed Farro (Vic) and Harrison Hall (Vic) for their collaborative project Through Line. To be exhibited in the Adelaide Film Festival 2026, Through Line is an immersive, sculptural, multimedia installation that reimagines the cultural connections between West Asia and South Asia, specifically focusing on Indo-Persian influences.

The work is inspired by the communal and secular atmosphere of the Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya Dargah courtyard in Delhi. This multi-channel installation will be framed by sculptural elements inspired by the site in India and will celebrate the pluralistic, contemporary legacies of Indo-Persian architecture, Sufi poetry, dance and Qawaali music.

Through Line will be exhibited in the 2026 Adelaide Film Festival.

Accolades

Contact

Julianne Pierce
Special Initiatives Manager
Email: julianne@adelaidefilmfestival.org

AFF Expand Lab is an initiative of Adelaide Film Festival with Principal Partner The Balnaves Foundation, and the Government of South Australia, Samstag Museum of Art, Art Gallery of South Australia and Illuminate Adelaide.