Adelaide Film Festival Calls For Submissions From Australians Who Inspire, Enrich And Benefit The Community

- 2017 JIM BETTISON & HELEN JAMES AWARD -

The Adelaide Film Festival today opened submissions for the third Jim Bettison and Helen James Award which recognises individual Australians who have contributed exemplary and inspiring lifelong work of high achievement in their area of expertise, with benefit to the wider community. Submissions close 21 August and the winner will be announced at the 2017 Adelaide Film Festival.

The 2017 recipient will join an alumni of amazing Australians whose work has benefited from the $50,000 Award. This prestigious honour both acknowledges the recipient’s achievements, and enables them to further their work through the nominated project or activity, which in turn will benefit and enrich the community. The recipient may be from a number of fields, including the arts and humanities, social justice, the environment or the sciences.

In 2016 two bold and innovative individuals were honoured.

One of Australia’s pre-eminent dancers, choreographers and directors, Meryl Tankard has a long and distinguished career across the medium of dance in Australia and internationally, and continues to push the form in new creative directions. The Award will enable Tankard to further a number of projects that explore two themes central to her career as a choreographer and film-maker: the transformative power of art, and the positive impact that creativity can have on physical and mental health conditions.

Adventurer and environmental scientist Tim Jarvis is project leader of 25zero, an adventurous and visually spectacular global initiative against the biggest threat facing humanity, climate change. In 2015, 25zero teams summited seven mountains in three continents during the 12 days of the United Nations Climate Change talks (COP21) in Paris, sending footage, images and stories to COP21 where they were used to push decision makers to arrive at a meaningful agreement. The Award will enable development of the phenomenal footage from the climbs into new forms, including a documentary, all of which are designed to educate and engage in the issue of climate change by ‘showing’ it.

The inaugural recipient in 2015 was Greg Mackie OAM, founder of the iconic South Australian thought leadership event, Adelaide Festival of Ideas. Supported by the Award, Mackie has been researching and working towards the establishment of a 'Thinking Adelaide' global network of innovators and thought leaders, drawn from participants of the Adelaide Festival of Ideas and the former Adelaide Thinkers in Residence Program. The initiative, an extension of his life's work, aims to enhance Adelaide's national and international standing as a promoter and crucible of new thinking.

“Helen and Jim envisioned an Award that would be given annually to an individual whose lifetime work is of significant value and benefit to the community; and who could use the opportunity offered by the award to record, archive or extend that work; or to complete a project related to that work. Three outstanding Australians have already been honoured, and it is with some excitement that we open submissions for the third round of the Award,” said Doreen Mellor, spokesperson for the Jim Bettison and Helen James Foundation.

Adelaide Film Festival CEO and Artistic Director Amanda Duthie said “Adelaide Film Festival has been incredibly proud to partner with the Jim Bettison and Helen James Foundation and Perpetual Trustees to present an Award in honour of the vision and passion of Jim Bettison and Helen James.

This award aligns with Adelaide Film Festival’s aims to garner innovative partnerships and collaborate to create opportunities for Australian key thinkers and practitioners, through the Adelaide Film Festival Investment Fund enabling bold new Australian screen stories, and through the Adelaide Film Festival’s presentation of events that provide a deeper and more rigorous understanding of the way we live now and how we could live in the future,” she said.

The Jim Bettison and Helen James Foundation was established to realise the vision of Dr Jim Bettison and Ms Helen James, who were committed to supporting a wide range of activity in the community through philanthropy and professional engagement. Jim co-founded Codan, a successful and award-winning Adelaide company, established the Developed Image Photographic Gallery and served as Deputy Chancellor at the University of Adelaide. Helen was an exhibiting studio artist. She served on various key arts committees and was a founding member of the National Library of Australia’s Foundation Board.

SUBMISSIONS CLOSE AUGUST 21.
MORE INFORMATION: /apply-for-the-2017-bettison-award/

INTERVIEWS available with: Amanda Duthie, Director/CEO Adelaide Film Festival MEDIA CONTACT: Cathy Gallagher, ABCG Film. PH: 0416 227282 cathy@abcgfilm.com