AFF Announces New HIVE Films

Bangarra Dance Theatre director and choreographer Stephen Page, with producers Robert Connolly and John Harvey, will present a big screen adaptation of the dance-theatre piece, Spear. Honing in on the apocalyptic world of two Aboriginal clans from urban and remote communities, the film explores the characters’ experiences through dance, physical movement, spoken word, hip hop, traditional song and story. Also supported by the HIVE Fund, Girl Asleep is a feature film adapted from the stage production by writer and director team Matthew Whittet and Rosemary Myers. Forming the third work in a unique trilogy of rites-of-passage stories, Girl Asleep tells of the chronically shy and privately falling-apart Greta Driscoll, who has her most treasured possession taken from her, and must now step into the dark unknown to retrieve it. The HIVE Fund is an initiative of the Adelaide Film Festival, in partnership with the Australia Council for the Arts, Screen Australia and ABC Arts, supporting screen-based projects from Australian artists and filmmakers. Thanks to the $800,000 fund, both Spear and Girl Asleep will go into production in 2014 and will premiere at the 2015 Adelaide Film Festival, as well as being shown on ABC Television. “This is a unique Australian initiative with the funding partners committed to exploring new production models for artists to contribute to our national screen culture,” Adelaide Film Festival Director and CEO Amanda Duthie said in a press release. Premier Jay Weatherill, who unveiled the two projects at the opening of the Adelaide Film Festival, said that film was an important and celebrated medium in South Australia. “Film is a way that so many people choose to tell their stories – and telling stories is an important part of preserving our culture,” Mr Weatherill said. “By supporting these artists and these projects, the Adelaide Film Festival is also helping to maintain the strong South Australian tradition of innovation.” The inaugural HIVE Fund supported three original art film projects, which each have their world premiere at this year’s Adelaide Film Festival. These are Tender, a documentary directed by visual artist Lynette Wallworth, I Want to Dance Better at Parties, directed by Matthew Bate and former Chunky Move Artistic Director Gideon Obazarnek, and the rock musical feature film The Boy Castaways (pictured).