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Opening Shot 2016 brings new docos to ABC2

Five new docos from filmmakers under the age of 35, tackle everything from digital vigilantism to psychics.

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ABC and Screen Australia’s initiative for emerging documentary filmmakers under the age of 35 will feature five half hour docos on ABC2 and iview next month.

The fourth Opening Shot season will tackle topics such as how to spot, and help, a friend suffering domestic abuse; what it takes to enter the political rat race; how a home town is fighting back against the ice epidemic; the unintended consequences and personal cost of digital vigilantism; and the phenomenon that is: psychics.

ABC TV Head of Factual, Steve Bibb, said “Opening Shot is an initiative designed to develop young documentary filmmakers, and this season brings another diverse range of perspectives to our screens. It’s never been more important to be making local content told from the perspective of young Australians.”

Liz Stevens, Senior Manager Documentary, at Screen Australia said “Opening Shot is a proven launching pad for emerging documentary filmmakers, which past alumni like Maya Newell (Growing Up Gayby) and Madeleine Parry (Meatwork) have amply demonstrated. We look forward to seeing how these new stories connect with audiences and what comes next for this group of fresh documentary voices”.

Psychics In The Suburbs
Wednesday 16 November, 9.30pm on ABC2 & iview
Australia’s psychic medium business is booming and filmmaker Cassie Charlton wants to find out why. Florence King, recently crowned People’s Choice Australian Psychic of the Year, is in the middle of her biggest year yet, and spending time with Florence, and her clients, gives Cassie front row seats to see how the psychics business really works. Following both public performances and private sessions, we meet a range of Australians anxious to contact their deceased loved ones, trying to come to terms with their grief. Psychics In The Suburbs explores who we turn to when the answers seem bigger than the questions themselves.
Director: Cassie Charlton
Producers: Rebecca Barry & Madeleine Hetherton
Psychics In The Suburbs is a Media Stockade film

Big Bad Love
Wednesday 23 November, 9.30pm on ABC2 & iview
Comedian Becky Lucas recently found out one of her closest childhood friends had suffered years of violence and abuse at the hands of her partner. With young women 18-24 being most at risk of abuse, Becky sets out to understand what an abusive relationship looks like, how it begins and why it’s so hard to intervene. She meets experts and psychologists to figure out how she missed the signs, conducts a social experiment on the street to see how the average bystander reacts to domestic violence, and seeks out the stories of young survivors to discover what anyone can do when confronted with domestic violence.
Director: Briony Benjamin
Producer: Susan MacKinnon
Big Bad Love is a Briony Benjamin Media film

Candidate Games
Wednesday 7 December, 9.30pm on ABC2 & iview
Money has been flooding into Perth on the back of a decade long mining boom and with an annual council budget of $200 million dollars, the role of Lord Mayor is a tempting prize. The 2015 election attracted a diverse range of young applicants. Candidate Reece is only 28yrs, one of the youngest ever Lord Mayoral nominees, and has a drive and ambition unusual for someone of his tender age. Candidate Mike, 33yrs, is the chalk to Reece’s cheese: an entrepreneur with some big ideas who wants to add Lord Mayor to his impressive and eclectic resume, and turn Perth into a city full of electric cars. Standing in the way of both Gen Y candidates is a popular 2-term incumbent and baby boomer: Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi. The bookies have Lisa as the runaway favourite, yet Reece and Mike may have timed their ‘David vs. Goliath’ attempts to seize power perfectly, with an investigation from The Corruption and Crime Commission looming over her head. The stage is set for an explosive postal election, where three candidates with very different ideas about how to rule a capital city will clash head to head. The results are one thing, how this battle unfolds is quite another. Let the games begin!
Director: Sam Bodhi Field
Producers: Ella Wright and Alice Ross
Executive Producers: Brian Beaton and Celia Tait
Candidate Games is a Periscope Pictures film.

End Of The Line
Wednesday 14 December, 9.30pm on ABC2 and iview
Nowra, a beautiful intersection of some of Australia’s most alluring beaches, rain-forests, mountains, and farmland, has fallen hard to the hand of Ice. Tom Abood, a young local that left his hometown to follow his dream of becoming a filmmaker, returns to find out if a handful of locals have what it takes to beat the ever-spreading scourge of Ice. Follow Tom as he meets up with familiar faces of his past to see if Nowra can be more than just the end of the line.
Director: Tom Abood
Producer: Kat Cooke
Executive Producer: Ben Ulm
End Of The Line is an Artillery House film

Digilante
Wednesday 21 December, 9.30pm on ABC2 and iview
Disillusioned by a revival of public shaming via social media, filmmaker Mike Nayna confronts the real-world damage caused by an online furore he created. In 2012, Mike Nayna uploaded a shaming video that sparked international media attention, resulted in two gaol terms and inspired a surprise spate of copycat incidents. But while the narrative of good conquering prejudice played out on computer screens around the world, a far more complex and morally ambiguous story was taking place. Through exploring the untold story behind the high profile public shaming, Mike must face the unintended consequences of his ‘digitlanism’.
Director/Writer: Mike Nayna
Producers: Lauren Elliott and Mark Conway
Executive Producers: Eddie Martin and Susie Jones
Digilante is a Checkpoint Media/Mad Kids Co-production

One Response

  1. Re The End of the Line. It hasn’t been properly explained that the title refers to Nowra’s status as the last stop on the South Coast railway line from Sydney. Actually the stop is called Bomaderry, the formal name for the area of Nowra north of the Shoalhaven River. When the railway line was being constructed, funds for the bridge over the Shoalhaven and the continuation to Eden (and possibly to Melbourne in the future) were held up then diverted into other infrastructure when there was a change of government. Thus the line stopped at Bomaderry. NSW Trainlink now operates buses which travel further south.

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