What do GETTIN' SQUARE star ‘Aussie’ Joe Bugner, the Casino swimming pool, Fox Studios Australia and the Mullumbimby Giants football team have in common? All were key to the production of four brand new local short films.

AND JUSTICE FOR ONE, SOAR, THE NEW BOOTS and A MILE HIGH premiere at Byron Cinemas this Sunday, 23 November at 9AM (yep, AM). The films were shot using local film production professionals and are a bold example of the major movement in drama production happening in the region. Tickets are $5 for an hour of films including introductions by the filmmakers.

AND JUSTICE FOR ONE was produced through the Metro Screen Indigenous Mentorship Scheme 2003 and was written and directed by Casino’s Jon Bell and produced by Lois Randall. The film stars newcomers Trent Williams, Lionel Williams and Jason Watson. AND JUSTICE FOR ONE is set in Casino in the 1950s, and tells a story about segregation and the consequential attitude that such hardline behaviour produces.

THE NEW BOOTS is based on the winning story in the Melbourne Herald-Sun short story competition by local writer John Campbell and was directed by local filmmaker Tristan Bancks and produced by Terie-Lea Tobin and Lois Randall with major local sponsor Chris Condon. The film stars AFI-award nominated Luke Carroll (Dumby Red in AUSTRALIAN RULES) with a cameo by heavyweight champion ‘Aussie’ Joe Bugner (GETTIN' SQUARE). It tells the story of De Lisle, a shy young Aboriginal guy, who meets Michiko, a kooky Japanese artist, and together they find a way of loving on an impulsive motorbike journey through sex, art and football.

A MILE HIGH by local writer / producer / director Andrew Bambach was the winner of the Fox Studios Australia / ‘inside film’ magazine screenwriting contest, winning Andy the chance to shoot his film on Fox’s 747 plane set built for Mission Impossible 2. The film is an hilarious spoof on the ‘mile high club' starring local actors Barbie English and Nathan Kaye in unforgettable roles.

SOAR was shot back-to-back with A MILE HIGH on the Fox 747 set and is a two-hander comedy based on a hit play from the Adelaide Festival. The film was directed by Tristan Bancks, written by Damon Herriman, produced by Jennifer Lusk and stars Damon Herriman (FLIRTING) and Rupert Reid (MATRIX RELOADED, HEARTBREAK HIGH). SOAR is about everyone’s worst travel nightmare - being stuck next to an obnoxious dork on an aeroplane where there are no spare seats. Simon, a professional actor, is on his way to Melbourne for an audition, and finds himself sitting next to Jack, who seems to be the world’s daggiest and most irritating amateur.

Titled ‘Screening Your Future’, SPAA Fringe 2003 focused on business development skills in film, television and new media.

Geoff Brown, Executive Director of the Screen Producers Association of Australia (SPAA) said the Fringe conference, the first to be held outside Sydney and Melbourne, was an outstanding success with delegates from the Northern Rivers and Queensland joined by colleagues from Sydney, Melbourne and further afield.

'SPAA Fringe was an unparalleled opportunity for emerging film, tv and new media workers from the Northern Rivers and Queensland to meet and hear, first hand, from experts in film and television. The amount of information that was given and the generosity of the speakers in availing themselves to delegates was absolutely inspiring,' Geoff said.

The three days of SPAA Fringe were packed with informative and practical know-how sessions designed for low-budget and emerging filmmakers..

Among the highlights of SPAA Fringe were:

• The launch of InDigo, a project to fund, produce, exhibit and distribute low budget Australian digital feature films. InDigo was launched by DOP/Director Geoff Burton (THE SUM OF US).

  Patterned on the successful methodologies of the European DOGME movement and the US clone, InDigEnt, InDigo seeks to bypass conventional cinema processes to create an innovative and risk-taking environment where film makers take much more control of their work and how it reaches its audience.
  
  InDigo’s production and distribution activities will be based in the Northern Rivers district and will draw on the large pool of creative film, television and media workers who based in the area.The lower costs associated with regional filmmaking are considered an important factor in the project’s commercial viability.

  Download the InDigo information kit now.

• Several sessions with SPAA Fringe Patron Peter Broderick, president of independent US film company Paradigm Pictures, who is one of the world’s leading advocates for the production and distribution of digital feature films. Peter inspired delegates with his detailed knowledge of financing, production and distribution outside mainstream models.

• The creators of The Chaser magazine and CNNNN talking about negotiating with the various television networks and maintaining creative control.

• Khoa Do, director and producer of THE FINISHED PEOPLE, the feature film set in Cabramatta, in south-western Sydney, explained how he made the film on virtually no budget. Khoa directed, produced and co-wrote the film, working with real-life streetchildren and at-risk adolescents in Cabramatta, an outer suburb of Sydney. THE FINISHED PEOPLE, was screened in competition at this year’s Montreal World Film Festival and was released by Dendy Cinemas last month.

Screenworks Christmas Party -  6pm, 18 December at the Screenworks office.

Northern Rivers Screenworks is supported by the Department of Transport and Regional Services, Sustainable Regions Program and the NSW Department of Regional Development, Developing Regional Resources Program.