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$2.2M FUNDS STORIES ACROSS VICTORIAN SCREEN SECTOR

Industry Updates  19 Sep 2017

Eighteen film, television and games projects received a boost today through Film Victoria’s latest investment funding decision.

The $2.21M provided will create an estimated 1410 employment opportunities for the local screen sector and inject more than $24 million into the Victorian economy.

Funding included support for the feature film Buoyancy (Causeway Films) – a deeply affecting story that begins in rural Cambodia and follows the journey of an innocent boy enslaved on a fishing trawler whose only hope of freedom is to become as violent as his captors.

Written and directed by VCA graduate and MIFF Accelerator alumnus Rodd Rathjen, the project will also elevate the career of Victorian Producer Rita Walsh, a 2017 recipient of the Film Victoria ‐ Natalie Miller Fellowship Women in Leadership Development initiative. Other Victorian crew include Director of Photography Michael Latham and Editor Graeme Pereira. Buoyancy also received funding from Screen Australia.

Further project highlights include The Wheel from Sunjive Studios – a Sci‐Fi feature film directed by Melbourne filmmaker Dee McLachlan and filmed at Docklands Studios Melbourne, and the documentary Some Scenes Objectionable from Wildbear Entertainment. Details on the other film and television projects supported will be announced in the near future.

Nine games received support through Film Victoria’s games investment and release funding strands.

Projects include the next innovative game from House House, the developers of Push Me Pull You, along with:

  • Wayward Strand 2017 (Ghost Pattern) ‐ a real‐time female‐led story set in a version of postwar Australia about an airborne hospital and the patients within it
  • 22 Racing Series (Goati Entertainment) ‐ a high speed physics based racer game 
  • Blockworld (2.0 Studios) – a sandbox where multiple players can cast spells, fight and build anything imaginable out of blocks
  • Joko's World Pocket Planet 2017 (Cultural Infusion) ‐ A spin‐the‐globe geography challenge to find lost aliens on earth
  • MMORPG Tycoon 2 (Vectorstorm) ‐ a single‐player world‐builder game to create the greatest online role playing game
  • Primordials Fireborn (ToyBox Games Studio) ‐ an action adventure journey to unlock the lost secrets of the past.

Minister for Creative Industries, Martin Foley said “Our screen industry continues to reach new heights and these projects showcase the diversity of voices, stories and ideas that are out there in our creative state.”

“This latest investment will generate more than $24 million in expenditure for our state and will support more than 1,400 job opportunities in the year ahead – showing that investing in creative projects leads to big returns.”

Film Victoria CEO, Jenni Tosi added “This valuable investment support will assist a diverse and engaging range of Victorian screen projects to come to fruition over the next year.”

“We’re particularly delighted at the increasingly high caliber of concepts coming from the Victorian Games community who continue to raise the bar in the content they create.”