HAPPY EVER AFTRS
Rachel Perkins has been appointed as chair of the Australian Film, Television and Radio School (AFTRS) council for a period of three years. She follows previous chairs Russell Howcroft and Debra Richards. AFTRS is Australia’s leading specialist education, training and research institution, supporting excellence in Australian screen and audio storytelling.
“Rachel is one of Australia’s leading storytellers, particularly when it comes to First Nations stories,” said Minister for the Arts, Tony Burke.
A graduate of AFTRS, writer, director and producer, Perkins founded Blackfella Films, which has gone onto become one of Australia’s leading production companies. Its recent documentary series “The Australian Wars” won most outstanding factual or documentary program at the 2023 TV Week Logie Awards, as well as best documentary or factual program and best direction in nonfiction television at the 2024 AACTA awards.
WIDE SCREEN WIDER
Indian movie exhibition chain Miraj Cinemas has agreed to install three Imax with Laser systems at key locations across India. The deal is the first between the two companies. Miraj expects to open the venues in Mumbai in 2024, another in Jaipur and a third location to be determined at a later date.
The announcement was made Wednesday at the annual CinemaCon 2024 exhibition conference in Las Vegas. 2023 was Imax’s highest-grossing year in the country, beating the previous record set in 2022. Last year was also the highest grossing year for Indian language films for Imax, delivering over $15.7 million across the company’s global network. “Oppenheimer” and “Avatar: The Way of Water” were the first and second-highest grossing Imax films in the region. Three recent Indian language films – “K.G.F: Chapter 2,” “Jawan” and “Pathaan” – were among the top ten highest grossing titles ever in the country.
Miraj Cinemas is India’s third largest exhibitor, with over 200 screens across 60 cinemas in 42 cities and 16 states. It expects to reach 300 screens by the end of the 2024 financial year.
FOURTH FIRST
Screen Australia’s First Nations Department and Instagram Australia have opened the fourth iteration of their First Nations Creators Program to new applicants. The scheme provides up to 15 First Nations recipients the chance to receive funding, intimate educational experiences and continuous fostered growth to help create long term career prospects in social media and digital content creation. The program will be held at Instagram HQ in Sydney, and will provide in-person training, practical workshops, mentoring, career connections, equipment and content funding. To enter, each applicant must submit a short 30-second to one-minute video about themselves.
