Screen Australia Funds 47 New Projects

Screen Australia has committed AUD$1.2 million ($775,500) of story development funding to 29 feature films, 13 TV dramas, four online projects and one VR project.

Among the series being funded are House of Kwa, based on Mimi Kwa’s memoir of the same name, from Corrie Chen (Bad Behaviour); Forget Me Not, about a woman who rose to fame as a child because of her parents’ prank-filled online channel, from Kacie Anning (The Other Guy); and Good Eggs, following a trio of women on their parenthood journeys, written by Melanie Tait (The Appleton Ladies’ Potato Race).

Other funded series include Adventures of the Century, an online series from Molly Daniels (Celebration Nation, Wispy) and Dylan Murphy (Feedback, Super Birthday) that continues the stories from Party of the Century and Funeral of the Century, and A Lonely Girl is a Dangerous Thing, a six-part drama written by novelist and journalist Jessie Tu about a Taiwanese-Australian woman and former child prodigy who reenters the world of classical music.

Among the films that are being funded for development are Koa Kid, an action-adventure feature film from writer, director and producer Leah Purcell and producer Bain Stewart (The Drover’s Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson); Ascent, a survival thriller tracking a fearless free solo climber directed by Jennifer Peedom (Sherpa, River); EuroVisionary, a coming-of-age drama set in 1983 as 10-year-old Julie Sumić discovers the uniting power of the Eurovision Song Contest during a family trip to Yugoslavia; and Umuzimu (Spirit), a magic realist film following a single mother and newly arrived Zambian migrant.

The VR project being funded is The Place I Carry Within, which brings audiences into the past as a woman preserves her most cherished childhood memories by reliving them all over again.

The complete list of development funding approvals is available on Screen Australia’s website. These 47 projects are the remainder of those being funded in the 2022-23 financial year.

“It is an exciting time for filmmakers and storytellers in Australia, and we are thrilled to be supporting so many exciting projects at the beginning of their journey,” said Bobby Romia, head of development at Screen Australia. “This latest cohort represents a vast selection of dynamic and diverse voices, which showcases the strength and capability of the talent in our screen industry.”