The Victorian screen industry came together on 29 March for Film Victoria's Seen & Screened event, to celebrate the film, television and games projects screened in 2016 and for the announcement of the 2017 Greg Tepper and Tim Richards Awards.
Victorian documentary filmmaker Kitty Green (pictured below, left) received the 2017 Greg Tepper Award in recognition of her continuing success as a filmmaker and her fresh approach to documentary storytelling which has strengthened the profile of Australian factual content creators internationally.
Kitty’s breakthrough features Ukraine Is Not a Brothel and The Face of Ukraine: Casting Oksana Baiul consolidated Kitty’s profile as a skillful documentary filmmaker.
Her latest work Casting JonBenet premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, enjoying both critical and commercial success, with Netflix acquiring worldwide rights to the documentary.
Rita Walsh, Associate Producer of Casting JonBenet, accepted the award on Kitty's behalf.
Melbourne-based games producer Lisy Kane was presented with the 2017 Tim Richards Award in acknowledgement of her skills as a leading female games developer and her efforts to support women working in the games industry.
Passionate about changing the under-representation of women working in technology and the games industry, Lisy co-founded Girl Geek Academy to encourage women to learn technology and launch their own businesses.
Lisy produced two highly-successful games, Armello (League of Geeks) and Hand of Fate (Defiant Development).
She was the recipient of a Film Victoria Women in Games Fellowship in 2016 and was the only Australian recognised in the category for Forbes’ ‘30 Under 30’ gaming list this year.
We asked Kitty and Lisy to share their thoughts on winning the award, highlights from 2016 and plans for the year ahead.
What was your reaction to winning the award?
KG: It was such a wonderful surprise to receive the Greg Tapper award from Film Victoria. I couldn’t be more grateful for their support of my career as a filmmaker. I consider my work to be a hybrid of fiction and nonfiction and that often makes it difficult to categorise– so to receive an award for my contribution to the film industry in general is absolutely amazing and very exciting.
LK: I was over in San Francisco at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) and I got the email from Jenni Tosi. I was completely floored about the news of receiving this award. The past recipients are studios I admire greatly and am honoured to be listed among them and to represent all the hard work that League of Geeks and Girl Geek Academy have achieved so far.
What were your 2016 highlights?
KG: My feature documentary Casting JonBenet’s production in Colorado and post-production in Australia. We had such a wonderful crew and it was an incredible learning experience. Bringing a few Australians over to the Sundance Film Festival 2017 for the premiere was quite special.
LK: Attending GDC for Armello’s nomination at the Independent Games Festival, running SheMakes_Games 2016 as part of Melbourne International Games Week with Brie Code as our keynote speaker, releasing Armello on Xbox One internationally in July 2016 and speaking at various events like PAX Australia, GCAP, Human Rights Arts & Film Festival and GX Australia, to name a few.
What’s coming up in 2017?
KG: Casting JonBenet is on Netflix on 28 April so I have a lot of work to do promoting the film at film festivals and in the press in the lead up to the premiere. I’m also developing a new feature project whenever I can find the time!
LK: I’ll be launching MissMakes_Code and SheHacks_Victoria with the Girl Geek Academy team and bringing Armello to iPad. I will attend Forbes Conference in Israel in April and embed with various studios as part of my 2016 Film Victoria Women in Games Fellowship, including Media Molecule (UK) and Obsidian (US). I’m also a semi-finalist for the Victorian Young Achievers Award.
