Bold ideas and discussions about the moving image and its connections to our world, politics, society, culture and art

ACMI Conversations

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, VR and AR artist Marc-O-Matic began exploring the Crypto Art and NFT space, expanding his work into blockchain and metaverse platforms and eventually creating virtual worlds, animated artworks and digital wearables for an emerging decentralised economy. Two years on his work has earned over $1 million USD from NFTs – Non-Fungible Tokens – and is featured across some of the most notable NFT marketplaces including Super Rare, Makers Place, Decentraland, and festivals in the US like Art Basel Miami and NFT NYC.

In our first Inside ACMI X podcast, Marc-O-Matic talks about his practice and his own beginnings in this emerging space and offers practical advice for artists looking to make a living on the blockchain.

Inside ACMI X
https://www.acmi.net.au/whats-on/inside-acmi-x-pocast

ACMI X
Website: https://www.acmi.net.au/acmi-x/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/acmiXstudio

Marc-O-Matic
Website: https://www.marcomatic.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/marc0matic
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mr.marcomatic
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marcomatic/

Inside ACMI X podcast

Making and selling NFTs with artist Marc-O-Matic

In this episode, we discuss mentorship and storytelling in the screen industry with Denise Eriksen, co-founder of Media Mentors. Using her wealth of experience and knowledge of all things broadcasting, Denise helps creative practitioners find their way into the industry.

About Denise Eriksen
Denise has worked as a Journalist, Producer and Executive Producer around the world. She has been Head of Factual and Head of Current Affairs at the ABC; Head of Production and Development at SBS; and made programs for Seven, Nine, Ten and Foxtel over her lengthy career. She has trained TV professionals in many genres in Australia and around the world.

Mentoring and storytelling with Denise Eriksen

Mentorship and storytelling with Denise Eriksen

Writer, director and star of 'The Drover's Wife: The Legend of MollyJohnson', Leah Purcell, spoke to us about her thoroughly researched, Blak feminist retelling of Henry Lawson's classic text.

Read the full transcript of the talk and an introduction to the film by Bryan Andy
https://www.acmi.net.au/stories-and-ideas/leah-purcell-on-reclaiming-the-drovers-wife-with-the-legend-of-molly-johnson/

The Drover's Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson – Leah Purcell in conversation with Bryan Andy

This episode is for fans of non-fiction.

Our guest, Natasha Gadd, is a writer/director and the Creative Director and CEO for the Australian International Documentary Conference (AIDC). In this episode, Natasha describes her creative process, industry trends and the documentaries she enjoys watching.

In 2005, Natasha co-founded Daybreak Films, a Melbourne based production company. She wrote and directed her debut feature documentary, Words From the City , nominated for five AFI Awards. Her follow up feature, Murundak: Songs of Freedom received the Grand Prix – FIFO, Best Documentary – Valladolid International Film Festival and the United Nations Association of Australia Media Peace Award. Natasha has made a series of half hour arts documentaries including Weather and Muscle for which she received an Australian Directors Guild Best Director award.

Non-fiction storytelling with Natasha Gadd

Dilan Gunawardana holds a master's degree in Communication and Media Studies from Monash University. He plans, creates and curates online content at ACMI in Melbourne.
[image caption]: "The Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) Melbourne, Australia" by ^ Johnny is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.
[music caption]: Piano March by Jason Shaw. Released under Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0. Music by audionautix.com.

Pages Beyond podcast, episode 2: an interview with ACMI's digital editor

Interactive digital narratives, fully-immersive VR, open source gaming, robots writing novels – what does the future of storytelling look like? What do emerging technological advances mean for writers and artists creating work in the digital era?

Four artists at the forefront of innovation in digital storytelling kicked off Digital Writers' Festival 2017 with a discussion about the impact of interactive digital narratives, virtual reality, geolocated narratives and more in conversation with artistic director Izzy Roberts-Orr.


Copyright acknowledgements: 

Clips Played

Title: Door Into the Dark Trailer
Copyright: Anagram
Link played: https://vimeo.com/97591942
More info: http://weareanagram.co.uk/project/door-into-the-dark/
Title: The Gardens Between 
Copyright: TheVoxelAgents
Link played: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmBXEGmQ_og
More info: http://thegardensbetween.com/
Title: The Gardens Between ~ Slow Trailer TEASER
Copyright: TheVoxelAgents
Link played: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_AaniqoqfEMore info: http://thegardensbetween.com/
Title: Way From Home 
Copyright: Misha Myers
Link played: N/A
More info: http://profiles.arts.monash.edu.au/misha-myers/biography/
Title: Magic in Modern London: iPhone App Trailer
Copyright: Amblr
Link played: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RJ77Q-uiKw
More info: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/magic-in-modern-london/id555328123
Title: The Turning Forest Making Of 
Copyright: Vrtov
Link played: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6C3TBSqMTw
More info: http://vrtov.com/projects/turning-forest/
Title: IS JAPAN COOL? DOU - 道
Copyright: ANA
Link Played: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLHukYrVi8M
More info: https://www.ana-cooljapan.com/contents/dou/
Reading List referenced / not played
Title: Our Friends Electric (excerpt)
Copyright: Superflux and Mozilla
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsjunTAH-2A
More info: http://superflux.in/index.php/work/friends-electric/#
Title: Her Story Trailer
Copyright: Sam Barlow
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaHw97l7-Lc
More info: http://www.herstorygame.com/
Title: The story of Replika, the AI app that becomes you
Copyright: Replika by Luka inc 
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQGqMVuAk04
More info: https://replika.ai/
Title: A message from Karen | Blast Theory
Copyright: Blast Theory
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aqa2gTj2uYI//
More info: https: www.blasttheory.co.uk/projects/karen/

ACMI Conversations: The Future of Storytelling

The representation of gender diversity on screen has a complex history, from invisibility to stereotypical representations of otherness, including the sexually mischievous to the homicidal maniac.

In this conversation our panel of  filmmakers, critics, festival directors and artists to talked about the history and politics of gender diverse representation in films like Funeral Parade of Roses, Tomboy, The Crying Game and Boys Don’t Cry, as well as Orange is the New Black, Transparent and Billions. The panel will explore the problematic casting and stereotyping of gender diverse characters to the more progressive titles that have paved the way for more positive and nuanced gender expression on screen.

About The Panel

Bobuq Sayed (Host)

Bobuq Sayed is a writer, multi-media artist and community organiser of the Afghan diaspora. They co-edit Archer Magazine and they are the co-founder of the Australian QTPoC activist collective, Colour Tongues.

They are one-half of the sound art project, SWALLOW, and an active member of performance art vehicle, Embittered Swish. Their work highlights the unresolved and the grotesque; the ugliness of marginality.

Amos Gebhardt

Gebhardt’s cinematic portraits of humanness invoke multiple art forms including dance, documentary and performance. Drawn to disruptive representations of identity, Gebhardt has created moving image works for gallery exhibitions, cinema and broadcast exhibiting at ACMI, MONA, Gertrude Contemporary, M+, Monash Gallery of Art, SBS and ABC. Gebhardt is a recipient of the Sidney Myer Creative Fellowship, given to select artists who demonstrate outstanding talent and exceptional courage in their practice and is currently working on two video installations to be presented at the Adelaide Biennial 2018.

Cerise Howard

Cerise Howard is the Artistic Director of the Czech and Slovak Film Festival of Australia. A co-founding member of tilde: Melbourne Trans & Gender Diverse Film Festival and a committee member of the Melbourne Cinémathèque, she is also a freelance writer and critic who reports for the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival daily newspaper and co-hosts Plato's Cave, broadcast live and podcast weekly by 3RRR.

Cerise is also the bassist for punk, performance art, queer rock band Queen Kong and The HOMOsapiens. They will be launching "You Come from a DFO, I Come from a UFO" Thursday February 1st at the Northcote Social Club.

Copyright Acknowlegments

Title: Eat the Rich
Copyright: New Line Cinema
 
Title: Rocky Horror Picture Show
Copyright: 20th Century Fox
 
Title: Dallas Buyers Club
Copyright: Focus Features
 
Title: Women in Revolt
Copyright: Morrissey
 
Title: Funeral Parade of Roses
Copyright: Art Theatre Guild
 
Title: The Crying Game
Copyright: Palace Pictures / Miramax
 
Title: Orlando
Copyright: Sony Pictures Classics
 
Title: Tangerine
Copyright: Magnolia Pictures
 
Title: Something Must Break
Copyright: Garagefilm International / Fasad Postproduktion
 
Title: There are no others
Copyright: Amos Gebhardt

ACMI Conversations: Beyond the Binary

In an ever-changing media landscape, and with audiences savvy and cynical about advertising, brands are looking for more subtle ways to draw their customers in. Enter the documentary filmmaker. Does this offer an exciting new source of finance for documentary or is it a sell out? Is it still possible to make authentic stories within this form? Who has creative control in this environment? Why do brands give money to filmmakers and what do they want in return?

This session brings together a world-class panel of award-winning filmmakers, producers and broadcasters to share their first-hand experiences making documentary content for brands and the mechanics of building successful partnerships to do so. They will explore how brand funded content works, why they do it, how it is different to working within traditional funding pathways, and what the deals look like. Between them, our panel has made everything from online content to television to feature films, financed by brands. They will share the realities, the pitfalls and the opportunities of this new financial option in our documentary producing toolbox.

AIDC 2018: Brand + Filmmaker = Story

Decolonising the Australian film industry and how First Nations people want to be portrayed are the current debates with Aboriginal and Torres Strait actors, directors and producers. Join our host Leila Gurruwiwi (from Marngrook Football Show) along with guest panelists; award winning author Uncle Bruce Pascoe, playwright and filmmaker Tracey Rigney  and academic Crystal McKinnon in a provocative discussion on Aboriginal identity and the Australian film and television industry. Our panelists will explore how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have been showcased within the industry  and what needs to be achieved by Indigenous film and television practitioners to take control of their identity.

ACMI Conversations: Decolonising Aboriginal Representation

With each technological advancement, from early documentaries to social issue games and immersive VR, we've heard the promise of being able to step into alternate perspectives, to feel and share and experience a more complex type of understanding. But are these supposed "empathy machines" distancing us from true empathy and closer to voyeurism?

In this talk we interrogate the ethics, assumptions and privileges associated with technological storytelling.

Hosted by Santilla Chingaipe with Dr Fincina Hopgood, Brett Leavy and Amani Naseem.

ACMI Conversations: Empathy Machines

Alice was first brought to life by Lewis Carroll, but she's sparked imaginations and been immortalised on screen many times since.

Join film critic and author Alexandra Heller-Nicholas in conversation with Dr Michelle Smith (Monash University) and Dr Dan Golding (Swinburne University of Technology) as they discuss these 'electric' Alices and the unique representations of girlhood across time, space and media, exploring historical significance, contemporary potency and what Alice might mean in the future.

ACMI Conversations: Electric Girlhoods and Alices Past and Future

Join artists Gabrielle De Vietri, Hanna Brontë and Eugenia Lim to talk video art and challenging provocations in the spheres of identity, immigration, race, nationalism and politics.

From exploring issues of gender and racial identity through the lens of hip-hop aesthetics to deconstructing the nature of globalisation and economics through video and performance, the artists will discuss their own practice in contemporary video art and film, and what excites them about the form's potential for political expression and social commentary.

ACMI Conversations: Art Politics Protest

VCR (Four Tet Remix)

The xx - VCR (Four Tet remix)

Australia's only national museum of film, video games, digital culture and art - situated at the heart of Melbourne in Fed Square. Listen to our latest podcasts of live events, playlists associated with exhibitions, and more.

Located at Fed Square. Open daily. #acmimelbourne www.acmi.net.au

ACMI Conversations: Beyond the Binary

ACMIOnline

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