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

From the Marvel and DC cinematic universes to small screen caped-crusaders and vigilantes, superheroes are more popular than ever. But how do superheroes reflect our place and power within society?

Whether it’s symbolic representations of asylum seekers and First Nations people on Cleverman, Jessica Jones battling PTSD or The Watchmen exploring the moral ambiguity of individuals with tremendous power, superheroes have the power (dare we say great responsibility?) to tell nuanced, reflective and universal stories.

Join us to discuss how our heroic representations hold a mirror up to contemporary views on ethics, justice and equality.

About the panel

Martyn Pedler

Martyn Pedler is a writer and academic who focuses on superhero stories. He's published chapters and presented internationally on subjects like how the Flash runs in a medium without movement and why Doctor Doom cried after 9/11. He's also been a longtime pop culture critic for Bookslut, Time Out Melbourne, Triple J Magazine and more. He is the writer of the 2012 feature film EXIT, and has several other screenplays in development.

Dr Liam Burke

Dr Liam Burke is the Cinema and Screen Studies coordinator at Swinburne University of Technology. He has written and edited a number of books on comic books and cinema including Superhero Movies, Fan Phenomena Batman, and The Comic Book Film Adaptation: Exploring Modern Hollywood’s Leading Genre. Liam is a chief investigator on the Superheroes & Me research project with ACMI. He recently directed the documentary short film @HOME, which was screened at a number of international film festivals and was broadcast on Irish television.

Brooke Maggs

Brooke Maggs is a freelance narrative designer and writer for games, VR and other creative industries. She one of the women featured in ACMI's Code Breaker's exhibition where you can play one of her latest projects, The Gardens Between, an adventure puzzle game.Recently, she received the 2017 MCV Pacific XBOX Women in Games Creative Impact award for her work in the games industry. Brooke is writing a science fiction novel for which she was shortlisted for the Ray Koppe Writer’s Residency and awarded a residency at the Varuna House. Her other writing includes academic research in creative writing practice.

Copyright Acknowledgments:

Title: The Avengers (2012)
Copyright: Marvel Studios / Walt Disney Production Company

Title: Spiderman (2002)
Copyright: Marvel Enterprises / Columbia Pictures

Title: Superman (1978)
Copyright: Warner Bros

Title: Man of Steel (2013)
Copyright: DC Entertainment / Warner Bros Pictures

Title: Daredevil Season 1 Episode 2
Copyright: Marvel Television / Netflix

Title: Cleverman Season 1 Episode 2
Copyright: Sundance Studios / ABC TV

Title: Superman Returns (2006)
Copyright: Legendary Pictures / DC Comics / Warner Bros Pictures

ACMI Conversations: Superheroes, Ethics and Justice

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: Superheroes, Ethics and Justice

ACMIOnline

Related tracks