Professor Garry Stewart, Director of Assemblage, is preparing for his final performances as Artistic Director of ADT, while other Flinders success stories include alumni filmmakers winning Helpmann Academy funding, and Dr Nicolas Hart being named a Fellow of ESSA.
Stewart prepares for his last dance
The Director of Assemblage, Professor Garry Stewart, has been listed in the latest edition of Routledge’s Fifty Contemporary Choreographers, a compendium of the world’s leading contemporary dance choreographers. He was also listed in the previous edition.
At the end of this year, Professor Stewart will depart his role as Artistic Director of Australian Dance Theatre after 22 years of service. His final work will be a remount of G, his audacious deconstruction of the classical ballet Giselle. Performances take place at Her Majesty’s Theatre, from 25-29 November. Immediately following this, he will commence work on a dance and robotics project with Professor John Spoehr at Line Zero.
Hart earns Sport Science honour
Dr Nicolas Hart, who is a new Matthew Flinders Fellow and Deputy Lead of the Cancer Survivorship Program within the Caring Futures Institute, has been named Fellow of ESSA (Exercise and Sport Science Australia).
Dr Hart has been an ESSA member for almost 15 years and has represented exercise science nationally and internationally, exemplifying high levels of achievement across the clinical, industry, academic and service pathways of ESSA. He was named ESSA’s 2014 Exercise Scientist of the Year and subsequently received ESSA’s inaugural Clinical Exercise Physiology Research Grant in 2015 that helped launch the next stage of his career in exercise oncology.
“Dr Hart is deeply committed to ESSA and the industry and his distinguished engagement spans across community, sport and clinical settings. His dedication, passion and pride in ESSA and this industry is outstanding,” says ESSA Chief Executive Officer, Anita Hobson-Powell.
“The awarding of an ESSA Fellowship allows us to recognise a long-standing member that has made a significant impact on the exercise and sports science industry and has continued to provide their support and dedication to the association.”
This honour for Dr Hart is especially timely, as Flinders is currently going through the accreditation process for a new clinical exercise physiologist course with ESSA.
Emerging filmmakers win Creative Innovator funding
Flinders University graduates Alexander Salkicevic and Bryce Kraehenbuehl received $20,000 in seed funding from the Helpmann Academy Creative Innovator Program for their film production business, Two Up Films, after impressing the pitch panel with their innovative business model. In addition to funding, they will also receive a placement at the Incubator Space at Flinders University New Venture Institute.
The duo say their funding will be used to completely finance the production of their first low-budget horror feature film, made in Adelaide, and will pay for cast members, crew members, locations and equipment.
Salkicevic and Kraehenbuehl say they are the first production team in Australia to make micro-budget horror films (films that cost less than $500,000 to produce) with the intent to make a return on investment to fund future projects. The Helpmann Academy funding will kickstart the cycle of their business model, through selling the feature to distributors and using money from the sale to fund their next project.
Payton to deliver history lecture
Professor Philip Payton will deliver the History Council of South Australia’s Annual Regional Lecture about his new book Vice-Regal: A History of the Governors of South Australia, recently published by Wakefield Press. Professor Payton will explain that the Governors – and their wives – have played pivotal roles in the development of South Australia. Sometimes idiosyncratic and often forceful characters, with the occasional whiff of scandal, these Governors and their families have added immeasurably to the colourful history of the State.
The lecture, at the Bridgeport Hotel, Murray Bridge from 6pm-7.30pm on Wednesday 1 December, is being hosted in conjunction with the Rural City of Murray Bridge, the Murray Bridge Historical Society, and Wakefield Press, with admission free (but registration compulsory) and nibbles and a drink provided. Copies of Philip’s book are available here, or to register for the event on 1 December, follow the Eventbrite link here.
Afghan plight named best youth film in Asia Pacific
Australian/Afghanistan co-production When Pomegranates Howl, from Flinders University graduate Granaz Moussavi, has been nominated for Best Youth Film at the 2021 Asia Pacific Screen Awards.
Written and directed by Granaz Moussavi (My Tehran for Sale), this unforgettable anti-war drama was shot in Afghanistan. It follows Hewad, an irrepressible nine-year old boy who hustles on the streets of Kabul, selling everything from pomegranate juice to protection from the evil eye.
Partly funded by the Adelaide Film Festival and post-produced in Adelaide, When Pomegranates Howl is the latest film from Moussavi, who immigrated to Australia from Tehran with her family in the late 1990s. Since then, she has distinguished herself as a contemporary poet, film director and screenwriter.
Distributed in Australia by Bonsai Films, this poignant feature will next be seen at the 2021 Sydney Film Festival, along with a late-November preview season in Sydney and Canberra, before having a select theatrical release in the first quarter of 2022.