In celebration of the 40th Anniversary of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, Screen Australia and ABC TV Arts have announced Love Bites, a brand new documentary initiative for LGBTQI filmmakers.
Love Bites will comprise 10 x 5 minute documentary short films made by filmmakers from the LGBTQI community across Australia. The successful projects will provide an accessible, engaging and entertaining insight into the lives and interests of the LGBTQI community.
The content, tone and style of the short films are entirely up to the creator, so all interpretations of the medium of documentary are encouraged. All proposals will be assessed against the ABC TV Arts vision statement ‘Where Life and Culture Collide’.
The curated series of documentary shorts under the banner Love Bites will premiere on the ABC Arts channel on iview during Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras in March 2018.
“ABC Arts on iview seeks to reflect the great diversity of stories and storytellers that exist across the country,” said Mandy Chang, Head of ABC TV Arts. “Love Bites is a great opportunity for us to work with LGBTQI filmmakers in a pan ABC celebration of the 40th anniversary of Mardi Gras.”
ABC TV and Screen Australia will commit a total of $100,000 to this initiative, offering 10 filmmakers $10,000 each to make the short film for delivery in January 2018. Each team will be supported by a Screen Australia Investment Manager and an ABC Digital Arts Commissioning Editor.
Applicant teams must consist of at least a director and a producer, one of whom identifies as part of the LGBTQI community and one of whom has at least one screen credit in their respective roles on a project that has already been publicly released
Love Bites is now open for submissions and will close at 11pm Sunday 6 August 2017. To read the guidelines and for more information on how to apply, head over to the official website.
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