In the lead-up to Ignite, Australia's premier Christian short film festival, Anglicare Sydney has announced it is offering a $1000 sponsorship to help an Ignite film-maker.
The sponsorship will be awarded to the best script submitted by May 1, and Anglicare Sydney has said the winning entry will need to be ‘unique’ and ‘attention-grabbing’.
Anglicare Sydney's Ignite sponsorship coordinator, Candace Lamplough, says the organisation is excited about how this sponsorship can support creative initiative, as well as raising awareness about Anglicare Sydney.
"Anglicare Sydney is keen to support Christians using their talents and hopefully in turn share with them the growing need we have to look after people in our communities," Ms Lamplough says.
"We are really hoping this money helps an aspiring film-maker create a winning film."
The winning script must also incorporate the Ignite 2009 theme of ‘Animals’ and reflect Anglicare’s identity, she adds.
"We are so excited by the opportunity we have to encourage people to spread God's word through film," Ms Lamplough says.
"This is the first time Anglicare Sydney has partnered with the Ignite Film Festival and we can't wait to build on this partnership over coming years."
Anglicare Sydney's offer comes just weeks after 10 film-makers, including last year's Ignite winner Michael Woodward, attended the Wesley Institute's two-day Choice Cuts conference.
"I gleaned some really useful nuggets of wisdom from all workshops that will make me a better moviemaker," says one of the attendees, Andrew Lovell-Simons.
Workshops on scriptwriting, acting, directing and camera work were offered, and the Wesley Institute covered conference costs for those entering Ignite this year, as part of their partnership with the Ignite festival.
"To have the Wesley Institute on board as a creative partner is an enormous value-add, because it adds their expertise in all the aspects of film-making," says Ignite Festival coordinator, Kylie Zahra.
Mrs Zahra conveys the Ignite festival's delight in being able to contribute to the film-making process this year, as well as providing recognition and exposure for the end product.
"In a sense these partnerships testify that we don't want to just be a vehicle, we want to be able to encourage film-makers in a practical way," Mrs Zahra says.
"These two initiatives give film-makers these extra opportunities to develop their skills further and we've never been able to do that before."
