IN THIS NEWSLETTER

• Chasing Asylum in Hobart & Launceston this week
• BOFA team becoming international
• BOFA Aussie Short Film Competition launched
• BOFA Directors at New York’s Tribeca Film Festival

BOFA is proud to partner with CinemaPlus and Amnesty International, Tasmania Branch to bring to Hobart and Launceston Chasing Asylum, the film that the Australian Government did not want you to see.

Special guest at both screenings will be the film’s producer/director Eva Orner.
Academy and Emmy Award winner Eva Orner is an Australian filmmaker recently back home after ten years based in Los Angeles and New York.
Her latest film, Chasing Asylum, tackles Australia’s treatment of refugees and asylum seekers over the past 15 years, focusing on offshore detention.
The film was shot in Australia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Lebanon, Iran and Afghanistan.
Prior to Chasing Asylum Eva wrote, directed and produced the feature documentary The Network, set behind the scenes at the largest and most successful television network in one of the most unstable and dangerous places on earth, Afghanistan.
Eva’s US producing credits include the feature documentaries Taxi To The Dark Side, Gonzo: The Life And Work Of Dr Hunter S Thompson, The Human Behaviour Experiments and Herbie Hancock’s Possibilities.

Her work has screened at festivals including Cannes, Sundance, Tribeca and Sydney, Chasing Asylum reveals the personal impact of sending those in search of a safe home to languish in limbo - with never before seen footage from inside Australia’s offshore detention camps.
It explores the mental, physical and fiscal consequences of Australia’s decision to lock away families in unsanitary conditions hidden from media scrutiny, destroying their lives under the pretext of saving them.

You can meet  Eva Orner at an intimate and in depth Q&A after the film.

NOT TO BE MISSED - ONE SCREENING ONLY IN EACH CITY
HOBART - THURSDAY, MAY 12 AT 7PM, PEACOCK THEATRE, SALAMANCA PLACE
Tickets available NOW

LAUNCESTON - SATURDAY, MAY 14 AT 7PM, UTAS ANNEXE THEATRE, INVERESK.
Tickets available NOW

Photo: Chasing Asylum Producer/Director Eva Orner will conduct Q & As after the film in Hobart and Launceston

She has been the head of the film delegation and red carpet office at the Venice Film Festival for the past 11 years and has also worked for the Berlinale, the Edinburgh Film Festival, the Doha Tribeca and Ajyal Film Festival in Qatar, the Giffoni Film Festival, the Middle East Now Festival in Florence and the Tampere Film Festival in Finland.

As a programmer, she specializes in films from the Arabic Gulf Region. Laura has a strong interest in food and wine, and has organized panels that link food and cinema. She will be closely involved with this year’s FOODIEBOFA.

She will also be a guest judge for the BOFA Aussie Short Film Competition.

Festival Director Owen Tilbury said that he was delighted to welcome Laura onto the BOFA team.

“It’s very gratifying that someone with Laura’s breadth of Festival experience has heard about BOFA and wants to help us build it into a significant international Festival.“

Can you help? Our French intern Marie Lubet still needs accommodation for part of her stay.

Thanks to those who've already offered to billet Marie during her time working for BOFA, from August till November. We still have some gaps. If you could help, or would like more information, phone BOFA Festival Manager Tanya Hussey on 0434 359 818

Photo: New BOFA team member Laura Aimone

Entries are now open for the 2016 Tasmanian Breath of Fresh Air Film Festival’s “BOFA Aussie Short Film Competition”, sponsored by Aussie Launceston.

The panel of judges this year will include one of Australia’s best known film directors and actors, Clayton Jacobson, who is best known for Kenny, Miss Fisher Murder Mysteries and internationally distributed Kenny’s World plus many shorts such as Mordy Koots, Melma, I Love U, Tanaka and Tickler. Clayton has had, as well, a long association with Tropfest.

The competition is open to all Aussie film makers with a film of 15 minutes or less made in the last five years. Up to 40 of the short film entries will be selected for screening at the Festival.

Aussie Launceston will partner with BOFA in presenting this year's Aussie Short Film Competition. Chris Antypas, Aussie Launceston Franchisee said:

“Aussie Launceston is a proud partner of the BOFA Aussie Short Film Competition. Aussie Launceston is a natural partner for the competition as we love Australian stories and are excited that a leading Australian film maker like Clayton Jacobson is getting involved and joining this year’s judges panel.”

There will be separate awards for Best Aussie Short Film and Best Tassie Short Film.

Each winning film maker will receive the unique hand crafted blown glass BOFA Devil Award plus $1,000.

All short film entrants will receive a pass to see eight films of their choice at the 2016 BOFA Festival and an invitation to the industry only BOFA Devil Awards function.

The seventh Tasmanian Breath of Fresh Air Film Festival will be held in Launceston from Thursday, November 10 to Sunday, November 13.

Entries for the Aussie Short Film Competition close on July 31 and details are on the BOFA web site.

Photo: Clayton and Shane Jacobson, creators of Kenny

AND DON’T FORGET

Tasmania’s Parks – a Place to Connect

Entries are also open for the Parks & Wildlife short film competition which celebrates 100 years of National Parks in Tasmania.

We invite anyone who loves Tasmania’s wild places to share how you connect with Tasmania’s parks through stills and moving images of your travels, your stories and your special connections with nature, your inner self or your companions.

You are invited to submit your short films (maximum length 3 minutes). Prizes worth $2000 are on offer - See full details of entry conditions and prizes on the BOFA web site.

A message from Owen & Helen Tilbury, who have been in New York at the famous Tribeca Film Festival.... 

“The famous New York Tribeca Festival screens 100 films compared to around 40 at BOFA  so there are lessons to be learned.  We saw the world premiere of Don't Look Down, the account of Sir Richard Branson's ballooning exploits crossing the Atlantic and Pacific. We contacted Branson's office and have been put in touch with the Producers to see if we can screen this edge of the seat film at BOFA 2016. We also saw a number of other films that might suit BOFA's programme.

Tribeca has a strong action session focus just as does BOFA. This year they focussed on Virtual Reality,  an area that Tasmania is engaged in via the Human Interface Laboratory at UTAS. We will  see if there is a potential partnership there.

They also conduct the Disruptive Innovation Awards honouring innovators from around the world like Sir Richard Leakey, the great anthropologist and environmentalist.  Interesting comparison with BOFA’s own  Innovative Tasmania Awards which this year will provide 11 different innovation awards. We came away with a lot of good ideas re the conduct of the awards ceremony which this year will be held in Hobart.”

Photo: Richard Leakey receives his award at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York.