ACMI Stories & Ideas

One of the most curious chapters in Australia's cinematic history began in 1948 when petroleum group Shell Company of Australia formed its own film production unit. 'Shell Film Unit Australia' produced hundreds of promotional and educational films about mining, roads, infrastructure, sports and motoring and other similar topics. While films like The Back of Beyond (1954), which won the Grand Prix...

For two decades, Universal Everything's Creative Director, Matt Pyke, has been working with teams of curious and creative beings worldwide to create large-scale, life-affirming digital artworks with the world's most iconic artists, institutions and brands – all while staying "small", artistically-driven and saying "no" to things they simply don't want to do. To unpack how they manage to do this, o...

As an artist collective, Marshmallow Laser Feast seeks to find emotional resonance in scientific stories – stories that connect us to the more-than-human world. When coupled with emerging technologies, these stories deepen our understanding of what it is to be something other than human. While developing their artworks, Marshmallow Laser Feast conducted a series of interviews with the foremost thi...

As an artist collective, Marshmallow Laser Feast seeks to find emotional resonance in scientific stories – stories that connect us to the more-than-human world. When coupled with emerging technologies, these stories deepen our understanding of what it is to be something other than human. While developing their artworks, Marshmallow Laser Feast conducted a series of interviews with the foremost thi...

As an artist collective, Marshmallow Laser Feast seeks to find emotional resonance in scientific stories – stories that connect us to the more-than-human world. When coupled with emerging technologies, these stories deepen our understanding of what it is to be something other than human. While developing their artworks, Marshmallow Laser Feast conducted a series of interviews with the foremost thi...

As an artist collective, Marshmallow Laser Feast seeks to find emotional resonance in scientific stories – stories that connect us to the more-than-human world. When coupled with emerging technologies, these stories deepen our understanding of what it is to be something other than human. While developing their artworks, Marshmallow Laser Feast conducted a series of interviews with the foremost thi...

This special episode of the Mirring Yalingwa Podcast, hosted by Wurundjeri and Ngurai-Illum-Wurrung man Jasper Cohen-Hunter, was recorded at ACMI to kick off NAIDOC Week for 2023. Produced by Jasper, the podcast focuses on Australian cinema and First Nations-led cinema productions. Jasper Cohen-Hunter: "Across every generation, our Elders have played, and continue to play, an important role and a...

Greta Nash's most recent short film, Heart Throb (2023), is about an 18-year-old, Gray (Gabriel Cali), whose love for his best friend Angelo is complicated by his desire for TikTok stardom. Last year, Greta underwent a Director's Attachment on Run Rabbit Run, funded by Screen Australia, and in the year prior, they wrote a polished draft of their first feature, School Camp, funded by Screen Tasmani...

Since 2016, artist Anthony Tan has been working on Way To The Woods, a third person adventure game where a deer and a fawn must embark on a journey through an abandoned world to get home. Anthony joined ACMI X as resident in 2022 to put the finishing touches on his highly anticipated game, which has received global attention for its gorgeous art style, mechanics and soundtrack. In this episode of...

Have you considered what form is best for your story? In this episode, we talk about Jason's path into the industry and strategy for storytelling; finding a personal connection and considering the perfect form. Jason Christou is a creator/writer/director who tells stories infused by his Greek-Cypriot and Austrian/Slovenian descent across film, TV, documentary, interactive and games. His feature pr...

We explore how music can inspire the filmmaking process. This episode's guest is Eva Otsing, an Estonian born and raised visual artist and filmmaker. Eva spoke to us about her path into filmmaking and how music greatly inspires her work. We chat about her recent documentary CONFLUENCE which she directed, shot and edited, which takes an intimate look into the world of the Kiwi artist Charlotte Wats...

This episode is for those interested in creating visual art for games. Our next guest on Inside ACMI X is concept Artist Zahraa Al Zubaydi who is currently working on Pixellated The Game, about a cyborg child who finds a way to connect to two opposing worlds she belongs with, in a universe of different dimensions drawn in different styles. We spoke to Zahraa about her pathway into videogames, and...

This episode is for anyone fascinated by celebrity culture. Sarah Scales is a PhD Candidate at Swinburne University researching the theory of parasocial relationships and breakups and the negotiation process fans experience following a celebrity scandal. The cinema is her greatest passion in life, and she is fascinated by why and how audiences engage with the content they do, and the effects media...

This episode is for deep thinking comedy lovers. Our guest is Emile Zile, an artist, filmmaker and performer who talks to us about his darkly comic practice – the critical re-use and re-encoding of media broadcasts, communication protocols and online platforms. His work reflects a distributed humanity, a yearning for transcendence and the limits of language. Building on a background of live and si...

For our season finale, we interview new-media artist, PHD candidate and Lecturer at RMIT University, Tyler Payne. Tyler's work focuses on the genre of self-portraiture in photography and video to investigate womens' embodiment through the lens of gendered advertising. She interrogates the impact that social media platforms such as Instagram have on women and their ability to visualise and share im...

This episode is for creatives juggling multiple passions. Meet our next guest on Inside ACMI X, Jacob Leaney, who has found a way to make music and games by combining the two. Jacob is the founder of Things for Humans, the pop-music video game studio behind Video World. In this episode, Jacob shares his experience as a game developer, songwriter and producer. He is currently working on Halloween’s...

In this episode of Inside ACMI X, we talk to resident Julian Wilton, Creative Director at Massive Monster Games Studio, about his experience making games with a focus on their new game, Cult of the Lamb, soon to be released. Australian Game Developer Award winner Julian Wilton is an animator, illustrator, digital designer. He shipped his first console game before leaving university and is based in...

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/

This week on Inside ACMI X, we’re talking to Emma Parker and Chris Leaver from experiential training company Isonomic, to explore how they’re using Mixed Reality technologies to upskill the Australian workforce. Isonomic is a cutting edge immersive Augmented, Virtual and Mixed Reality company made up of talented developers, game designers and 3D artists who transform complex training into state-of...

In this episode, we invited filmmaker, author and co-founder of Lean Filmmaking Kylie Eddy to discuss how she has re-imagined the development, production and distribution of independent films – and how she is challenging conventional wisdom with new ways of working. Last year, Kylie and her collaborator and brother David Eddy released their new book, 'The Art of Lean Filmmaking: An unconventional...

This fortnight, we're talking to writer and narrative designer, and ACMI X resident, Alexander Swords. Alexander made the switch from writing for film to writing for videogames, and he now advocates for the power of interactive narrative and the need for diverse future storytellers. His work explores emotional games, games for change and the adaptation and evolution of stories moving to new medium...

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 F...

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 featu...

COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE Is Australian press freedom an endangered species? What can be done to prevent the media being portrayed as the enemy of the people? Australia has some of the most draconian anti-media laws of all Western countries. Police raids on journalists, national security laws that criminalise journalistic activities, attacks on whistleblowers, archaic defamation laws and restricted...

CRAFT Meet the key people behind hit ABC shows that have delivered real world impact, and find out what’s next in 2020. Commissioning distinctive TV that has a real-world impact on Australians and their communities is a major goal of ABC’s Factual and Documentary teams. The ABC has been leading the way with this form of programming through acclaimed series such as Old People’s Home for 4 Year Old’...