A big year for drama

A total of $144 million was spent in South Australia on drama production and post production in 2021-22, according to a report released this week.

The Screen Australia National Drama Report showed South Australia’s drama spend is up 47 per cent on last year’s total of $98 million, and only slightly below 2019-20’s record high of $148 million. A record $89 million was spent on PDV (post production, digital and visual effects) for titles including Elvis and Thor: Love and Thunder, which is more than double that of last year and represents 16 per cent of the national total.

SA Film Corporation CEO Kate Croser says the spend is particularly significant because it was driven by productions led by local production companies and producers.

“South Australia shone in TV production with Firebite, Aftertaste S2, and A Beginner’s Guide to Grief, and feature film production with horror Talk to Me from debut feature filmmakers Danny and Michael Philippou, The Survival of Kindness, and sci-fi Monolith, which gained the first feature film credits for new South Australian writer, director, and producer team Lucy Campbell, Matt Vesely and Bettina Hamilton, alongside Run Rabbit Run from local writer Hannah Kent,” she says, adding that it was also a strong year for children’s television drama.

The Screen Australia report showed that nationally, $2.29 billion was spent across 162 drama screen productions that began production or post production in Australia in 2021/22, including a record spend on Australian titles of $1.51 billion.

Wish You Were Here

Guests at the opening of Adelaide Central School of Art’s Wish You Were Here! fundraising exhibition. Photo: Sam Roberts

Mini masterpieces can be snapped up for $80 at Adelaide Central School of Art’s annual fundraising event for students and graduates this month.

The postcard-sized works in the Wish You Were Here! exhibition have all been donated by established and emerging artists, including people such as Gerry Wedd, Daryl Austin, Julia Robinson, Mark Valenzuela, Roy Ananda, Ellie Noir, Chris De Rosa and Helen Fuller. Pieces are signed on the back, so you won’t know the identity of the artist until after your purchase.

Wish You Were Here! continues at Adelaide Central Gallery until November 18, and we’re told there are still around 140 works available.

Meanwhile, put a note in your diary for December 10, which is when ACSA opens its annual graduate exhibition, where there will also be the opportunity to buy works by some of the 27 new graduates from the school’s Bachelor of Visual Art and Bachelor of Visual Art (Honours) degrees.

Get snapping

Gary Meredith’s Sleeping Dragon was a finalist in the 2022 Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year competition.

Entries have opened for the 2023 Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year competition, which welcomes wildlife and landscape photos that illustrate the beauty of the natural world while also depicting “the harsh reality of human impact on nature”.

The competition, run by the SA Museum, awards $10,000 and a holiday to the overall winner, with prize money for category winners increasing next year to $1500, while the junior winner will receive $500. An additional category has also been added.

“We are thrilled to announce the new Macro category, which invites photographers to capture small subjects in nature that may be barely visible to the naked eye and present them to us at a larger-than-life-size,” says museum director Brian Oldman.

The 2022 Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year attracted 2443 entries from more than 600 photographers and was won by underwater photographer Ashlee Jansen with an image of sharks circling the carcass of a humpback whale at Western Australia’s Coral Bay.

Entries for 2023 are open until January 27, with competition details on the SA Museum website. Finalists’ works will be shown in an exhibition at the museum before going on tour.

Keyed up for PianoLab

There’s a new festival in the Festival City this month, with top pianists set to converge at The Lab over four days for a series of 15 recitals covering classical, jazz and contemporary music.

PianoLab curator Anna Goldsworthy (pictured) says the November 17-29 festival will show “the 19th-century technology of the concert grand piano meeting 21st-century digital technology in an innovative mash-up of arts disciplines”.

“The concerts will feature the full range of piano genres all set in an intimate salon-style venue combined with cutting-edge immersive visual art, delivered through the light wall at The Lab Adl. Each concert’s visual art will be curated by the artist, especially for their performance.”

Musicians performing at PianoLab include Goldsworthy, Konstantin Shamray, Paavali Jumppanen, Paul Grabowsky, Lucinda Collins, Stephen McIntyre, Mark Ferguson, Dan Thorpe and Stephen Whittington, with Goldsworthy and Shamray also presenting a masterclass for “passionate amateurs” on November 13. The festival is a co-production between Recitals Australia, Light Cultural Foundation, the JM Coetzee Centre for Creative Practice and the Elder Conservatorium, with the full program and tickets available here.

And the SAM finalists are…

SAM Awards finalist Elsy Wameyo.

Kenyan-born, Adelaide-raised musician Elsy Wameyo leads the list of finalists announced this week for the annual South Australian Music (SAM) Awards, vying for honours in six categories.

Wameyo’s “River Nile” is in the running for best song, while her EP Nilotoc is a finalist for best release. She is also a finalist in the best solo artist and best music video categories, for the People’s Choice Award for hip-hop artist of the year, and for the industry award for best studio engineer/producer.

Other finalists in multiple categories include Electric Fields, Tilly Tjala Thomas, The Empty Threats, TOWNS, Teenage Joans and LOLA.

Winners will be announced at the 2022 SAM Awards event at Hindley Street Music Hall on November 17, with the full list of finalists online here.

Green Room is a regular column for InReview, providing quick news for people interested, or involved, in South Australian arts and culture.

Get in touch by emailing us at [email protected]