SCREEN TASMANIA FUNDING DECISIONS

Screen Tasmania Board Funding Decisions

Screen Tasmania announces funding totalling $96 000 for screen industry development and production, at the August Board meeting. Funding included support for the production and development of two documentaries, a screen festival, three professional development opportunities and a game app called Saurus Street. Saurus Street is the first game app to receive funding from Screen Tasmania. It is based on the best-selling books by Tasmanian author Nicholas Falk and involves players interacting with pet dinosaurs on a smart phone or tablet. The Director of Screen Tasmania, Karena Slaninka said the Board encourages investment in games and apps which support Tasmania’s rapidly growing digital screen industry. “Digital screen projects like Saurus Street are exciting productions with games and apps one of the fastest growing sectors in the Australian entertainment and media markets. “This is the sixth production to be funded by Screen Tasmania under the Digital Innovation program, with digital media projects over the past three years injecting $4.5 million into our local economy,” Ms Slaninka said. The Saurus Street game app will create seven part-time jobs and will be developed by Hobart company Adam Walker Studios who have produced the game apps Critter Ball, Mad Dash-Canyon Run and Sky Rush which have achieved more than four million downloads on iTunes. The Screen Tasmanian Board also recommended funding of $40 000 for a documentary commissioned by the ABC called Projecting Skullbone Plains. It focuses on an artists retreat in the Central Highlands of Tasmania, exploring the relationship inspiring Australian artists have with Tasmania’s unique landscape. The documentary features some of Australia’s top landscape artists including: Imants Tillers, who has exhibited at the Venice Biennale and the Institute of Contemporary Art in London; Janet Laurence, one of Australia’s most famous installation artists; and Tasmanian painter, Philip Wolfhagen.