Welcome! Incubator @We Are Moving Stories
Dear friends, colleagues and contributors,
Some exciting news! We are beginning our Incubator @We Are Moving Stories. Thanks to the University of Melbourne and ACMIX We Are Moving Stories was awarded a 2018 Residency @ACMIX. This month we successfully celebrated our 2000th profile at We Are Moving Stories with a joint celebration alongside the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival, recently voted the world's best documentary film festival. We are now the world's largest online community for new voices in film, promoting more than 50% women's participation in film, TV and online.
You are invited to our first event at 1-2pm, Thursday 9 August 2018. It will be held in the Events Space at ACMIX. Please note: ACMIX is in the Australian Ballet Building in Southbank, behind the NGV and Arts Centre on St Kilda Rd., Melbourne, Australia. It's definitely not at Federation Square! DIRECTIONS HERE
Come and hear from our We Are Moving Stories community, filmmakers and supporters. Learn about what we do and how we both democratize and monetize all types of content including drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTGIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror and world cinema.
Explore how you can be involved in We Are Moving Stories as both a filmmaker and organization. Everyone is welcome and we hope to see you there! More info: Carmela: cbaranowska@protonmail.com
Event speakers and We Are Moving Stories contributors and supporter organizations:
Jemma van Loenen is the director of BAM BAM, a documentary about two time Australian Flyweight champion, Bianca 'Bam Bam' Elmir who aims to be the first Australian to win a World Amateur Boxing Championship. A Lebanese Muslim girl from suburban Australia, she smashes the stereotypes of her family, society and her sport, to prove she is the best in the world. Jemma completed an Advanced Diploma in Screenwriting at RMIT, and a Certificate 3 in Screen (Documentary) through Open Channel. She is the Writer and Director of the shorts Little Bird (2010), winning Best Drama and People's Choice at RMIT Film Awards; Lily & Lani (2011), invited to Court Metrage at Cannes Film Festival; Evie Wants A Baby (2012), winning Best Actress (short category) at Melbourne Underground Film Festival, and Best Screenplay at LDUB Film Festival (USA); and Raymond Taylor’s Earnest Adventure in Love (2013). Her 5th short film Falling (2016), screened at Balinale, Made in Melbourne Film Festival and Melbourne Fringe’s Electric Shorts. She has just completed her debut feature documentary Bam Bam (2018), which premiered to a sell out crowd at Melbourne Documentary Film Festival and is set to screen at the Lebanese Film Festival in September. Here's our We Are Moving Stories interview with Jemma from March 2016: READ MORE HERE
Lauren Bailey has over 20 years experience as a performer across theatre, film and television in Australia, the UK and the USA. She also writes for theatre and film, co-created The Act of Storytelling and co-hosts a podcast of the same name. Working increasingly as a producer and director, her debut short film, In Life Today, premiered at the 26th International FlickerFest Short Film Festival and picked up awards for Best Actress and Best Screenplay at the Gold Coast Film Festival’s “Short in Paradise” 2017. She is currently developing In Life Today into a television series and is in pre-production for short film, Before I Go, shooting in October this year. Here's our We Are Moving Stories interview with Lauren from October 2017: READ MORE HERE
Cate Lewis is Vice-President of the Australia Western Sahara Association, which works for justice for the Saharawi people. The aim is to ensure a vote of self-determnation for this former Spanish colony on the Atlantic coast of Africa, now largely occupied by its northern neighbour, Morocco. Although born and bred in Melbourne, Cate spent many years abroad, mostly in Paris and Leeds. It was in the UK that she first encountered children from Western Sahara at a Woodcraft Folk international camp in 1988. Some friends from Leeds decided to invite another group of delightful Saharawi children in 1990 and continued to do so every year for over a decade. Bit by bit Cate became more involved and eventually was persuaded to start a support group here when she and her husband retired back to Melbourne. READ MORE HERE
Facilitator: Dr Carmela Baranowska is the founder and product architect at We Are Moving Stories. Over a 25 year career as a journalist, filmmaker and university lecturer Dr Carmela Baranowska has gained unique insights which she brings to her work. She's the first Australian to win a Rory Peck award and the only person to have won both a Rory Peck and Walkley award. Carmela is passionate about human rights, access, representation and amplifying other people's voices through media, especially film. Carmela has written about, filmed, lived and worked in East Timor, Burma, Afghanistan, West Papua, Indonesia, Australia, Europe and the U.S. Her 2015 conferred PhD was titled The Responsibility of the Media: Occupation in East Timor and Western Sahara.
Thanks so much for your interest!
all the best,
Dr Carmela Baranowska
Founder and Product Architect
We Are Moving Stories