John Michael Safran is an Australian radio personality, satirist, documentary maker and author, known for combining humour with religious, political and ethnic issues. First gaining fame appearing in Race Around the World in 1997, Safran went on to produce a series of documentaries, television shows and host radio programs.
Richard Lowenstein is an Australian filmmaker. He has written, produced and directed: feature films, including Strikebound (1984), Dogs in Space (1986) and He Died with a Felafel in His Hand (2001); music videos for bands such as INXS and U2; concert performance films, Australian Made: The Movie (1987) and U2: LoveTown (1989); and TV adverts.
John Safran's Music Jamboree was a light-hearted Australian music documentary television series, hosted by John Safran for SBS television. The program was produced by Richard Lowenstein, Selin Yaman and Ghost Pictures and directed by Craig Melville, Richard Lowenstein and a number of other directors under the production company Ghost of Your Ex-Boyfriend Productions in association with SBS Independent. It screened in 2002, and consisted of sketches and outlandish public stunts, typical of Safran's work. The series won two Australian Film Institute Awards; "Best Comedy Series" and "Most Innovative Program Concept". SBS followed the series up with the similarly styled John Safran vs God in 2004.
John Safran vs God is an eight-part television documentary series by John Safran which was broadcast on SBS TV of Australia in 2004. It has been described in a media release as "John Safran's most audacious project yet". It had a much more serious tone than Safran's previous work Music Jamboree. The show was released by Ghost of Your Ex-Boyfriend Productions and SBS Independent, was co-written with Mark O'Toole, directed by Craig Melville, and produced by Richard Lowenstein, Selin Yaman and Ghost Pictures. The production team was known as Ghost of Your Ex-Boyfriend Productions, an amalgamation of John Safran's Ex-Boyfriend Productions, and Richard Lowenstein's Ghost Productions. The series won the 2005 Australian Film Institute Award for Best Comedy Series.
Race Around the World was an Australian travel documentary and competition series produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 1997 and 1998. The series was brought to the ABC by filmmaker Michael Rubbo, and was based on the Canadian television series Course destination monde (1988–1999).
Robert John Maguire is an Australian Roman Catholic priest, community worker and media personality from South Melbourne. From 1973 to 2012, Maguire was parish priest of Sts Peter and Paul's Church in South Melbourne. Commonly known as "Father Bob", Maguire was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 1989 "for service to homeless youth through the Open Family Foundation".
SBS independent (SBSi) operated as the commissioning house for Australia's multicultural public broadcaster, the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS), between August 1994 and December 2007. It was instituted via the landmark "Creative Nation" cultural policy initiative released in October 1994 by the Keating Government. The core purpose of the institution was to commission multicultural content from Australian independent film and television producers. At the end of December 2007, SBSi ceased to function as an administratively independent institution, and was merged with the SBS Content and Online Division.
Craig James Melville is an Australian television comedy director. He is best known for his collaborations with comedians John Safran, Lawrence Leung and The Chaser.
Peter Andrikidis is an Australian film and television director, and producer.
Say a Little Prayer is an Australian children's film by Richard Lowenstein. It stars Sudi de Winter, Fiona Ruttelle, Rebecca Smart, Lynne Murphy and Jill Forster. The film was written by Richard Lowenstein, based on Robin Klein's novel, Came Back to Show You I Could Fly. It was nominated for four Australian Film Institute Awards.
The 51st Annual Australian Film Institute Awards ceremony, honouring the best in film and television acting achievements for 2009 in the cinema of Australia, took place over two nights on 5 December 2009 and 11 December 2009. During the ceremonies, the Australian Film Institute presented Australian Film Institute Awards in 40 categories, including feature films, television, animation, and documentary. The ceremony was hosted by Julia Zemiro of SBS's RocKwiz. Winners are listed first and highlighted in boldface; with nominees thereafter.
Douglas Arrowsmith is a Canadian film director and writer. He has produced award-winning documentaries for CBC Television, music videos, and feature-length films for BBC Four, The Movie Network and HBO Canada.
Tom Zubrycki is an Australian documentary filmmaker. He is "widely respected as one of Australia's leading documentary filmmakers", according to The Concise Routledge Encyclopedia of the Documentary Film. His films on social, environmental and political issues have won international prizes and have been screened around the world. He is an active member of the Australian Directors Guild and lectures in the Open Program of the Australian Film, Television and Radio School.
Bob Connolly is an Australian film director, cinematographer and author. He is best known for his documentaries produced over the past 30 years, including The Highlands Trilogy and Rats in the Ranks. More recent films include Facing the Music (2001) and Mrs Carey's Concert (2011). His films have won an Academy Award nomination, AFI Awards, and Grand Prix at the Cinéma du Réel Festival.
In Bob We Trust is a feature documentary about Father Bob Maguire directed by Lynn-Maree Milburn and Produced by Ghost Pictures Pty Ltd.
Autoluminescent, directed by Lynn-Maree Milburn and Richard Lowenstein, is a 2011 documentary film about musician Rowland S. Howard.
The Loft Live was a weekly live variety hour television program produced by RMITV that broadcast on C31 Melbourne. The cast included Rove McManus (1997-1999), Scott Brennan, Peter Helliar, Adam Richard, Myf Warhurst, Ged Wood, Bert Kennedy, Kim Hope, Matilda Donaldson, Bernie Carr and special reporters. Like its predecessor Under Melbourne Tonight, The Loft Live provided a platform for up and coming talent airtime and gained a following between 50,000-100,000 viewers a week.
The 4th Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards are a series of awards which includes the 4th AACTA Awards Luncheon, the 4th AACTA Awards ceremony and the 4th AACTA International Awards. The former two events will be held at The Star Event Centre, in Sydney, New South Wales in late January 2015. Presented by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA), the awards will celebrate the best in Australian feature film, television, documentary and short film productions of 2014. The AACTA Awards ceremony will be televised on Network Ten for the third year running. The 4th AACTA Awards are a continuum of the Australian Film Institute Awards, established in 1958 and presented until 2010 after which it was rebranded the AACTA Awards when the Australian Film Institute (AFI) established AACTA in 2011.
Memories and Dreams is a 1993 feature documentary film about actress Johanna Kilma-Ocenaskova, directed by Lynn-Maree Milburn. Part fairytale and part drama, the film tells a tale of loss and renewal in which romantic love is but one of many passions. Set almost entirely in Prague, it chronicles the life of Czech born actress Johanna Kilma-Ocenaskova, from a childhood of freedom and fantasy to the unexpected horrors of World War II and her eventual escape to Australia. The film relays her experience not only as a series of disconnected events, but a metaphysical exploration of the nature of personal memory. Every single frame is re-photographed, tinted or hand-painted. The film was developed from an original idea by director, Lynn-Maree Milburn.
