Heading towards its seventh year in 2010, ACCELERATOR has firmly established itself as a showcase of pre-eminent new Australian and New Zealand shorts.

What is ACCELERATOR?

ACCELERATOR is an utterly unique environment for a small, select number of emerging filmmakers (around 12) which comprises these key elements:

• intensive sessions by international and local industry specialists. These specialists could range from inspiring creative teams and producers to marketing specialists, international festival programmers and critics, distributors and sales agents, and legal experts
• keynote addresses to effectively launch & close ACCELERATOR by internationally renowned film identities who would speak of a visionary cinema
• tailored screening programs (from the Festival) to broaden the film culture of the participants & emphasise not only a survey of new cinema but the many and varied possibilities of film
• one-to-one access & meetings with key national & international industry players

 
ACCELERATOR is a dynamic opportunity for filmmakers to shift through the gears in their development as filmmakers and to gain a broader appreciation of the culture of film internationally, within one of the largest film festivals in the Asia Pacific region.  ACCELERATOR is a program that brings together and supports the best young filmmakers from across Australia and New Zealand.
 
ACCELERATOR takes place over 4 days at the start of MIFF and is held within the Festival's CBD axis. ACCELERATOR is an environment intended to fast-track not only the skills of these emerging filmmakers in their craft, their industry knowledge and contacts but to reveal a better sense of the dynamics and possibilities of cinema internationally.

Who is eligible?

Australian or New Zealander filmmakers (primarily writer/directors) who have a short film selected for competition at MIFF.
Filmmakers who seem ready to make the step to feature filmmaking and so would greatly benefit by participation in this program.

Selection process?

ACCELERATOR is not open for submission. Filmmakers can express their interest by sending their CV and few lines on their upcoming projects.
The selection is at the discretion of MIFF programmers.
ACCELERATOR potential participants will be contacted towards the end of May.

For more information on this program, contact Chloe Brugale:

chloe@melbournefilmfestival.com.au

From back to front, left to right:
Michael Latham, Nassiem Valamanesh, Dominic Allen, Alexandra Schepisi, Corrie Chen, Alex Castro (Accelerator Coordinator), Juliette Veber (New Zealand Film commission), Gaysorn  Thavat, Edwin McGill, Mad Matthiesen, Ainsley Gardiner, Dena Curtis, Adrian Francis, Corrie Jones, Erin Hutching (Accelerator Assistant), Chloe Brugale (Short Films Coordinator)

Acknowledgements: Accelerator is a Melbourne International Film Festival initiative in partnership with Screen Australia, Film Victoria, New Zealand Film Commission and in association with the Danish Film Institute, Australian Directors Guild and the Australian Centre for the Moving Image.