ACCELERATOR is in its 5th year in 2008 and has firmly established itself as the program of pre-eminent new Australian and international shorts, as well as an esteemed industry program with international recognition. The industry program is a dynamic opportunity for emerging 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.

Congratulations to the 2008 selected participants:

JOHN ALSOP
John Alsop has written extensively for radio and television including the landmark miniseries Brides of Christ, The Leaving of Liverpool, Bordertown and R.A.N. He is currently developing a feature screenplay with Fred Schepisi.. He. She. It. is his second short film as both writer and director.

JONATHAN AUF DER HEIDE
Jonathan’s film ‘Hell’s Gates’ won Best Film, Best Director and Best 3rd year film at the 2007 VCA Graduate Awards. More recently, Jonathan worked as the Assistant Editor on Paul Cox’s latest film Salvation. The feature film of ‘Hell’s Gates’ is currently in pre- production.

JULIUS AVERY
Julius Avery is a Melbournian writer / director and the ‘In Competition’ Jury Prize winner at the 61st Cannes Film Festival for his short film Jerrycan. He is the 2006 winner of the Emerging Australian Filmmaker Award at the Melbourne International Film Festival, and the 2007 ADG Directors Awards for Best Direction in a Student Short Film for ‘End of Town’. Julius is committed to telling stories that will resonate with a world audience and has three feature film scripts in development, one of which he won Best Unproduced Feature Screenplay at the 2006 Inside Filmmaker (IF) awards.

ANTHONY CHEN
Anthony Chen became the first Singapore filmmaker to win an award at Cannes when his short film Grandma secured a Special Mention at the festival's 60th edition in 2007. Collectively, his films have screened at numerous prestigious film festivals such as Cannes, Berlin, Rotterdam, Pusan, London, Sao Paulo, Stockholm, Sydney, Chicago, Hawaii, and others. Anthony believes in making films that seek to explore and reflect upon the human condition.

CALLUM COOPER
Callum Cooper is a graduate of Victorian College of Arts specialising in animation. His graduate film won accolades at the VCA awards and went on to receive a 2005 Australian Film Industry awards. Since that time Callum has been the auteur behind many projects that have received international attention. His film work has also been exhibited at the Boston Institute of Contemporary Art, and the London Institute of Contemporary Art. Callum is currently the auteur to a Film Victoria supported digital media prototyping project and in the final stages of co-writing a feature which he plans to create in the near future.

JEREMY CUMPSTON
Jeremy initially trained as an actor graduating from the Western Australian Academy Of Performing Arts (WAAPA) in 1995. He started his own theatre company, The Tamarama Rock Surfers (TRS) in 1994 and founded one of Australia's leading independent venues, The Old Fitzroy Theatre (Sydney), in 1997, where he directed, produced and acted. Jeremy spent four years in a lead role in the hospital drama ‘All Saints’ before leaving to concentrate on directing in 2001. His first short film ‘Free’ was commissioned for the special film project POV, which won the Writer's Choice Award. Jeremy is developing two feature film projects – Dying For Cake, based on Louise Limerick’s award winning novel, and the thriller, The Hidden, set in Hill End, NSW.

JOHN EVAGORA
John Evagora is a recent graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) School of Film & Television, having completed a Bachelor of Film & Television degree in 2007. His graduating short film, 296 Smith Street, has been selected to screen in competition at the 2008 Melbourne International Film Festival, as well as also screening at Sydney International Film Festival, and Brisbane International Film Festival.

DUSTIN FENELEY
Dustin Feneley is a graduate of the Masters Degree in Film Directing from the VCA Film School. His short films as writer/director have screened and won awards at numerous national and international film festivals, including Snow, which screened in official selection at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. He is the winner of the 2007 Qantas Spirit of Youth Award for Moving Image. He is currently developing his first feature, Stray.

STEPH GREEN
Steph Green received her masters degree in film studies in Ireland where she then directed three national television spots and a short film, Push Hands. She worked as assistant to Spike Jonze on various commercial, music video and feature productions before pursuing her own directing career. Two of her commercial spots have been nominated in the Cannes commercial awards and her latest short, New Boy, has won multiple awards worldwide. Steph is developing her first feature with her producer, Tamara Anghie.

MICHELLE SAVILL
Michelle Savill is a storyteller whose films focus on curious characters and the little moment that make up their lives. Michelle has just completed a postgraduate year in Film Studies at Waikato Institute of Technology in Hamilton, New Zealand. It was during this year that she wrote and directed her first short film drama Betty Banned Sweets. Michelle is interested in films that are narratively spare but allow the world of her characters to unfold though silence and space within the frame, showing rather than telling. This is what she has attempted in Betty Banned Sweets. Michelle Savill now lives in Wellington where she works as an assistant to Director/Producer Gaylene Preston. She is currently rewriting her next short film script, which she aims to produce early next year.

HUGH SULLIVAN
Hugh Sullivan has directed television interstitials and online content for SBS, written and directed the SAFC-funded short film Man Janson (winner Best Film, Best Comedy, Best Actor, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, 2005 Zoom Awards, and the Punters Choice Award, Short Cuts Festival), and the ABC miniSeries project Stanley & Dean (nominated for Innovation in Digital Media, and Emerging Young Filmmaker Award, 2007 SASSA Awards) for wireless platforms. Hugh was also the recipient of the 2006 Qantas Spirit of Youth Award (SOYA) for Moving Pictures, which resulted in a mentorship with Philip Noyce. Family Man was produced at the Australian Film Television and Radio School, where Hugh is studying a Master of Arts, Directing.

AARON WILSON
Aaron has been writing and directing films since 2003 and his passion for understated human drama has proved successful on the international festival circuit. Aaron's 2007 film, Wind, was created as part of a filmmaker residency programme with the Objectifs Centre for Filmmaking & Photography in Singapore, and was awarded 'best short film' at the 2007 Kuala Lumpur International Film Festival.

KATIE WOLFE
Katie is one of New Zealand’s most interesting emerging directors, with a distinctive visual style demonstrated in her work in the serial drama genre (Shortland Street, Whanau), children’s television (Maori show Puukoro) and in theatre (The Case of Katherine Mansfield, Plenty and The Women, for which she was named Most Promising New Director at the 2005 Chapman Tripp Awards). Katie’s current projects include directing Go Girls, an upcoming primetime drama series for Television New Zealand, developing a theatre production based on James K Baxter’s Jerusalem Daybook, and developing short film and feature film ideas. Katie is from Taranaki and is Pakeha and Maori (Ngati Tama, Ngati Mutunga).

LEO WOODHEAD
Leo Woodhead is a recent graduate of the Master of Creative and Performing Arts program at Auckland University. His time spent at University encompassed a study of classic narrative, philosophy and moving image. Leo has written and directed  several short  dramas under the tutelage  of Vanessa Alexander, sparking  an enveloping passion for film. In 2005, Leo collaborated with Czech cinematographer Martin Priess on the film Sunday during his year long visit to New Zealand. It was the beginning of a great friendship and working relationship, prompting Leo to go on a "student exchange" organised between Auckland University and FAMU in Prague to shoot his graduating film project. The result was Cargo. Leo is now back living in New Zealand focussing on developing his first feature film script.

Click through to browse 2007 Accelerator films