PROLIFIC AUSTRALIAN PRODUCER SUE MILLIKEN TO RECEIVE 2018 CHAUVEL AWARD
The Gold Coast Film Festival will award national screen industry award, the Chauvel Award, to producer Sue Milliken this month.
With a career across film and TV stretching from the late 1960’s to today, Milliken is a highly regarded and lauded Australian producer. Most recently, Sue co-wrote and produced the Bruce Beresford film LADIES IN BLACK, set to be released in October.
Milliken is the 20th recipient of the prestigious Chauvel Award, which was established in 1992, in honour of influential Australian filmmakers Charles and Elsa Chauvel and acknowledges individuals who have made a significant contribution to Australian screen industry.
On Thursday 28 June, the Gold Coast Film Festival will present Milliken with the Chauvel Award at a special invite-only industry event: Jenny Cooney In Conversation With Sue Milliken. The night will be an intimate look at Milliken’s career, accompanied by footage from her films and moderated by Hollywood entertainment journalist, Jenny Cooney.
Milliken’s prolific producing credits include THE FRINGE DWELLERS, BLACK ROBE (the first official Australia/Canada co-production), SIRENS, DATING THE ENEMY, PARADISE ROAD, the TV mini series MY BROTHER JACK, 66 episodes of the US sci-fi TV series FARSCAPE and the indigenous films CROCODILE STORY and THE REDFERN STORY.
“This award is very special to me,” said Sue Milliken.
“I have always been a great admirer of Charles and Elsa Chauvel, who were pioneers of our industry with a grand vision for Australian films and Australian stories. It is such an honour to stand in their shadow.”
Milliken has been recognised for her remarkable work in the Australian screen industry by the 2018 Chauvel Award Committee, which features six of Australia’s most highly respected and sought-after film industry members.
The esteemed committee is comprised of Australian film critic and TV personality David Stratton; 2002 Chauvel Award recipient and producer of the AFI Best Film winner, Lantana and Academy Award® winner The Piano Jan Chapman; producer of the Academy Award® winner Harvie Krumpet Melanie Coombs; film industry veteran, actor and producer Alan Finney; film historian Professor Emeritus Bruce Molloy and Screen Queensland’s CEO, Tracey Vieira.
Ms Vieira said the committee is delighted to present Sue Milliken with the Chauvel Award and praised the Gold Coast Film Festival’s reinvigoration of the award.
“The Gold Coast Film Festival has brought new life to the Chauvel Award that honours Charles and Elsa Chauvel, pioneers of the Queensland film industry.
“Screen Queensland is proud to sponsor the festival and we applaud their work in celebrating Australian filmmakers through the Chauvel Award and believe outstanding female producer, Sue Milliken, is the ideal 2018 recipient,” Ms Vieira said.
Sue has served in numerous senior leadership roles in the Australian screen industry including Chair of the Australian Film Commission, past President of Screen Producers Australia and National President of the Australian Cinema Pioneers.
She is a recipient of the Australian Film Institute’s Raymond Longford Award and the Order of Australia (AO) for service to the film industry, and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Australian International Movie Convention in 2016.
In addition to receiving many awards, Sue has published two books; a memoir about life in the Australian film industry, Selective Memory and a book of correspondence with the director Bruce Beresford, There’s a Fax From Bruce.
In 2016, with the support of Screen Queensland, the Gold Coast Film Festival reinvigorated the Chauvel Award, previously part of the Brisbane International Film Festival, and awarded Australian actress Claudia Karvan in 2016 and actress Deborah Mailman in 2017.
Previous award recipients have also included producer Anthony Buckley, directors George Miller, Rolf de Heer and Gillian Armstrong, actors Bryan Brown and Geoffrey Rush, cinematographer John Seale and documentary makers Bob Connolly and Robin Anderson.
Gold Coast Film Festival Director Lucy Fisher said it was an honour to welcome Sue Milliken to the Gold Coast for the Chauvel Award presentation.
“It’s a privilege to award The Chauvel Award to Sue – she is a ground-breaking Australian producer with an incredible body of work over the years and I look forward to hearing her many stories in her conversation with Jenny Cooney,” Ms Fisher said.
Attracting 16,300+ attendees to more than 100 films, industry panels and events in April, the Gold Coast Film Festival brings diverse Australian and International films, filmmakers and film events to the Gold Coast, enhancing the city’s cultural reputation, driving tourism and reinforcing the city’s position as one of Australia’s leading filmmaking destinations.
The Chauvel Award 2018 runs outside of the festival dates, as part of the Gold Coast Film Festival’s year-round series of screenings, Q&As and screen culture events. Please visit www.gcfilmfestival.com for more information.
ABOUT THE CHAUVEL AWARD
In 2016, the Gold Coast Film Festival reinvigorated the Chauvel Award – a prestigious industry award previously part of the Brisbane International Film Festival.
Established in 1992, in honour of one of Australia’s most significant filmmakers, Charles Chauvel, the Award acknowledges significant contribution to the Australian Screen Industry.
Charles Chauvel was not only born in Warwick and educated in Ipswich and Southport, but started his career in production and direction in Brisbane. He has a strong claim to be considered the most distinguished of Queensland-born filmmakers.
Charles married Elsa Sylvaney, the star of his second film, the silent Moth of Moonbi, and in a partnership that extended over 30 years Charles and Elsa Chauvel completed nine features and a TV documentary for the BBC. Most of these features had major sequences set in Queensland while their epic Sons of Matthew celebrated the pioneering of the Lamington Plateau in the Gold Coast hinterland.
The Chauvels also discovered major film talents including Errol Flynn, Chips Rafferty and Michael Pate, while their 1955 feature Jedda was the first Australian-produced colour film, the first Australian feature invited to screen at the Cannes Film Festival, and, appropriately in terms of this year’s Awardee, the first Australian film to cast Aboriginal actors in its leading roles.