David Tiley

‘Write something about what you have learnt, O Wise Guy,’ said our editorial team. ‘You are changing your role and we want to mark the occasion.’ So, here goes. In 1996, I rode my bicycle down Clarendon Street in South Melbourne to start a job at the Australian Film Commission. I had spent over twenty years as a freelancer, knowing I could pay the next rent cheque but usually not the one after that. I wondered what on earth I was doing. How could I possibly do this every working day for three years?

To celebrate its 70th anniversary in 2022, the Melbourne International Film Festival is commissioning its first ever MIFF XR piece with a budget of $80,000. Applications are due by Thursday 18 November. As the MIFF XR announcement says, this will be an immersive XR work that celebrates, interrogates and illuminates Melbourne – its history and future, its communities and inhabitants – as well as MIFF’s integral role in sustaining the city’s relationship with the moving image.

Every culture has a rite of passage, even if Australians don’t make whoopee in the village square about First Communion any more. The Screen Producers Australia annual Ones to Watch list is looking like a ritual moment in the career of a rising producer. Most signals of success are built around productions and slates; this moment is a tribute to the deeper virtues that make up a profession. SPA reckons it has supported 140 people in eight years, which is a pretty good recruitment rate.