Mingling at the Inside Film Awards

Myself and Kung Fu film partner in crime Andy Minh Trieu attended the 11th Kodak Inside Film Awards ceremony last night (18 Nov).

We rocked on over at 6pm to a nicely laid out red carpet that directed us through to the entrance of Luna Park. We were greeted by the hospitality team and their professionalism (although I did note a number of thrills and spills of champagne by their newbie staff) and the seamlessly endless supply of alcohol, bottled water and Pomergrate juice (cute marketing of the bottle but horrible taste).

Catering was pretty good as well. Lots of finger foods and mini-chinese take away boxes of goodies.

But besides the minor irrelevant details, IF Awards is perhaps a must place to be for any filmmakers who ever want to make it mainstream. Forget about the cost, it is all worth it if you know the fine craft of mingling and efficient networking.

The general gist of IF Awards…in a nutshell they are the people’s choice award for Aussie films. This year it was held of Luna Park Sydney after 3 years up in the Gold Coast.

It’s a night in which it becomes possible for the audience to actually be in physical reach of the much beloved dinky di actors and filmmakers.

Past guests and presenters include: Nicole Kidman, Laurence Fishburne, Baz Luhrmann, Toni Collette, Geoffrey Rush, Cate Blanchett, Premier The Honorable Mr Bob Carr MP, Rose Byrne, Stephen Fry, Eric Bana, Claudia Karvan, Vince Colosimo, David Wenham, Kasey Chambers, Richard Roxburgh, Peta Wilson, Jacqueline McKenzie, Ray Winstone, Susie Porter, Tex Perkins, Emily Browning, Andrew Upton, Keisha Castle-Hughes, Bryan Brown, Sigrid Thornton, Malcolm McDowell, Simon Baker, Margaret Pomeranz & David Stratton. Previous hosts: Joel Edgerton, Libbi Gorr, Deborah Mailman, Sarah Wynter, John Safran and Julia Zemiro.

Who we met:

Natalie Bassingthwaighte

34, Australian actress, singer, author, TV personality and former lead vocalist for electro-pop band Rogue Traders.
I can remember her role as Izzy Hoyland on the soap opera Neighbours from 2003 to 2007, which gained her nominations for the TV Week Gold Logie.

Recently her debut album 1000 Stars debuted at number 1 on March 1, 2009.

Sam Worthington

33 year old, Perth born award-winning actor best known for his role as Marcus Wright in the 2009 film Terminator Salvation. He is set to play Jake Sully in Avatar and Perseus in the 2010 feature film remake of Clash of the Titans.

This guy is rocking in the film making world and Andy Minh Trieu (an action film buff) was thrilled to have caught him for the night.

Rowan MacNamara

I got the chance to meet Rowan MacNamara who makes his screen debut in Samson & Delilah. This film directed by Warrick Thorton took out 6 awards for the night and young Rowan was emotional when he received the Best Actor If Award category competing along side with Anthony LaPaglia “Balibo” and Hugo Weaving “Last Ride”.

Currently MacNamara lives in Hidden Valley on the outskirts of the Alice Springs township. Rowan is Eastern Arrente and is originally from Santa Teresa, an Aboriginal community 80km southeast of Alice. He is a keen AFL footballer, a devoted fan of Essendon Football Club and has travelled Australia playing footy with his school.

I can’t wait to tell the Koori kids on the Koori Youth Yarn Up digital storytelling project about this just in time for their own community launch on the 28 November at 1pm, Cranebrook Neighbourhood Centre.

Other people that was a good fun to meet:

The two Wilder brothers - potential action stars in the future.

Michael Winter, executive story consultant of Blue Heelers.