Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Youth and Sport) Share this | Hansard source

Madam Deputy Speaker, on indulgence: I share the sentiments of the Minister for Environment Protection, Heritage and the Arts. Cannes 2010 was yet another testament to the talent and creativity of Australia’s film community. Nineteen Australian films were shown at Cannes this year with two shorts in official selection and 17 feature films screening in the market. It was particularly pleasing to see the film chosen to close the festival was The Tree, an Australian-French coproduction, which is importantly—certainly from my perspective—a film set in Queensland and adapted from a book by the Australian writer Judy Pascoe. Australian born Michael Rowe picked up the prestigious Camera d’Or award, the Cannes prize for best first film. His film Leap Year competed against 24 other films in the category. Congratulations also to Australia’s Naomi Watts, who featured in two films at the festival, Fair Game and Woody Allen’s film You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger.

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