Peter Garrett (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, on indulgence: I take this opportunity to congratulate two Australian filmmakers whose work has been recognised at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. It is the world’s premier and most prestigious film festival. Michael Rowe’s film Leap Year was awarded the prestigious Camera d’Or award for debut filmmakers. This is the second year in a row that an Australian filmmaker has received this award. Members will remember that last year Warwick Thornton received the award for Samson and Delilah. As well as that, Ariel Kleiman won the Kodak Discovery Award for his short film, which shows the great depth of talent we are producing in this country. I also congratulate the makers of the Australian-French coproduction, partly funded by Screen Australia, The Tree, which closed the festival. It is appropriate that we mark these significant achievements by Australian filmmakers at this very important international film festival.

Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Youth and Sport) Share this | Link to 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.