Hello from everyone here at the Intellectual Property Awareness Foundation and Happy New Year to you all!
The New Year has certainly started off with a spread of both tragic stories and good news in the media.
The unfolding events in Queensland with the tragic floods and loss of life have been so awful. And now Victoria and northern New South Wales have also been hit with rising water and destruction. IPAF would like to extend its condolences to everyone affected by the floods. Just announced today, the national Australian Film Distributors and Exhibitors have set aside January 30th as a day to raise money for the Queensland Premier’s Disaster Relief Appeal and the Red Cross Disaster Relief and Recovery Fund. This is a great opportunity to help fellow Australians simply by going to the movies! If you can, take in some of the terrific films currently playing and contribute to a great cause at the same time.
The good news came as a number of Australian artists, including Jackie Weaver, were recognised and nominated for their work by both the Australian Film Institute and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s Golden Globe Awards. Animal Kingdom, an Australian drama financed wholly by Australian investors and written and directed by David Michod, received 18 AFI nominations and won 10 including Best Film and Best Director. Jackie Weaver, who gave a wonderfully creepy performance as the matriarch in Animal Kingdom, received the first Golden Globe nomination of her career for Best Supporting Actress in a motion picture.
Here at IPAF we certainly hope the good news for the Australian film and TV community continues and that the end is in sight for the natural disasters and the suffering of so many Australians.
As we kick off another year of the Accidental Pirate blog we look forward to continuing the open debate and conversations we started last year regarding our belief that film and TV piracy – in any form – is simply not good or ethical behaviour. This year on this blog we will host and introduce you to many people from all areas of the film and TV community and we look forward to your comments, opinions and your feedback on taking an active position of personal responsibility on this subject.
