New ABC, SBS docos funded.

Screen Australia has announce funding for several new documentaries, some of which will screen on ABC and SBS.

They include ABC ME’s My Year 7 Life from Princess Pictures which follows the lives of 16 children  as they transition from primary school to high school and Vitamania for SBS and You See Monsters for ABC.

Liz Stevens, Senior Manager of Documentary at Screen Australia, said: “Funding such a broad range of projects from both established and emerging talent points to a promising future for our local documentary industry. Australians are passionate documentarians and we are confident these projects will offer Australian and international audiences important, entertaining insights into our world.”

Documentary Producer projects include:

Vitamania:  The Sense and Nonsense of Vitamins and Minerals, an investigative look at the science and history of the $90 billion global supplements industry, hosted by Dr Derek Muller whose YouTube channel Veritasium boasts an impressive 3.5 million subscribers. Emmy award-winning producer Sonya Pemberton will executive produce, write and direct the project which will be broadcast on SBS in Australia and on Arte in France and Germany. It has also received Film Victoria support.

ABC Arts documentary You See Monsters, where six Muslim-Australians artists will share their experience of using artistic expression – including painting, poetry and music – to articulate and reclaim a sense of identity in a climate of anti-Islam sentiment. Written by David Collins and produced/directed by Tony Jackson, it has also received funding support from Film Victoria.

Contemporary artist Shaun Gladwell’s VR project Storm Rider, produced by Leo Faber for SBS. Gladwell, best known for his piece Storm Sequence, will document through VR his quest to teach a young British Muslim woman how to skateboard. Faber and Gladwell recently had their VR film Orbital Vanitas selected for Sundance’s New Frontier 2017 program.