PRESS RELEASE: Film Industry Embraces Change

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (DOC)
Sydney, Monday 15 June 2009

The Sydney Film Festival’s inaugural Peter Rasmussen Innovation Award has been presented to Michela Ledwidge in acknowledgement of her cutting edge screen projects.

The Sydney Film Festival’s Closing Night media release announced:

"... we are delighted to have such a deserving winner [as] Michela Ledwidge. The jury has acknowledged Michela who is an Australian film-maker and pioneer in digital storytelling influenced by the video game MOD paradigm and live performance. Her work has been presented internationally and is regularly cited in film and media studies courses" said the jury.

"Michela Ledwidge, like Peter was, is an artist whose work in film and new media embodies a visionary spirit and a determination to create high quality works for the screen. ... we hope this award will encourage and support her in completing her groundbreaking re-mixable project Sanctuary" said the jury on presenting the award.

Michela heads to New York on Wednesday to attend the inaugural Open Video Conference and pursue new collaborations. Her company, MOD Films works on a variety of cross-media experimental and commercial projects.

Peter Rasmussen was a pioneer film-maker best known for the world’s first feature-length machinima Stolen Life. The term ‘machinima’ refers to the use of real-time 3D graphics rendering engines to generate computer animation. Michela’s machinima Horses for Courses won the SIGGRAPH 2001 Web3D Art Prize.

“I thank the trustees of the award, friends and colleagues of Peter Rasmussen, for encouraging innovation for the screen in all its forms” said Michela Ledwidge.

Further information on Michela Ledwidge
http://ledwidge.org

Further information on MOD Films
http://modfilms.com

Further information on Peter Rasmussen
http://machiniplex3.blogspot.com/2008/03/on-death-of-peter-rasmussen_19.html

Further information on the Open Video Conference
http://www.openvideoconference.org