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Meet our judge, Serhat Caradee
It’s time to get to know the 3rd member of our Judging Panel, Serhat Caradee. Serhat is an Australian Writer/Director and Founder of Bonafide Pictures. His films include the acclaimed Cedar Boys and A Lion Returns, due for release later this year. Serhat has been with us since the beginning and is an old friend of Co-Founder, Alison Crew, having trained at the Actors Centre Australia with her back in the day. Comment with any questions below.
1. What is the first gig you ever did?
Theatre production
2. What are you working on at the moment?
Developing feature films.
3. Where do you draw your inspiration from?
Reading books on great artists/filmmakers
4. What do you like to do when you’re not working?
Watch docos/movies
5. What are some memorable moments from your career?
Making films.
6. What’s your favourite movie and why?
The Three Colours trilogy (Krzysztof Kieslowski). Great stories, acting and filmmaking.
Say hello to judge Pieter de Vries
The second member of our judging panel we want to introduce you to is the incomparable Pieter de Vries from PDV Digital Cinema Training. Piet is a member of the Australian Cinematographers Society and a Cinematographer extraordinaire having worked for the likes of National Geographic, James Cameron and most recently in Antarctica.
1. What is the first gig you ever did?
Working for the Commonwealth Dept on Census and Statistics in Canberra. I sat alone in a windowless cement bunker, I was issued with a self-inking number stamper, a bottle of black ink and a rubber thimble for my thumb. My gig was to stamp a number starting at zero on the millions of bound completed census forms that had been bound into books. There were over 500,000 piled up to the roof in this bunker. I lasted six months. I then worked in a photographic darkroom at the ANU, making colour and large B&W prints. I learnt the essence of photography here. Better than stamping census forms!
2. What are you working on at the moment?
I’m currently running One-to-One training for photographers and small-groups – banks and government departments in Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne and NT. I travel internationally regularly throughout the year as a guest speaker and I present talks on my work as a cinematographer and photographer. Not so much at this time. I work as a mentor on expeditions to Antarctica, Arctic, the Russian Far East, Galapagos Islands and lots of other wonderful places. I’m hoping to publish a book of my photography later in the year and as a DoP, I have the worlds’ best gig.
3. Where do you draw your inspiration from?
From the things and the people that I see in my travels and locally where I live in Bilgola on Sydney’s northern peninsular. From cinematographers and photographers too numerous to list but including the cinematographers and location recordists who work on the documentaries narrated by Sir David Attenborough. I contribute to these documentaries but consider myself somewhat an interloper in this genre 
4. What do you like to do when you’re not working?
I play guitars, sing and practice the ukulele – lots of things musically. Photography before sunrise is a passion all year round.
5. What are some memorable moments from your career?
Diving to the wreck of the Titanic
Being weightless in space
Making a documentary about the Trans-Siberian Railway
Spending a year in South America shooting a ten part series for the ABC and BBC
Making the documentary “Four” about Antonio Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons”
Trying to learn to speak Spanish
6. What’s your favourite movie and why?
Casablanca. Love this movie on so many levels. Story, cinematography, the actors and the overall ambience of the era so wonderfully portrayed.
Introducing our Judging Panel
It’s time to introduce to you our incredibly talented judging panel. First up we have SF3 favourite, Alan Nurthen, who has been with us since the beginning.
1. What is the first gig you ever did?
– The first gig I ever did as a director-editor was a promo for Tracks magazine.
2. What are you working on at the moment?
– Currently working on a 13 x 30 minute online series The Devil’s Diner.
3. Where do you draw your inspiration from?
– I draw my inspiration from life and from my imagination.
4. What do you like to do when you’re not working?
– When not working I enjoy hanging with family, my grandkids, my pets and my friends. I also love listening to and playing music. Reading and the beach.
5. What are some memorable moments from your career?
– Training 1,000’s of kids, teens and adults and giving them confidence and self-esteem along with the skills they can use in any career they choose. Training well known actors is great but it’s more satisfying to see a person with bad social skills become a confident and productive member of society.
6. What’s your favourite movie and why?
– My favourite film is a tie. Fitzcarraldo as a sprawling adventure film which embraces the power of art and positive thinking. Mulholland Drive which is one of the few films I would call a work of art.
Free Masterclass with Phillip Noyce
DON’T MISS THIS – Phillip Noyce, SF3’s Ambassador and huge supporter is the guest of honour at this amazing free/donate if you can masterclass, ” Live with Phillip Noyce and special guests: Craig Armstrong and Joe E. Rand: ‘Sound is Stronger than Image. Film Music.’ Hosted by International actress Assumpta Serna.
PHILLIP NOYCE, director of such movies as Clear and Present Danger, Dead Calm, Salt, the Quiet American and Rabbit Proof Fence will be with us live along with guest speakers composer CRAIG ARMSTRONG (Romeo and Juliet and Moulin Rouge!, Great Gastby, The Quiet American, Ray, Orphans, Love Actually, and Elizabeth:The Golden Age) and JOE E. RAND (Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story, Titanic,The Quiet American, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button).
Friday 12th June at:
08:00am Los Angeles
11:00am New York
12:00am Buenos Aires
04:00pm London, Glasgow UK
04:00pm Lagos, Nigeria
05:00pm Madrid, Spain
05:00pm Cape Town, South Africa
06:00pm Nairobi Kenya
08:30pm Mumbai, India
10:00pm Saigon, Vietnam
11:00pm Perth, Australia
01:00am Sydney, Australia (13th June)
Chicken & Chips Casting is back!
We love Steph, Al and team from Chicken and Chips Casting and are soo proud to have them as our Bronze Partners again For 2020. Check them out and see why they’re one of (if not) the best casting directors in Oz! Oh and maybe you’re right for their latest campaign? https://www.chickenandchips.com.au/business-owners-employees?fbclid=IwAR29-6bXAiH-RJw7Y4yhySlte3r3BybL4_UWVbLGa58r49XkJM_ax9U1auA