NAFA Media Release

Curtains close on NAFA ACTION-FEST for August 2004*

	NAFA ACTION-FEST Short Film Festival Sydney Comedy Store, FOX STUDIOS 5.30 – 8 pm, Wed 25th & Thurs 26th August 2004. The curtains have closed on the NAFA ACTION-FEST for 2004. There were 8 films screened on 2 consecutive nights - the *Industry JUDGING NIGHT* (Tues 24 th August) and the *NAFA Awards Night* (Wed 25 th ) selected from 15 to be the finalists.

The 8 short films that made it to The FINAL 8 : "Babes", "Kontak", "The Lost Action Hero", "The McGuffin Of Love", "The Model", "Runs in the Family", "Scarless" and "Use By Dates".

All the films screened in alphabetical order starting with "Babes" and ending with Megan Currie's "Use By Dates". The festival gave an opportunity for all Cast and crew to present themselves for a Q & A forum after each screening on the Wednesday session.

Tues 24 th August, 5.30pm – JUDGING NIGHT

NAFA Action-fest kicked off with an invitaion only VIP champagne and nibbles evening on Tuesday night for NAFA Judges and Members. Anxious actors/ filmmakers nervously awaited the results.

Audience votes were tallied and finally baited breaths were exhaled as Wednesday night's results were again tallied and announced.

Wed 25 th August, 5.30pm – AWARDS NIGHT

The Wednesday night was the highlight event.
All involved in each film were brought up on stage to face their peers in a Q & A round. As usual this proved most informative for aspiring filmmakers in the audience and those who contributed to the Top 8 to garner feedback from the masses.

The winners were:

Special Director's Cut Cast & Crew VHS & DVD

Click above for details on "BABES" DC Video.

AWARD	FILM	DIRECTOR
Best Film	McGuffin of Love	Dir. Martin Simpson/ Prod. Tony Chu
Best Performance	McGuffin of Love	Wayne Bassett
Best Director	Runs in the Family	Brett Sheerin
Best Script	Runs in the Family	Brett Sheerin
Best Cinematography	McGuffin of Love	Dan Freene
Best Score	McGuffin of Love	Ash Gibson Greig

Where was it? Click above for details.	A round of applause goes out to the above for a job well done and setting a very daunting benchmark for next year's hopefuls. We had some amazing prizes that were given to our winners, including a huge 68cm colour TV! Also each winner received a gold-plated plaque to treasure forever... this NAFA Award was alone worth winning! Thanks went out to all the sponsors for supporting this inaugural event.

Where was it?

Click to find out how to get to Comedy Store

Click above for details.

A round of applause goes out to the above for a job well done and setting a very daunting benchmark for next year's hopefuls.

We had some amazing prizes that were given to our winners, including a huge 68cm colour TV!

Also each winner received a gold-plated plaque to treasure forever... this NAFA Award was alone worth winning!

Thanks went out to all the sponsors for supporting this inaugural event.

NAFA Show-FEST

* This was the 2nd stage of NAFA FEST 2004. The first stage called NAFA Show-FEST was held in May 2004, also at Fox Studios and was a big success. The NAFA (Networking Action For Actors) group was originally formed for pro-active actors, who met regularly for networking & education purposes. In recent times, NAFA has evolved to include writers & filmmakers, now collaborating with actors on dynamic film projects. This new film festival was created to showcase these combined talents.

What Was Next?

TROPFEST Short Film Festival

NAFA Productions has undertaking 3 short film projects for Tropfest and the one done in association with Halyucinations Studios was:

"When Kane Was Abel"
Comedy-martial arts: Drawing from the old David Carradine "Kung Fu" TV series and Bruce Lee films but now set in a modern day Aussie pub.
Script outline: Kane enters an unfamiliar pub. They should never pick on the quiet guy - you never know what he is capable of!

Auditions and Rehearsals:

These were orginally held on Thursday 7th October, 5:00 PM - 7PM
(It involved a cold read, plus martial artists were asked to show their moves)
Venue: The Illinois Hotel on 15 Parramatta Road, (cnr Arlington Road) Fivedock.

The first (and only) rehearsal was booked on Tuesday 12th Oct at the Illinois Hotel - from 6 pm till 8pm. From there we went straight to the shoot.... (after just a tad of planning)

Shooting Schedule:

Shooting Dates were Tues 19th Oct, Wed 20th Oct and Thurs 21st Oct.
Start time: 5pm Wrap: 11.30pm (-ish) Sleep time: If any of the cast and crew had a day job - Limited
Location: Function Room, Illinois Hotel, 15 Parramatta Road, (cnr Arlington Road) Five Dock

The original planning details for the Shooting schedule along with camera angles & actors blocking diagrams, etc can be found by clicking here! (or any of the Tropfest headings above). The film has been submitted to Tropfest and is awaiting evaluation and possible short listing.

What lies ahead for 2005?

Watch this space [] for News as rumors abound and plans are developing.

Contact:

Tony Chu

Producer & Festival Director for NAFA ACTION FEST 2004 -
Mob: 0412 230 415 -
Email: tony@doctorgram.com.au