Editor

SBSi/AFC Pitch & Punt finalists announced
2pm, Sunday 25 February
Adelaide Hilton, Balcony 1 and 2

Finalists for the 2007 SBS Independent and Australian Film Commission Pitch & Punt competition have been announced. The five finalists have been invited to present their proposals at the Australian International Documentary Conference (AIDC) and with only 7 minutes to pitch it's sure to be a lively event! Finalists are in the running for AUD$20,000 to finance the development of a documentary series.

The finalists are Sonja Armstrong for The Birth of Shopping, a documentary series about how the 19th Century Parisian Department Store created consumer desire, Stuart Coupe for City Confidential, a series about cities and crime fiction, providing an entertaining, gritty look at the hidden fringes of urban life, Kingston Anderson and Claire Haywood for Dr Latif's Taxi School, a 6 part quirky, fly-on-the-wall documentary series abut some of the people behind the faces in the mirror of the next taxi you hail, Rebecca Barry and Madeleine Hetherton for
Future Tense, a documentary series exploring the seismic shift which has taken place in what it means to be an adult, and Chris Hilton, Steve Oliver and Peter Scobie for Women on Side, a dynamic three part documentary series about the rise of Women's Football.

SBSi and the AFC called for concept stage short series proposals that were particularly gutsy, innovative and appealing and would creatively reflect the SBS charter and put younger faces on screen.

Considering submissions at the pitching session at 2pm on Sunday February 25 will be judges Mark Lazarus, Project Manager, AFC, and Anna Miralis, Associate Commissioning Editor, Documentary, SBSi. The moderator will be Susan MacKinnon.

The 20th AIDC is taking place in Adelaide from February 23 to 26. The AIDC is Australia’s key event in the International documentary film calendar and a must-attend event for anyone working in factual film and television. Over 600 producers, directors, writers, buyers, and editors will meet and greet, buy and sell, and pave the way for more Australian documentaries to make it to the world, and more international stories to make it to our screens, while the general public can feast their eyes on over fifty documentaries films screening in the concurrent Adelaide Film Festival.