Create NSW names 2019 Screenability filmmakers set to compete for Sydney Film Festival billing

Emerging filmmakers with disability Nicole Delprado, Shawn Spina and Llewellyn Michael Bates and their teams have been selected to take forward three 2019 Screenability shorts that will be considered to premiere as part of the 66th Sydney Film Festival in 2019.

Covering tales of mental illness, a coup of a religious commune and an introvert’s discovery of a drone, Magnetic, Earthing and Prone to the Drone will go into production in January ahead of final delivery by March 2019.

Now in its third year, the Screenability Filmmakers Fund from Create NSW has widened its remit to support nationwide filmmakers with disability in collaboration with NSW-based teams.

The three selected shorts will be filmed and post-produced entirely in NSW with the assistance of a $30,000 grant from Create NSW as well as executive producer support from Kali Reid at Matchbox Pictures.

The Screenability Filmmakers Fund is part of a suite of initiatives under Screenability NSW, an open-ended policy commitment by Create NSW to work with industry to grow participation in the screen sector by Australians with disabilities.

Eligibility for the fund called for filmmaking teams that had at least one key creative (writer, director or producer) identifying as having disability (including people with sensory or physical impairments, including deaf people - hidden impairments, intellectual impairments, learning difficulties or mental health conditions) and with an intention to develop a career in screen content creation.

Image: Prone to the Drone (left to right) Daisy Montalvo, Shawn Spina, Miranda Aguilar.