SA Film Corp reveals 2020 Lottie Lyell Award winners

Sarah Enticknap
Filmmaker Madeleine Parry received funding to develop her debut feature *Year 1*

Now in its second year, the South Australian Film Corporation’s Lottie Lyell Award recognises the work of local women filmmakers – and provides support for their next project.

14 August 2020 by Walter Marsh

Named for Lottie Lyell, the silent film era actor turned filmmaker who starred in South Australia’s first feature film, the proto-feminist lament The Woman Suffers, the award was expanded for its second year to provide $30,000 in funding across its three recipients.

Animator Fiona Percival has been awarded the $20,000 lion’s share for her animated series don’t f with me, a ‘darkly comic’ coming of age story about four friends “growing up a girl in a dangerous world”. Percival, whose CV as animator ranges from Xena Warrior Princess to Microsoft and a variety of local gaming companies, will co-write the series with Cathy Beitz, building on an earlier version of the project released as a short film.

“Fiona Percival’s suite of projects demonstrates a clear vision of her audience and innovation in creating screen works which directly speak to them, and represent their world in a completely original way,” South Australian Film Corporation CEO Kate Croser said.

Cathy Beitz, Fiona Percival and producer Julie Byrne

Filmmaker Madeleine Parry – whose credits include fronting her own ABC documentary series Tough Jobs and directing Hannah Gadsby’s widely celebrated Netflix specials Nanette and Douglas – was one of two further filmmakers to receive a $5,000 honourable merit. Parry will use the money to develop her first feature project Year 1, which she hinted at in an interview with The Adelaide Review in May.

“It’s a personal exploration of a woman’s role, of feminism and family for me,” Parry said. “It’s very fun, very personal, and has involved conversations with my mum and auntie about that generation, and how they saw the world.”

Docu-fiction filmmaker Allison Chhorn also received $5,000 for her upcoming project After Years. Chhorn, whose previous film The Plastic House has been featured at several festivals in recent months, told The Adelaide Review about the project earlier this year. “With After Years, I hope to uncover stories of Cambodian diaspora in a personal and poetic way which hasn’t really been fully explored in Australian film – ways that reflects the experience of people who’ve been living with years of things unspoken.”

SA Film Corp