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A Festival Pioneer Of Women’s Inclusion & New
Innovations Amanda Duthie’s New Role At SAFC
Combines Her Myriad Talents As A Leader

Amanda Duthie (pictured above) is the new Head of Production, Development, Attraction and Studios for the South Australian Film Corporation, (SAFC) and is responsible for investment in screen content development and production, and production attraction both nationally and internationally, with a key role in driving innovation in screen storytelling, for the State. She commences at work at the SAFC as of November 1st, after her successful tenure as Artistic Director and CEO of Adelaide Film Festival.

CEO of the South Australian Film Corporation Courtney Gibson said: “Amanda Duthie brings to the SAFC a peerless track record in identifying and nurturing award-winning screen projects, along with extensive relationships within the local, national, international screen communities. Her creative vision and strategic leadership will be hugely advantageous to the agency moving forward and we couldn’t be happier that she’s has joined us.”

CEO of the South Australian Film Corporation Courtney Gibson

Duthie’s significant achievements during her tenure as Artistic Director and CEO include eight major events across the last six years - five Adelaide Film Festivals, two Hybrid World Adelaide events and the 2013 Adelaide Festival of Ideas. Through the Adelaide Film Festival FUND Duthie has enabled and presented many extraordinary new and award-winning works, and championed the careers of women, artists and indigenous filmmakers in the national screen industry.

Working closely with the AFF Board, the festival team and strategic partnerships, Duthie has secured Adelaide Film Festival’s reputation as a major event in the international screen and cultural calendar, while building audiences locally.

Minister for Industry and Skills David Pisoni said: “Amanda Duthie’s proven track record in promoting South Australia’s brand of exceptional screen culture and delivering investment and jobs into the State will be an asset to the SAFC in this key executive role. The Marshall Liberal Government is committed to supporting the important opportunities that come with a vital and forward thinking South Australian Creative Industries which includes the biennial Adelaide Film Festival.”

Chair of the Adelaide Film Festival, Sandra Sdraulig AM paid tribute to Duthie’s tenure as Festival Artistic Director and CEO: “The Adelaide Film Festival has been extremely fortunate to have Amanda Duthie at its helm and her legacy is incredibly rich. With her exceptional talent for investing in the bold, diverse and distinctive talents, Amanda has driven the success of the Adelaide Film Festival FUND to phenomenal new heights; collecting major prizes from Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Sundance and beyond. Amanda’s distinctive creative voice has enriched the screen culture of South Australia and far beyond, through the Adelaide Film Fest FUND and HIVE Fund, the film festival and Hybrid World Adelaide programmes, and through partnerships with Festival of Ideas and the Jim Bettison and Helen James Award.”

About Amanda Duthie
During Duthie’s term at the Adelaide Film Festival FUND, she commissioned 58 projects for the AFF FUND with 43% representation of women directors, and including 15 feature films, 9 documentary features and, unique to the AFF FUND, a spectrum of screen storytelling projects across short fiction and documentary, animation, VR, moving image and installation works.
The Adelaide Film Festival FUND, the first of its kind in Australia and a rarity worldwide, invested in and presented high-profile and award-winning works including the Venice two time award-winning The Nightingale set to premiere at the festival in October, Warwick Thornton’s Venice Special Jury Prize winner Sweet Country, Rolf de Heer’s Cannes selected Charlie’s Country, Sundance and Berlinale winner, Sophie Hyde’s 52 Tuesdays, and two films which won the CinefestOZ Prize, Rosemary Myer’s Girl Asleep and Jeffrey Walker’s Ali’s Wedding.
Four FUND features commissioned by Duthie for future premieres include Sophie Hyde’s feature adaptation of author-turned-screenwriter Emma Jane Unsworth’s best-selling novel Animals, and the heart-warming comedy from the team behind The Sapphires, Top End Wedding, co-written by and starring Miranda Tapsell, directed by Wayne Blair.
Duthie launched the Festival’s Documentary Competition in 2013 with Flinders University and Australia’s first juried VR Competition in 2017 in collaboration with AFTRS. Duthie’s commitment to innovative storytelling saw her commission VR projects through the FUND including Lynnette Wallworth’s Emmy-award winning VR Collisions and the first VR work by creative team Molly Reynolds and Rolf de Heer, The Waiting Room, which world premiered in the 2018 Festival lineup. Alongside Adelaide Film Festival, Duthie delivered the Adelaide Festival of Ideas in 2013, has administered the Jim Bettison and Helen James Award providing opportunities for public presentation and discourse during the film festival with the recipients, and sustained the HIVE Lab and HIVE FUND to develop and fund new artist/film collaborations of national significance.
Duthie elevated the prestigious Don Dunstan Award by editing and publishing three publications of essays celebrating the recipients. In 2017, Adelaide Film Festival launched a new interactive tech based event, Hybrid World Adelaide with Duthie as CEO, featuring a Development Lab, Tech Conference and Interactive events program which saw attendance double in its second iteration in 2018.