New South Wales housed short film Diving In and feature documentary Playing With Sharks, which were both premiered at local and global film festivals.

Directed by Adam Bowes and Nina Oyama and produced by Jess Murphy, the short film, Diving In, features cast and key creatives with disability. The production had its World Premiere at the Sydney Film Festival in 2020, and will have its North American Premiere at the Academy Award®-qualifying Aspen Shortfest, April 6-11. 

While competitive swimmer Alex (Adam Bowes) is a double amputee above the knees, the film is about his mad crush on Jen (Isaro Kayitesi). When Jen tries to ask Alex out, he falters and causes an awkward encounter. Humiliated, Alex asks his friends for advice, only for them to steal his phone and send her a raunchy text message. Mortified, Alex must get to her phone before she sees the message or risk losing her forever.

Watch the trailer:

Playing with Sharks, which had its World Premiere at Sundance this year, is one of the first 15 documentary features announced for this year’s Hot Docs International Documentary Festival Special Presentations program. The program showcases high-profile premieres, award winners, and works by master filmmakers or featuring star subjects. The screening will mark the documentaries North American Premiere. The full Hot Docs International Documentary Festival line-up will be announced March 23.

The feature documentary showcases Valerie Taylor’s incredible true story, from hunter to protector, putting herself on the front line for sharks for over 70 years.

Ausfilm members Big Bang Sound provided sound design. Screen Australia provided principal production investment in association with Screen NSW. 

Madman Entertainment is the Australia/New Zealand distributor with TDog (Dogwoof) handling international sales. 

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