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The Aftrs Open Summer School — now in its third year — has expanded to 17 intensive courses, including a new six-week doco school and a six-week film school.

These introductory and intermediate film courses running between November and January are designed for intensive learning and the chance to upskill in the rapidly changing media landscape.

Amongs the screen industry speakers and lecturers are writer/director David Caesar (Nowhere Boys, Underbelly, Dirty Deeds, Mullet), cinematographer Ross Emery (The Wolverine, Woman In Gold, I Frankenstein), TV writer Vicki Madden (The Bill, Water Rats, Blood Brothers, McLeod.s Daughters and Foxtel drama The Kettering Incident), feature film director Elissa Down (The Black Balloon, Offspring) and documentary director/producer Madeleine Heatherton (Call Me Dad, Bondi Rescue, The Nest,. Last Chance Surgery, Outback Truckies).

Also screenwriter Ian David ( Police Crop: The Winchester Conspiracy, Police State, Joh's Jury, Blue Murder, Killing Time, 3 Acts of Murder, The Shark Net,...

‘Doctor Who’ actor Bill Kerr, also featured in Peter Weir’s ‘Gallipoli’ and ‘The Year of Living Dangerously,’ dead at 92 (photo: Bill Kerr and Patrick Troughton in ‘Doctor Who’) Australian actor Bill Kerr, best known internationally for a guest spot in the 1960s TV series Doctor Who, and for his supporting roles in the Peter Weir movies Gallipoli and The Year of Living Dangerously, died on August 28 (or 29, according to some sources), 2014, while watching the TV show Seinfeld at his home in Perth, West Australia. Kerr, whose exact cause of death is unclear, was 92. Born William Kerr on June 10, 1922, in Capetown, South Africa, to Australian vaudevillian parents touring the country, Bill Kerr grew up in Australia, where he became a popular television, stage, and film personality. His show business career began at an early age. “My mother took about 10 weeks off to have me, and when she returned to the...

West Australian surf film Drift has been judged best narrative feature at the Rincon International Film Festival held in Puerto Rico.

The film, starring Myles Pollard, Xavier Samuel and Sam Worthington, beat hundreds of other features to claim the title..

Drift tells the story of the Kelly brothers (Pollard and Xavier) who start up their own surf-wear business in a small coastal Wa town in the 60s and 70s..

The film screened during the week-long film festival to an audience of over 500, with producer Tim Duffy in attendance to participate in a Q&A session afterwards..

Leading actors Pollard, Xavier and Worthington will be in Perth this Friday to take part in similar Q&A events, for which the tickets to the first session have already sold out..

Pollard and Worthington both hail from Western Australia, as do many of the other supporting cast, including actors Greg McNeill (The Circuit,...

Filmmakers Sue Taylor and Amanda Higgs have been appointed to the ScreenWest board for three years. Taylor was previously an inaugural member of the ScreenWest board and in 2001, established her own production company, Taylor Media, whose credits include feature films The Tree and Last Train to Freo; telemovie 3 Acts of Murder; mini-series The Shark Net; and children's TV series Time Trackers. She was also recently appointed the vice-president of the Screen Producers Association of Australia. Higgs, who spent several years as an executive producer of drama at the ABC, recently script-edited ABC mini-series The Slap and executive produced Fox8 teen series SLiDE. Wa culture and the arts minister, John Day, said ScreenWest has an established reputation, having overseen the state...