"In providing opportunities and support to new and emerging filmmakers from culturally diverse backgrounds, I think Metro Screen's Multicultural Mentorship Scheme [MMS] represents a commitment to changing the monocultural and monolingual state of film in Australia. The MMS has the potential both to create the seedbeds for tomorrow's filmmakers as well as to respond to and sustain diversity in all its complexities. I have found this scheme to be an excellent model in terms of both training and practical application." Paula Abood made Of Middle Eastern Appearance
MULTICULTURAL MENTORSHIP NOW FORMS PART OF THE FIRST BREAK PROGRAM More Info Here
Open to people of diverse cultural and non-English speaking backgrounds. Supported by the NSW Film and Television Office [NSW FTO]. Each filmmaker is mentored by an industry professional and supplied with equipment, stock, post production facilities, and a $2,000 budget.

Looking for filmmakers with drive, ambition and the commitment to produce a short screen project.  

Previous films have explored topics including:

• cultural conflict and drama of stereotypes
• issues surrounding sexual attraction between white people and people of colour
• beliefs and notions of 'truth', history and memory
• ideas around the term ‘people of middle eastern appearance’
• ideas around the topic of ‘Australian values’

Applicants are selected on their idea, relevant skills and how the process will impact their careers. People with experience in other artforms and practices are also encouraged to apply. To find out more call David Opitz

If you are interested in screening our works please contact us. View work here

Metro Screen also provides a range of scholarships in various areas. To find out more click here.

2008 WORKS

	Old War What do you do if you begin to fall for someone you’re meant to hate? Filmmaker: Danielle McCarthy Mentor: Rebecca Barry
	Amanecer Juan struggles to build a new life for his wife and daughter in Australia but his education and experience doesn’t count for much. Filmmaker: Alvaro D. Ruiz Mentor: Claudia Karvan
	Encyclopaedia Britannica A Palestinian refugee’s memories of the past, the family home in Jerusalem, and a gift from his father – an Encyclopedia Britannica. Filmmaker: Sohail Dahdal Mentor: Magot Nash
	Sent Beyond An insight into the live of fifty-eight French-Canadian political prisoners deported to Australia in 1840 for taking part in an uprising against British rule. Based on the journal of Francois-Maurice Lepailleur. Filmmaker: Pierre Thibaudeau Mentor: Martha Ansara
2007 Works
	Olga's Granddaughters Sonia and her sister Leah pass their days by spying on their old reclusive neighbour, Olga. Filmmaker: Mila Gisbert Mentor: Alec Morgan
	Pigeon Men A group of men obsesses with the sport of pigeon-flying take us into their world.    Filmmaker: Marryanne Christodoulou Mentor: Melissa Anastasi
	A Little Dream A young ethnic child struggling between the expectations of her dysfunctional family and her own identity. Filmmaker: Maria Tran M Mentor: Khoa Do
	Aunty Betelnut A diverse group of Papua New Guinean women gather to partake in a timeless ritual and share memories of their homeland. Filmmaker: Natasha Henry Mentor: Liz Watts
Selected 2006 Works
	Up-Ba [Father] Donovan likes basketball. His deceased father liked fishing. But there is something deeper that drove them apart. Up-Ba is about that conversation you always wanted to have, but never got the chance to. It is a story about connection and family. Filmmaker: Michael Chang Song Park Mentor: Bridget Ikin
Selected 2005 Works
	Black Rain Twenty years after the Chernobyl disaster Marsha is still suffering from traumatising recollections, which the catastrophe and its aftermath have seared into her memory. Pain and fear are materialised in the form of rain for Marsha, as it unlocks the most dramatic and horrifying images of her childhood. Filmmaker: George Barbakadze Mentor: Greg Woodland
	Black Rain has been selected for screening in: 21st European Film Festival Alpinale, Nenzing, Austria and International Panorama of Independent Film and Video Makers, Athens, Greece.
"You have made a beautiful film. It is my personal honor to have your film at our festival"Chionidis Panagiotis, Festival Art Director.
Selected 2004 Works
	Too Sunny, Too Cold A brief snapshot in time of two strangers in some city, sometime, somewhere in the world. One day Jorge joins Yumi on a park bench uninvited, disrupting the stillness of her world. And won't leave. View Video Filmmaker: Tania Yuki Mentor: Bill Miller
"Had I not had the chance to explore my style of storytelling through the MMS, and made the mistakes I needed to make in order to learn and do better next time, I would not have had the level of understanding, hindsight and preparation as a writer-director that was so important to the success of my second film, Deluge. Funded by the Young Filmmakers Fund, Deluge has been well-received by the international festival circuit, it screened at the Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival where it won the Special Jury Prize for International Competition, and was awarded the Best Director's Prize at the Granada Short Film Festival in Spain. It has been invited to dozens more festivals around the world, and sold to Arte for France and Germany, with further sales offered. So, for me, the Multicultural Mentorship Scheme was a springboard to bigger and better things." Flordeliz Bonifacio made Deluge in 2003.
Selected 2002 Works
	Fish Sauce Breath A young Vietnamese Australian man is in love with an Anglo Australian girl and it is time to meet the parents. However, there is one problem: Fish sauce breath. The film details his desperate quest to rid himself of his fish sauce breath before the meeting. What results, is a comedy of cultural conflict and a drama of stereotypes. Filmmaker: Thao Nguyen Van
	Thao Nguyen is a young Vietnamese Australian, born in a Thai refugee camp in 1980. She co-curated the first art exhibition on second generation Vietnamese Australians and was given a grant to co-produce a photography and writing anthology. Since the MMS scheme, she has initiated and is coordinating the ethnic youth film festival in Australia.

SELECTED 2001 WORKS
Wash Dark Colours Separately
Explores issues surrounding sexual attraction between gay white men and men of colour, and exposes the cultural differences and subtleties of racism.
Filmmaker: Chee Lam

The film premiered at the Austin Gay & Lesbian International Film Festival in Texas, the Hamburg Gay & Lesbian International Film Festival in Germany, and the Canberra Short Film Festival.


SELECTED 2000 WORKS
Of Middle Eastern Appearance
Filmmaker: Paula Abood
Requests to screen the film have come from: three Western Sydney Schools, two National Conferences ['Wattam National Forum' Powerhouse Museum, Sydney; and Institute of Criminology, Uni of Sydney, Faculty of Law], Youth Action Policy Association [YAPA].

Requests for the film to be included in curriculum have come from: Macquarie Uni [Cultural Studies], UNSW [English Dept] UTS and UWS [Journalism].

Copies of the film have also gone to: The Australian Arabic Council Student's Union at Uni of Tasmania, NSW Dept for Women, Powerhouse Museum Information and Cultural Exchange [ICE], Parramatta.