CAMERON'S MONKEY BUSINESS AT TROPFEST
Film and Television Alumnus Cameron Edser admits being presented second prize by Toni Collette at the Movie Extra Tropfest Final is “all a bit of a blur”.
“All I know, from watching the replay, is that I had the biggest grin I’ve ever seen on my face. I guess I was pretty happy!” Edser said.
And happy he should be. Scooping second prize at the world’s largest short film festival has catapulted Edser and his Co-Director Michael Richards into the spotlight.
“Already we’re starting to see doors opening for us. Overnight we went from relative unknowns to, well, not famous, but significantly more prominent within the film industry,” he said.
The South Australian pair’s four-minute animation, My Neighbourhood Has Been Overrun By Baboons, was the culmination of six months of painstaking work with six-inch clay figures.
“Those six months of working virtually around the clock was all worthwhile for four minutes of sitting among an audience of 75,000 at the Domain in Sydney who were all laughing and cheering for our film. It is pretty much the best thing any filmmaker can hope for,” Edser said.
It’s a long way from the relatively small audience at Bond University’s Film and Television Awards that watched one of Edser’s first claymation shorts - The Bushman of Bunyip Billabong – win him a full scholarship to study Film and Television at Bond in 2004.
“I learnt a lot while studying Film and TV at Bond. I worked on a lot of productions that helped hone my skills in the broader area of filmmaking rather than focusing solely on animation; but it was probably the useful connections I made with staff, students and people in the industry that was most beneficial.
“Whether I went to Bond or not, I would have kept making films, but having a great institution, like the Film and Television department at Bond, to guide you in the right direction, critically analyse your work and motivate you to continue, was absolutely vital to my success today,” Edser said.
In a significant boost for Indigenous tourism, the Indigenous Land Corporation (ILC) has partnered with Bond University to provide three full scholarships in Tourism Management.
In addition to the three scholarships announced in partnership with the Indigenous Land Corporation, Bond University has received notice of several significant scholarships and grants that will further strengthen the growing research portfolio of the University.
Earlier this month, the Tim Fischer Centre for Global Trade and Finance and The Faculty of Law hosted His Excellency ZHANG Junsai, the Ambassador of The People’s Republic of China to Australia as he presented a distinguished lecture on ‘China-Australia Economic and Investment Co-operation and Bilateral Relations’.
There are a number of developments on campus which may be impacting on students and visitors alike.
The Balnaves Foundation Multimedia Learning Centre, named in honour of our long-time, generous benefactor, Dr Neil Balnaves AO, was officially opened this month. 
Bond University has won ‘Best International Mooter’ for the second year running at the prestigious International Criminal Court Trial Competition in The Hague. Mooter Ashleigh Light won Best Oralist of the competition, outshining speakers from 17 other universities around the world, including Yale University in the United States, Osgood Hall in Canada and Queens University in Belfast.
