There were nine graduating students’ films in the class of 2008 run by Teaching Fellow Judy Hamilton.  Red Terror, a drama, won production design, direction (Joel Jonnson), sound (Paul Browning), and tied for most popular audience film. 

A low budget feature film written, produced and directed by Bond University Film and Television graduates, has become an unlikely international success.  Kill Buljo, a parody of Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill, is the brainchild of Bond University Film and Television alumnus Tommy Wirkola who co-wrote and co-produced the film in Norway.

At Professor Robert Stable's annual Staff Christmas function on December 7, he presented his Vice-Chancellor's Quality Awards to recognise excellence in teaching, research, postgraduate supervision, and outstanding service. Two awards went to Humanities and Social Sciences staff:

International Relations Associate Professor Dr Rosita Dellios, for postgraduate supervision 

Criminology Assistant Professor Dr Wayne Petherick (pictured centre), for teaching Excellence, sharing the award with Associate Professor Terry Gygar (left) of the Law Faculty.

The year 11 Wesley College student was flown to the Gold Coast to attend a glitzy Oscar-themed awards night at Bond, where his Frequency dominated the award categories. He also won the Editing and Script craft awards and the Dean's Choice award.

James’s prize pool included the Comedy Category award, craft awards for editing and script, the Dean’s Choice award, plus the scholarship prize.

James says his passion for music motivated him to make the film: "My inspiration for the film was just trying to do something about music, as that is where my passion lies," he said.

"I was interested in how the government is starting to play a role in the music industry by placing restrictions on things because of social trends.  It’s like the government is blaming music for things that are happening in the world and I wanted to explore the impact that has on us," James said.

James’s winning entry was the first comedy for the budding film maker: "Originally I wasn’t planning on making a comedy. I thought the concept might be more suited to a drama or doco-drama, but as I started working on it I began to see the comedy potential.

"I haven’t made any comedies before so this was all new to me, but I think it may have worked," he said.

The scholarship is one way the budding film maker plans to turn his Hollywood dreams into reality. "I’ve always wanted to make movies, so the fact that I now have a scholarship to study it, just kind of confirms my direction.

"I’m really into visual art, so cinematography and visual effects really interest me.  I just plan to keep on making movies. It’s what I love to do," he said.

Director of Bond University’s Centre of Film and Television Simon Hunter was pleased with this year’s BUFTAs, labelling it "by far the best awards yet!"

"It was a very eclectic mix of entries this year. There was no common theme or style amongst them," he said.

One standout feature of the finalists’ entries was the sophisticated use of sound, which Simon described as "above and beyond what has been seen in the past".

He also sang the praises of James’s winning film, Frequency, saying it was "a sophisticated idea, executed in a fresh way."

Wesley College enjoyed a stand-out performance at this year’s BUFTAs, with James’s classmate Susannah Hale also enjoying success, taking out the award for animation.

In a bonus for the talented duo, their short films will also be broadcast to a national audience during the BUFTA 2007 special on the Aurora community channel, to be aired December 21 (8.30pm AEDT, 7.30pm in Queensland).

Category award winners were: -

Animation: Susannah Hale of Wesley College, Melbourne, for her film Waatji Pulyeri.

Gold Coast Filmmaking award for best documentary: Mason Hoffman of Pacific Pines State High, Helensvale, for Exploring the Myth of the Mummy's Tomb.

Drama: winner was James Burke of Newstead College, Launceston, for his film Gone.

Experimental: Sonny Costin of Miami State High School, Gold Coast, for The Essence of Fear.

Other: Ashley-Anne Lai of St Hilda's School, Southport, for Orpheus and Eurydice.

Winners of the craft awards were: -

Cinematography: George Picot of Newstead College, Launceston, for Last Reflection.

Direction: Sebastian Wichne of John Paul College, Daisy Hill, Queensland, for The Promise.

Sound: Nick Moir of Rosny College, Rosny Park, Tasmania, for The House.

Milena Stojceska, 17, from Merrimac State High School, Gold Coast, and Jack Campbell, 18, from Inverell High, NSW, are the 2008 winners of the John Burton cadet scholarship - a partnership between Bond University and The Gold Coast Bulletin.

Bond University Bachelor of Multimedia and Bachelor of Computer Games students have taken their first steps toward working in the digital media industries with two important industry linkages - taking part in quality testing a new Auran studios game called Fury, and visiting another digital media company.

The Faculty's Christmas function, organised by Executive Support Officer (Events) Anoushka Douglas, was held at the Gold Coast theme park Dreamworld.  Two of the attraction's Bengal tigers went through their paces, then after food and drinks the Dean, Prof. Raoul Mortley, acknowledged staff who have been with Humanities and Social Sciences or with BUELI for more than 15 years.

Pictures from the night are included in the print-friendly pdf version of this newsletter.

Bond student Justine Ebenreuter and her supervisor, Prof. Richard Hicks, gave papers at the sixth Australian Conference on Personality and Individual Differences at Sydney's Macquarie University this month.

Alicia Vallero and Debborah Smith attended the Independent Learning Association Conference at Kanda University of International Studies, Chiba, Japan.  Conference theme was: “Exploring theory, enhancing practice: Autonomy across the disciplines”.

Bond Journalism graduate Kyrrie Blenkinsop has emailed her former lecturers Prof. Mark Pearson and Assoc. Prof. Roger Patching that life in Darwin is great:  "I'm loving the court rounds at Channel 9," she writes.