Phillipa Bateman

Give Me Coal or Give Me Death. Opinion by Philippa Bateman

Published on 20 April, 2017

Reflections on Climate Change in Four Uneven Acts

Prologue

Since a series of conversations with Karina Holden, the director of Blue, for this blog—and deeply unimpressed by the feckless rhetoric flung about by Australian politicians, on both sides of the house, in support of the behemoth that is the proposed Adani Coal Mine—climate change has become a raging hornet in my head. I know I am not alone.

Into the Blue, Part 2: This Will Not Wait

Published on 20 March, 2017

My first interview with Karina Holden took place before she made Blue; this conversation a year later, when she had completed the film. Here, we talk about: how philanthropic funding made the film happen (HOORAY); the biggest environmental threat to Australia right now—the proposed Adani Mine in Queensland (BE AFRAID); how hard it was to get Australian celebrities on board a television show about the Great Barrier Reef (BOO), and why it’s not too late to act (don’t kick back any time soon, we have to act NOW).

Into the Blue: Interview with Karina Holden

Published on 7 March, 2017

Introduction

Karina Holden is the director of Blue, one of the Good Pitch Australia documentaries releasing in 2017. A scientist and factual program-maker, this is her first feature length documentary destined for the cinema and it’s like no film about the ocean you’ve ever seen.

Interview with Dr. Mitzi Goldman, CEO Documentary Australia Foundation

Published on 3 November, 2016

Dr. Mitzi Goldman is the CEO of the Documentary Australia Foundation that with the Shark Island Institute, hosts Good Pitch² Australia. Here, I ask Mitzi about DAF—how it came to exist and about her experience working with filmmakers and philanthropists in the realm of social impact.

Richard Todd on ‘Frackman’ and ‘Dying to Live’

Published on 18 October, 2016

Richard Todd, maker of Frackman, is one of the inaugural 2014 Good Pitch² Australia filmmakers. In 2016, he’s back with DYING TO LIVE—a documentary (pitching Nov 8 at Opera House) about organ donation in Australia: our flawed system and pitiful track record when it comes to giving organs to people who desperately need them. (WATCH “The World’s Biggest Asshole” made for the US donor campaign at the end of The Chat).

Malinda Wink: Up, Close and Personal

Published on 26 July, 2016

In Brief

This is the second instalment of my interview with Malinda Wink. (You can read part 1 here). In the previous chat, the focus was on what Malinda does in her job as Executive Director, Good Pitch² Australia. Here, she talks about the professional journey that led her to GP²A, the philosophical ideas that inform her work and a story she holds close.

In Conversation: Malinda Wink, Exec Director, GPA

Published on 25 July, 2016

In Brief

Over the past 2–3 years, Good Pitch² Australia has raised more funds than any other Good Pitch in the world—and has done so every year since the inaugural event in 2014. So far, over $7.5 million has been raised in philanthropic funding and 200+ powerful strategic partnerships and alliances forged.

Jon Muir: Not So Simple.

Published on 10 June, 2016

In Suzy & The Simple Man, you see another side of Jon Muir to that of intrepid walker, mountaineer and sailor but you can discover this for yourself when you see the film… And maybe it was just the mood I was in when we talked on the phone for this interview, but he made me laugh. A lot. I wasn’t expecting that.

Suzan Muir: A 21st Century Adventuress.

Published on 9 June, 2016

Prologue

The day I interviewed Suzan and Jon Muir, co-directors with Ian Darling on Suzy & The Simple Man, I was at the Shark Island offices at Fox Studios in Sydney and they were at ‘Inanna’, their property in Victoria, preparing for a trip to the Kimberley’s in Western Australia.

Ian Darling on Suzy and The Simple Man

Published on 8 June, 2016

Suzy & The Simple Man was eight years in the making. Directed by Ian Darling, Suzan and Jon Muir, the film started as a modest work with the working title “Our Little Garden”. It was to be shot over a year but then something unexpected happened and it became a documentary with un-simple questions at the heart of the story.

A Model that Works: Social Impact

Published on 18 May, 2016

Good Pitch² Australia will soon announce the films selected for the final event in November 2016. It’s not that long ago since the inaugural event in 2014 when philanthropists and a coalition of partners jumped right in and backed six films: Call Me Dad, Constance on the Edge, Frackman, Gayby Baby, That Sugar Film and The Opposition.

Kelrick Martin: “I don’t want to sound like a heartless tycoon…

Published on 19 April, 2016

Kelrick Martin is the director of the award-winning, Good Pitch² Australia–supported film Prison Songs. The subject of the film is indigenous incarceration—but it’s not what you might expect.