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Find Your Perspective
There's a rumour that we're not a very "artsy" place. Good thing it's just a rumour. Galleries, theatre groups, nostalgia museums, sculpture festivals and indigenous performances just brush the surface of a cultural canvas that goes far deeper. As they say - art is purely a matter of perspective after all. Looking for more inspiration? Check out the cultural highlights of the Gold Coast hinterland.
arts & culture
- Free Event
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05 Feb 2026
Lead the Way: Delivering Safe & Inclusive Sets
This panel, moderated by Screen Careers, brings together four specialist practitioners whose roles are reshaping what safe, ethical, and forward-thinking screen production looks like. Access Coordinators, Wellbeing Coordinators, Intimacy Coordinators, and Cultural Advisors/Consultants are no longer “optional extras” - they are essential contributors to a thriving, modern industry.In collaboration with Screen Careers, these practitioners enhance creative outcomes, reduce production risk, and reflect a global shift toward safer, more inclusive, and culturally informed storytelling. Get ready to walk away with insights you didn’t know you needed.
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05 Feb 2026
Creating Your Path Direct to Audience
YouTube has become a top destination for audiences, and a thriving hub for creators to forge pathways direct to their audience. With an average of one billion daily viewers (on smart televisions alone), how do filmmakers make the most of the opportunities that lie within? Hear from experienced practitioners who greenlit themselves by developing a distinctive voice, marketed effectively, found their audience online, and built sustainable business models, turning creative independence into commercial success.Explore how these creators are forging the own paths with direct-to-audience and online content. Our panelists will answer the burning questions many filmmakers have when it comes to understanding how to build a channel, what content best suits the platform’s ad-supported environment, how to build global audiences and leverage financial outcomes, as well as the benefits of working with smaller budgets, shorter production cycles and no gatekeepers. You can be in control of your distribution and find your audience with your stories, and you can discover how to produce your content in a different way.
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05 Feb 2026
Celebrating Blak Joy - Proper Loved Up
From madcap adventures to the classic romcom, the universality of joy is a rich playground for filmmakers, and popular with audiences, proving a commercial opportunity for local stories to capture global markets. Projects like Thou Shalt Not Steal, Windcatcher, Top End Wedding, and The Sapphires reflect a growing appetite for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island inspired adventures – celebrating cultural stories through comedy and examining the First Nations experience through a new lens. These First Nations storytellers are embracing Blak joy and comedy, and challenging the expectations for First Nations stories on screen.
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05 Feb 2026
Queensland: The New Global Production Hub
The sunshine state’s renowned reputation as a production paradise is far from an overnight success, with Queensland’s decades of screen expertise luring a steady pipeline of local and attracted projects. Discover the secret sauce that makes Queensland a destination of choice for leading production and post-production companies, as well as internationally renowned screen practitioners who have made hot spots like the Gold Coast their home.Panellists to be announced.
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05 Feb 2026
Meet the Showrunners
Is tall poppy-syndrome stopping Australian multihyphenates taking up the title of 'showrunner'? Or is it an American-ism that hides the achievements of producers, creators, writers and directors?Australia’s premiere 'showrunners' divulge their creative practice, and unpack what it means to wear many hats within television production.
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05 Feb 2026
The Making of 'Journey Home, David Gulpilil'
A powerful record of grief, community and ceremony in which the renowned Indigenous actor, David Gulpilil is laid to rest on his Homeland of Gupulul in Arnhem Land, NT. Narrated by Hugh Jackman and cultural storyteller Baker Boy, Journey Home, David Gulpilil had unprecedented access to rarely witnessed, ancient Yolngu ceremonies in honour of one of Australia’s most culturally significant individuals. In this conversation co-directors Maggie Miles and Tricia Morton-Thomas and producers Rachel Clements and Jida Gulpilil share their experience of making a feature film that involved months of huge technical, logistical and seasonal challenges, as well as cultural consultations. Their experience tells an incredible story and demonstrates their unwavering commitment to honour the man, his family and the ceremony.
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05 Feb 2026
Games Unpacked
In a rapidly expanding cross-platform space, the opportunities for commercial pathways are also growing. Join leading practitioners as they examine how screen IP can cross over into games and vice versa, why it’s good to think about it early, and what opportunities exist for Australian creators. Head of Games at Screen Australia Joey Egger will share key data on the games industry’s usage trends and economic impact. Following this, a panel of experts will delve into real-world examples of IP crossover, offering insights into creative strategies, commercial pathways, and lessons learned.
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05 Feb 2026
International Sales & Presales
Haven’t You Done Well Productions’ Georgia Mappin, Maslow Entertainment’s founder Marc Woolridge and Screen Australia’s Head of Market and Audience Rakel Tansley join to share valuable insight into finding the right marketplace partner to strategically connect your project to both local and global audiences. Join them as they explore who is currently buying Australian content and the marketplace trends that are driving demand across genres, territories and platforms. Gain the skills to determine the optimal timing for attaching sales agents and marketplace partners, weighing the advantages, potential risks, and how feedback can influence a project’s marketability or creative direction, and build the knowledge to develop strategies for diversifying content IP to extend audience reach through engaging new demographics across streaming, social, and broadcast, and expanding IP into short form, digital, podcast, merchandise, or interactive extensions.
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05 Feb 2026
We Interrupt This Broadcast
We Interrupt This Broadcast is your must-listen podcast for the Australian screen industry, featuring weekly interviews with key industry figures, and a monthly round-up of news and opportunities.Over the past year, hosts Kirsty Stark and Julie Eckersley have asked every guest the same question: If you could pitch one big idea to change the screen industry for the better, what would it be?Now they're bringing together some of the boldest, smartest and most inspiring ideas that could shape the future of the Australian screen industry, in a live format at AACTA Festival 2026.Come along, contribute your vision, and help turn the industry’s best ideas into reality.
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05 Feb 2026
Meet the Nominees: Film Producers
This is your chance to meet the some of the producers nominated in the feature film categories for the 2026 AACTA Awards. At this intimate event, some of Australia’s leading producers will share their personal insights into some of your favourite films from the year. Don’t miss this exclusive opportunity to hear from these acclaimed AACTA nominees.
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05 Feb 2026
The Great Entertainer - Special Screening
Presented by BingeExperience the life and career of TV icon Brian Walsh, told by those who knew him best and presented on the big screen as part of AACTA Festival.Join Foxtel from 5.30pm for drinks before we head into the screening at 6.15pm.The Great Entertainer, a Foxtel Original feature documentary, pays tribute to Brian Walsh, the Foxtel executive whose three decades at the network helped shape the careers of Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan, Guy Pearce and many more.Featuring interviews with actors, performers, and colleagues including Danielle Cormack, Patrick Brammall, Harriet Dyer, Leah Purcell, Deborah Hutton, Marcia Hines, and Wayne Pearce.Celebrating Walsh’s influence on talent, storytelling, and Australian television, the screening offers audiences a chance to reflect on the impact of one of the industry’s most remarkable figures and hear from those who knew him best.
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05 Feb 2026
Film Financing Q&A with Jack Christian
Filmmakers rarely get genuine access to ask financiers absolutely anything. This session flips the format: an all-Q&A, open-mic session led by AACTA Chair and Filmology Finance CEO Jack Christian, joined by financing industry guests. Come with the questions you need answered. Whether it’s clarifying offsets, incentives and rebates; MGs, DGs, gap and bridging; cash-flow lender expectations, security, and what “collateral” actually means.Where the questions lead, we’ll follow - unpacking deal-brokering and packaging, aligning MGs, pre-sales and debt, reading the market, and negotiating terms that keep projects bankable as conditions shift. No decks, no speeches - just clear, practical answers. You’ll leave with sharper tactics and clearer strategies to package, broker and close.
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05 Feb 2026
Industry Keynote with Wayne Garvie
Wayne Garvie, President of International Production at Sony Pictures Television Worldwide, will deliver a keynote on the future of the global screen industry. With extensive experience leading international productions and shaping strategy across markets, Garvie will share his perspective on television and streaming, the changing expectations of global audiences, and the creative and commercial forces reshaping screen storytelling today.
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05 Feb 2026
Meet the Nominees: Writers
A staple of the AACTA Festival program each year, this is your chance to meet some of the writers nominated for the 2026 AACTA Awards. At this intimate event, some of Australia’s leading screenwriters will share their personal insights into drafting and writing this year's nominated films and television shows. Don’t miss this exclusive opportunity to hear from these acclaimed AACTA nominated writers.
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05 Feb 2026
Tomorrow’s Screen Workforce
Leading screen companies are investing in their workforce to strengthen creative and technical expertise, build inclusive teams, and support mid-career professionals stepping into leadership roles.Representatives from leading streamers and production companies share how partnerships with educators, screen agencies and community organisations are helping them meet production and recruitment challenges. From neuro-inclusive VFX programs to regional training pathways and leadership development for experienced crew, these collaborations are building stronger teams and more resilient production ecosystems across the country.This discussion highlights how strategic partnerships are shaping a skilled, adaptable workforce and the opportunities emerging through the Location Offset Training Requirement.
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05 Feb 2026
Meet the Nominees: Music Supervisors
In this deep-dive event, leading music supervisors unpack the delicate art of selecting music for film and TV, balancing budget, rights, and emotional impact. Through case studies we’ll explore how music choices shape tone, influence audience perception, and even change a scene’s meaning entirely. How would that moment hit without the music we now associate with it? What tracks almost made the cut and why didn’t they? Whether you’re a filmmaker, music lover or simply curious about what happens behind the scenes of your favourite shows and films, this session will tune your ears to the storytelling power of sound.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY
Experience Gold Coast acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we are situated, the Kombumerri families of the Yugambeh Language Region.
We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging, and recognise their continuing connections to the lands, waters and their extended communities throughout Southeast Queensland.