AnnuAl REPORT 2011-2012 - Sbs

Goal 1: Objective 1.2
To create more multicultural and multilingual
australian content
SBS Television
Distinctive commissioned and
acquired content
SbS broadcasts in a range of genres and languages to
provide Australians with a diverse range of perspectives
and cultures (see Appendices 1-2). the standout
successes for commissioned content on SbS television
2011–12 were Once Upon a time in cabramatta and
Who Do You think You Are? (see page 28). Other
highlights for the year are outlined below.
SBS commissioned programming
A total of 201 hours of SbS commissioned programs
were first broadcast on SbS in 2011–12 (Appendix 3).
SbS commissioned a total of 202 hours of comedy,
entertainment, factual and food programming for
production (Appendix 4). SbS continues to maintain its
creative partnerships with Screen Australia and the state/
territory film funding bodies (Appendix 5).
The Family
the Family was an eight-part series produced for SbS by
Shine Australia and broadcast November 2011– january
2012, which placed a ‘fixed rig’ of 35 remote controlled
cameras in one family’s home for 100 days. this was the
first time a ‘fixed rig’ observational documentary had ever
been done in Australian television.
the Family followed the lives of the italian-Australian
cardomone family, mum josie, dad Angelo and their
three boys David, Stefan and Adrian.
the series attracted a national average audience of
242,000 viewers.*
it was a cross-platform project, with SbS Online
commissioning unique content for the website, SbS
Radio hosting discussions, and SbS’s Outreach program
partnering with FeccA and Relationships Australia to
produce a booklet examining what it means to be a second
generation migrant family in Australia and some of the
challenges relating to cultural background and heritage.
the Family has been subtitled into italian and chinese and
Arabic for online viewing and it was the first time an SbS
DvD release carried subtitles in a language other than
english, released with italian subtitles.
* OZtAM – 5 city Metro; RegtAM – Aggregated Regional excl.WA ; consolidated.
Bollywood Star
Australia’s first ever factual entertainment series
celebrating Australia’s indian community, produced
by WtFN, was a cross between a talent show and
observational documentary.
bollywood Star gave ordinary Australians the chance
to win a role in renowned director Mahesh bhatt’s next
bollywood movie.
it was both a celebration of indian culture and a celebration
of the multicultural appeal of bollywood. the contestants
came from a wide range of ethnic backgrounds.
broadcast over four Saturday evenings in one hour
episodes in june, bollywood Star attracted a national
average audience of 259,000 viewers.*
bollywood Star was another great cross-platform project.
SbS Radio ran a special pop-up radio station, SbS
Online commissioned extensive online-only content, and
bollywood Star Facebook page activity was high with the
series attracting over 9000 Facebook friends, equivalent
to the annual eurovision Song contest.
This year SBS also produced some outstanding single
documentaries, contributing to national discussions
around a number of important issues.
The Tall Man
the tall Man, a feature length documentary, was directed
by tony Krawitz and produced by blackfella Films. based
on the Walkley Award winning book by chloe Hooper, it
told the story of the death in custody of indigenous Palm
island man cameron Doomadgee.
From its premiere at the Adelaide Film Festival in early
2011, the tall Man stirred up debate in the Australian
press about the issue of race relations in the country.
the tall Man was selected to screen at the toronto
Film Festival and has won a number of awards: AWGie
Award for best Documentary (2011); best Documentary
at the imagineNAtive Film Festival in toronto; Australian
Directors Guild Award for best Documentary; and the
Walkley Award for best Documentary.
AnnuAl RepoRt 2011 – 2012 33