Awards and Firsts

Billie Dean (right) wins Best Actress Award, which was presented by ABC television personality James O'Loughlin

Awards

November 28 , 2004:

Billie Dean wins Best Actress Award

In a ceremony yesterday at ScreenScound Australia hosted by James O’Loghlin of the ABC’s “The New Inventors”, filmmaker Billie Dean received an AFTI (ACT Film and Television Industry) Best Actress Award for her role as Joy in the feature film “Finding Joy”.

“I was deeply honoured to receive the award.” said Billie. “It is wonderful when people enjoy your work and want to recognise it.”

The judge, Tony Knight, the Head of Acting at NIDA, said this about Billie’s performance and the movie:

“Billie tackled a full feature film, creating a wonderful three-dimensional character you cared about. It was a stand-out performance. I personally really responded to the romantic nature of the film. It took me on a romantic journey. I loved it. And I also loved the dog in it.”

Finding Joy was also a finalist in the AFTI’s Best Drama category.

Firsts

Shot in 2001 and released in 2003, Finding Joy was the first feature film in Australia to be shot, edited, distributed, screened and promoted entirely digitally, having never touched an inch of film stock.  It was also the first digital feature film to have a multi-cinema simultaneous release (we ultimately had seasons in a dozen digitally equipped theatres).

In 2004, Finding Joy chosen as the launch feature on the very first DVD distributed by the Spiritual Cinema Circle, and remained a popular seller in their online store for years.