Samsung hosted a presentation of Australian short film The Pilgrim Report at the Sydney Opera House on Thursday night.
The film is the result of a Samsung-sponsored program called The Shoot, run over the past couple of months in conjunction with the National Insitute of Dramatic Art, in which 10 young filmmakers were selected for an 6 day program to conceive, produce and film the project. Did we mention that they got to work with Australian film director Baz Luhrmann?
Over the course of the night, we heard from Samsung’s Arno Lenior, NIDA’s Lynne Williams and Luhrmann himself describing the selection process and the intensive design and production process, before seeing the big screen premiere of the finished product.
It’s fair for Samsung to get some marketing benefit from the project, and the premiere seemed to be the Australian mainstream coming-out party for the Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy Gear, with the devices listed as “presenting” the film, embedded below:
The film itself stands as an impressive feat given the time and budgetary constraints placed on the production. Personally, as a sci-fi fan, I appreciated the film’s futuristic Mars setting as it sought to deal with the inevitable isolation that a manned mission to Mars would bring for its crew.
Samsung also produced a series of “making-of” videos for the film which can be found on The Shoot’s official site. They’re perhaps a little more cheekily product-focused than you might otherwise expect.
After the presentation, Luhrmann again took to the stage to announce sponsorship of the Foundation for Young Australians‘ three-year “IMPACT” program, a youth leadership program for 15 indigenous Australian youths in the Northern Territory. The sponsorship by Samsung and Luhrmann will allow the program to be extended to more remote areas.
It’s also great to see Samsung supporting local creative arts projects and the Australian indigenous community – we look forward to seeing more of these projects in the future.
What did you think of The Pilgrim Report? Did you enter The Shoot competition? Tell us in the comments.
