Inaugural Jewish Australian Screen Fellowship awarded
Idan Kotzen will use the Jewish Australian Screen Fellowship to develop Golem, a Jewish-themed horror short.
A Queensland-based filmmaker has been named the inaugural recipient of a $20,000 fellowship aimed at advancing authentic Jewish Australian storytelling on screen.
Jump Street Films announced this week that Idan Kotzen, Panavision’s branch manager on the Gold Coast and an emerging director, cinematographer and animator, will use the Jewish Australian Screen Fellowship to develop Golem, a Jewish-themed horror short. His credits include camera department work on upcoming international productions Godzilla x Kong: Supernova, The Mosquito Bowl and Honeymoon with Harry.
Over the next 12 months, Kotzen will take Golem from screenplay development through cultural and religious research, creature design and practical effects testing, through to production and planning for an expanded feature film.
Jump Street Films director Jamie Bialkower said the project “particularly resonated in the context of using genre to explore aspects of inherited trauma and survival under threat, speaking directly to the current climate,” adding that “the opportunity to embark on a contemporary horror film underpinned by a personal, distinctly Jewish perspective is hugely exciting.”
Bialkower said he “hopes the funding has inspired someone who may have been inclined to look away, and provided an incentive for them to look forward.”
Jump Street Films also announced Melbourne-based writer-director Carly Brand as an honorary fellow, supporting her development of the feature screenplay Nice Jewish Girls.
Brand’s short film Nice Jewish Girl, a graduate work from the Victorian College of the Arts, had its world premiere earlier this year at BFI Flare, London’s largest queer cinema showcase. The feature will follow four teenage girls navigating sex, identity, desire and faith during a transformative week at a religious school camp.
Established to support the creative and professional development of a Jewish Australian filmmaker, the fellowship places emphasis on authenticity and visibility, with the aim of advancing the depiction of Jewish Australians on screen.