David Blumenstein's much anticipated premiere screening of Herman The Legal Labrador took place (after a few technical hiccups) at the Old Magistrates Court in Melbourne as part of the Next Wave festival. AFI award-winning animator Jeremy Parker produced the film, which features the voices of Shaun Micallef, Santo Cilauro, Katrina Mathers, Adam Wajnberg, Adrian Calear and Duff.Kkeep checking the Herman website for info.

The MAFIA Documentary Awards (Music and Film Independent Artists) were held recently at LOOP Bar in the city. MC'd by Katrina Mathers, the awards screened eight short documentary finalists and handed out some generous prizes before kicking on into the night with VJ Sex Pixels & DJ Critical Sound. See www.mafia.com.au for info.

Katrina Mathers was invited to be a guest panelist on "The Know" recently, alongside actress Lisa Hensley and the inimitable Chit Chat from Machine Gun Fellatio. Visit www.musicmax.com.au for more info.

---

April 2004:

Keep an eye out for our short film “The Referees” if you happen to be flying somewhere. The film has been picked up by Inflight Productions, which licenses to a number of International Airlines.

Holly Salmons & Katrina Mathers have just returned from Aspen Shortsfest in Aspen, Colorado USA where “The Referees” was selected to screen from more than 1,500 entries. They wish to acknowledge assistance from Film Victoria and the Australian Film Commission respectively in funding them to attend.

“The Referees” recently screened at The Comedy Channel short film festival, as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. The film will be shown on The Comedy Channel in rotation over the coming months. www.comedyfestival.com.au

“The Referees” recently also screened at the Barbican’s hugely popular London Australian Film Festival barbican.org.uk/australianfilm/festival & at a special Pictures @ Piano "best of" event called One Giant Leap, also at the Barbican in London. www.leapfrogentertainment.co.uk

You can now purchase a DVD copy of the documentary about Tropfest called "Gone Troppo". The documentary, which screened in January on Network 10, features excerpts from finalist films and interviews with the directors. Here's a direct link to www.sanity.com.au to purchase (do a search for "Gone Troppo"

---

February 2004:

Congratulations to long time Long Shot Film Entertainment collaborators Fiona Harris and Mike McLeish on the arrival of their little baby girl.

"Wanderlust" reprise performances of the Melbourne Fringe Festival Best Performance production were sold out recently at the Malthouse's Beckett Theatre. A unique night of theatre, media art and film commissioned from Long Shot Film Entertainment's filmmaker Katrina Mathers who worked with editor and media artist Mark Brown of Arc Productions.

We've been receiving a lot of enquiries lately about the Super 8 Sci-Fi cult classic Dawn of the DMF's by Darrell Martin & Chris 'Krow' Summers. Visit the DMF's page for all the latest news & to join the DMF Mailing List.

The Referees screened at Flickerfest 2004 in Bondi, Sydney, as well as at Pictures @ Piano monthly short film screenings in Soho, London.

---

December 2003:

We'd like to congratulate long time collaborator Dean Francis of jj splice Independent Media on being accepted into the two year full-time directing strand of the Australian Film Television and Radio School in Sydney.

For the latest list of places stocking Dean's "I Can't Even Think Straight!" gay sitcom DVD - which also features our highly acclaimed behind the scenes making-of mockumentary: "Crazy Richard" as an exclusive feature length extra, visit this jjsplice page.

---

November 2003:

The First Ever! Australian Comedy Awards, Sponsored by Network 10 were held on November 27, with Footy Chicks Fiona harris (SkitHouse) and Katrina Mathers presenting some of the awards. Visit the Australian Comedy Awards site for more information.

The subversive gay sitcom I Can't Even Think Straight! by Dean Francis, and an excerpt from the related mockumentary short feature Crazy Richard will be screening on Channel 31 in short serialised episodes over the coming months. Keep an eye on Bent TV and the jjsplice website for more information.

CRAZY RICHARD is now available on DVD at various retailers around Melbourne. Crazy Richard is packaged as an extra on the I Can't Even Think Straight! DVD . Visit out.com.au to order a copy online. Pop into Out Video: 13 Brighton Rd Elwood VIC, 3184 or visit the jjsplice website for the latest information.

M.C. at the most recent IN THE REALM OF THE SENSES short film and cabaret event was our own Katrina Mathers, the night was full of short film entertainment and hula hooping, with special guest Triple J resident film girl Megan Spencer among the filmmakers presenting their work.

---

September / October 2003:

THE REFEREES has just screened at the Palm Springs International Short Film Festival. Designated by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as an award-qualifying festival, the Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films is the largest short film showcase in North America.

The works of filmmakers Dean Francis and Katrina Mathers have been profiled on the Bill Mousoulis site Melbourne Independent Filmmakers: A Web Resource

I TOLD YOU I WAS ILL: Spike Milligan Tribute, performed live at the Comedy Theatre last year with Rod Quantock, Bryan Dawe, Mary Keneally, Stephen Hall, Katrina Mathers and Derek Guille, and hosted by Peter Clarke has been broadcast again on local ABC stations around the country.

SKITHOUSE is back on air with a new series Wednesday nights, Network 10 at 8pm. The first series is being repeated on thecomedychannel

---

August 2003:

David Blumenstein's independent animation project HERMAN, THE LEGAL LABRADOR (see August IF Mag article) is slated for completion next year and features an impressive cast including Shaun Micallef and Santo Cilauro. There's a great website with sample video files and a regularly updated online diary ('making Herman'). Visit: nakedfella.com

The Breakfast Shift comedy serial set in the mythical ABC Local Radio station 699 Tarwidgiebar with 'Matthew Slee' has concluded it's daily broadcast on 774 ABC Radio Melbourne. The Breakfast Shift played daily during Red Symons in the mornings. It was written by Andrew Friedman & Hugh Johnson, produced by Michael McKenzie and starred Stig Wemyss as Matthew Slee. The regular cast also included Paul McCarthy, Grant Piro, Maxine Klibingaitis and Katrina Mathers.

---

June/July 2003:

NICE GUY, Tropfest 2002 Best of the Rest short film screened Sunday 20 July at In the Realm of the Senses. NICE GUY features Fiona Harris from Channel 10's SkitHouse in a monologue about being thirty and virile and meeting a really really nice guy.

THE REFEREES screened at Cinema Europa at the Jam Factory as part of Upstart Films 9th & 10th July, 2003.

ALL OF THE ABOVE three short works: BULLY, IF CAT AND DOG COULD & SHELF LIFE performed at fortyfivedownstairs June 26-July 5, 2003

TEENAGE PORTRAITS Screened at In the Realm of the Senses 22 June. Directed by Greta Morton, this black and white 16mm short film won many short film awards and became the inspiration for the infamous series station idents later directed by Greta for ABC TV.

Short films screening at St Kilda Film Festival featuring work by some of our team and collaborators include: THE REFEREES; plus Negative (Act 3 Animation, Mathew Anastasi & Leigh Whannell); The Meat Game (Mike McLeish); Brain & The Kiss (Katrina Mathers), and Dupion (Dean Francis).

FLIPSIDE TV sketch comedy series screened again on The Comedy Channel Thursday nights.

THE REFEREES screened at In the Realm of the Senses, Sunday 27 April, 2003

FOOTY CHICKS, the only show to officially sell out on the opening night of this year's Melbourne International Comedy Festival receives positive reviews.

---

Feb / March 2003

THE REFEREES short film screened as one of the sixteen finalist films at this year's Intel Tropfest on February 28th around Australia - Intel Tropfest is billed as the largest short film festival in the world, hosted this year by Russell Crowe.

CRAZY RICHARD screened at Sydney's Mardi Gras Film Festival on February 18, 2003 at the Palace Academy Twin.

FLIPSIDE, the ABC TV sketch comedy series repeated on The Comedy Channel 9pm Thursday nights till mid Feb.

---

2002 - Jan 2003

HUDSON, LOGAN & CARTER ON THE CASE short film wins Best Screenplay Award at Film Eclectic 02

FOOTY CHICKS selected as a 2003 Moosehead Award Recipient by the Brian McCarthy Memorial Moosehead Trust to be presented as a new work at the next Melbourne International Comedy Festival.