Sydney Teacher Seminar at Fox Studios 2011

This late afternoon program, attended by 20 teachers, offered the opportunity to explore how copyright, creativity and citizenship shape our society, its relevance to the curriculum and to students’ everyday lives.

The seminar brought together teachers from different schools and film industry personnel to explore the issues involved and the impact that acts of film & TV content theft have upon our society.

Gail Grant, CEO of IPAF presented the latest research data to help us objectively assess the impact of film and TV piracy upon society.

Emma Moroney, Supervising Producer at Movie Network Channels, part of the Foxtel/Austar subscription television platform, presented a fascinating case study of how the Movie Extra Webfest has helped to launch emerging filmmakers through YouTube presentations, and the difficulties that copyright issues can cause in getting films made and to air.

Bob Lewis and Tim Gurry, Ryebuck Media, demonstrated how an innovative online secondary school resource - comprising print, film and interactive elements - could be used in across the curriculum to explore issues in the classroom.

It was a great social networking event and teachers left with practical strategies and resources that they felt confident about using with their students.