We’re delighted to announce Conal Osfield as the recipient of the inaugural Storytelling Scholarship.
The Scholarship, announced last year by acclaimed director and AFTRS alumna Gillian Armstrong, is intended to support students throughout their student journey by covering their tuition fees.
Conal Osfield, who this year enters the AFTRS Bachelor of Arts Screen: Production program, was selected for the Scholarship based on his creative response to the story provocations in the AFTRS brand campaign, Storytellers Wanted. The Storytellers Wanted campaign was developed by award-winning agency 72andSunny and directed by emerging filmmaker and AFTRS alumna, Vedrana Music, with mentoring by Gillian Armstrong. The campaign featured a number of vignettes, ‘stories waiting to be told’, and Storytelling Scholarship applicants were invited to complete a story.
Conal, 19, from Wentworth Falls in western Sydney, submitted a drama script and was chosen by the selection panel for his distinct point of view, originality and storytelling abilities.
“AFTRS has a clear mission to discover and enable diverse Australian voices and the Storytelling Scholarship was created to support this aim. The selection panel all agreed that Conal’s application revealed an exciting talent that will be nurtured through his time at AFTRS. We believe he has a very promising future in the screen industry,” said Nell Greenwood, AFTRS Director of Curriculum and Student Registrar.
Since its inception in 1973 as the national film, television and radio school, AFTRS has empowered Australian storytelling talent. This Scholarship aligns with the School’s determination to support the next generation of Australian talent, equip our industry with relevant skills essential to meet ever-changing needs and challenges and ensure audiences are enriched by Australian stories.
The AFTRS Storytelling Scholarship will cover Conal’s tuition fees for the duration of his course.
Conal has always had a keen interest in film and he has been writing and generating screen concepts and ideas since he was a young boy. His script submission for the Scholarship is about a young boy growing up as climate change passes a final tipping point, leaving humanity face to face with quietly inevitable extinction.
In accepting the Scholarship, Conal said; “Filmmaking involves a lot of stabs in the dark; a lot of creating blindly without any validation or evidence that your efforts mean anything to others. To receive the Scholarship means that one of my stories has resonated with someone other than myself, which I find to be both deeply gratifying, and deeply humbling.”
Media enquiries:
Tracey Mair, TM Publicity
Ph: 02 8333 9066 or 0419 221 493