This week on Out Takes, we continued our look at the ways in which the COVID19 public health crisis has impacted the film and cinema industries in Australia and around the world.

Film productions are in hiatus. Cinemas are closed. And the industry is scrambling to find a way to survive what has already been a bleak few months. But it’s not all bad news. We explored some of the brilliant new initiatives to keep film and cinema industries afloat and to keep you entertained.

Our first guest was Sydney Film Festival Director, Nashen Moodley, who joined us to talk about WE ARE ONE, a new digital global film festival set to hit YouTube later this month. WE ARE ONE brings together 20 of the most preeminent film festivals from across the globe for 10 days of free-to-watch programming, including some of the most anticipated yet-to-be-released independent films.

We also spoke with friend of the program and MQFF Program Director, Spiro Economopoulos, about MQFF COUCH CRITIC, the Festival’s new online competition designed to get you reviewing your favourite queer films.

And finally, we were joined by Michael Carrington, the Director of Entertainment and Specialist Programming at the ABC. We spoke with Michael about the ABC’s groundbreaking FRESH START FUND, which provides urgent and critical support to independent Australian producers. The FRESH START FUN is a new 5 million dollar initiative designed to safeguard local content and support Australian creatives through the unprecedented current public health crisis.