Lemac Film and Digital have won the John Howie Award for Outstanding Leadership, Achievement and Service to the Victorian Screen Industry, presented at the inaugural Film Victoria Screen Leaders Awards on Thursday October 11th.
The Screen Leaders Awards were established by Film Victoria to recognise screen professionals who’ve shown leadership through their roles and a commitment to developing the industry and nurturing emerging talent.
Eligibility for the awards is for companies or individuals with over 10 years of service to the screen industry, which Lemac well exceeds, having begun in 1975 and still going strong. From these humble beginnings, under the guidance of company founder and talented cinematographer John Bowring ACS, Lemac has been responsible for revolutionary technical developments, including the stretch frame shooting technique and the introduction of Super-16 and 16x9 origination for television in Australia. The first rental company in Australia with Red, Sony F65, Canon Cinema EOS, Arri Digital, Aaton 3-perf and 2-perf, Panasonic Varicam and P2 (just to name a few!) Lemac are a leader in Australia when it comes to imaging technology and end-to-end image capture solutions for film, digital cinema and television.
Lemac is also known for its dedicated support of aspiring filmmakers. The Lemac team under the the late John Bowring ACS, together with his wife and business partner Sue Greenshields have supplied both equipment and guidance to emerging filmmakers and screen training organisations for many years. Sue continues to lead the Lemac team.
John Howie presenting the Award to Lemac National Rentals Manager, Brett Dwyer.
In addition to her role as Managing Director of Lemac Film and Digital, Sue Greenshields is the inaugural past President of the Screen Services Association of Victoria (SSAV) and former member of the Screens Producers Association of Australia (SPAA) and Ausfilm Board. In 2003 she was awarded the SPAA Independent Producers Award for services to the Australian film and television industry. In a statement, Sue has said the Lemac team were thrilled and honoured to be recognised in this way.
“It is always a wonderful thing to be honoured by your industry peers,” she said. “It’s also a fairly rare thing for a services company to be the recipient of such an award and we thank the Film Victoria Board for this very special acknowledgement.
L-R: Lemac Rentals Manager Brett Dwyer, producer Sue Maslin, Film Victoria CEO Jenni Tosi, producer Jill Robb, arts advocate John Howie, Film Victoria President Ian Robertson.
The Lemac team in attendance L-R: Nathan Christoffel, Romilly Spiers, Brett Dwyer, Mandy Williams, Eszter Faradi, Brett Williams and Charlie Ward.
“Outstanding leadership, achievement and service to the industry are qualities that the founder of Lemac, the late John Bowring ACS, embodied and that the Lemac team proudly continue to deliver.
“As tough as this industry is, so long as we have a passion for excellence, a willingness to invest, and above all a generosity of spirit we will succeed.”
CEO Jenni Tosi said the Victorian Screen Leaders Awards were the first to recognize leadership and long-term contribution among Victorian practitioners. They also acknowledge the significant contribution of women in the industry.
Joining Lemac as award-recipient was long-time film producer Sue Maslin, winner of the Jill Robb Award for Outstanding Leadership, Achievement and Service to the Victorian Screen Industry. The Victorian Screen Leaders Awards were named in honour of film and TV producer Jill Robb and creative arts advocate John Howie - two significant supporters of the Victorian screen industry and inspiring leaders in Film Victoria’s history. The industry gathered to celebrate the awards and acknowledge the service of Jill and John, who presented the awards to the inaugural recipients.
Click here to read full press release from Film Victoria.