The Australian - 8 December 2011
ABC Television's head of arts and entertainment, Amanda Duthie, will depart the public broadcaster to take over the Adelaide Film Festival. Duthie, who commissioned the series Adam Hills in Gordon Street Tonight, Gruen Planet, Art + Soul and The Chaser's Hamster Wheel, leaves as doubts remain about the ABC's commitment to arts broadcasting.
Duthie dismissed those concerns, pointing to a number of arts series commissioned for next year and the 42-week run of Artscape, among others.
"To say that ABC has shied away from the arts is just not right," she said.
Nevertheless, her role replacing AFF founding chief executive Katrina Sedgwick could have greater impact upon the nation's cultural output given the festival's commissioning fund and continued expansion beyond cinema screens.
"Katrina's been absolutely outstanding, they're mighty big and elegant shoes to fill. It's a jewel of a job and a jewel of a festival," Duthie said.
The festival's investment fund has backed the influential Australian films Samson & Delilah, Snowtown, Mrs Carey's Concert, My Tehran For Sale and Look Both Ways.
Duthie said the festival had a "different influence" on screen culture than the ABC.
"And I don't think the world's as divided (between film and TV) as it once was," she added.
Duthie joined the ABC as commissioning editor and executive producer of arts and entertainment in 2003. She was appointed arts and entertainment boss in 2008.
Duthie said she was proud of the indigenous art series Art + Soul with Hetti Perkins, seeing the Gruen Transfer series progress and seeing out Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton's 25th anniversary this year.
Then there was overseeing The Chaser's lamentable kids' hospital sketch featuring the Make A Realistic Wish Foundation.
"Yep," Duthie sighed. "Commissioning and enabling really risky comedy is obviously one of the hardest things you can do and when you cross a line you can certainly look back and see the line you've crossed. But you have to be brave."
