On Thursday 16 April at the East Village Hotel in Sydney, film-lovers, filmmakers and industry movers-and-shakers will celebrate in style as the Screen Producers Association of Australia (SPAA) officially launch the fifth exciting year of the DigiSPAA digital filmmaking competition.

2009 builds on the success of last year s competition, which saw more than 20 exceptional entries, and proudly anointed Jason Byrne s Little Deaths as winner of the grand prize, the SPAARTAN Award .

DigiSPAA is recognised as the leading showcase for low-budget digital filmmaking in Australia and New Zealand. All aspiring digital filmmakers are encouraged to enter to have the chance to win $15,000 cash and $20,000 worth of post-production, a guaranteed screening of their film on the Movie Extra channel, plus a return airfare and free registration to the prestigious CineMart International Film Festival Rotterdam.

Since winning DigiSPAA, Little Deaths has screened at the Dungog Film Festival (2009) and is being courted by several international sales agents.

In 2007, John L Simpson won the prestigious award with his film Men s Group. Since winning DigiSPAA in 2007, Men's Group has won Best Feature at the 2008 Inside Film Awards, Simpson was awarded the 2nd AFI Fellowship award worth $25,000 and Men s Group received a national theatrical release on Nov 6 (2008). This success has resulted in a snowballing effect which will see Madman Entertainment release the DVD in June this year, Movie Network showcase Men s Group from July this year and interest to screen the film in Canada later this year.