That Sugar Film, the debut feature documentary from actor Damon Gameau, is off with a rush, having clocked up more than 290,000 plays on Facebook in just a few days, according to distributor Madman. The film features Gameau in a Morgan Spurlock-style stunt, eating 40 teaspoons of sugar a day for 60 days to see what effect it has on his body and his mental state. Shockingly that is, according to the film's promotional material, "the daily intake of the average teenager". The film has its international debut on Thursday night (European time), screening as one of 15 movies in competition in the prestigious International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, which runs November 19-30. That Sugar Film is one of five Australian docs screening in the program. Full details at idfa.nl

Angelina Jolie's love affair with Australian crews continues

Like many a blow-in director before her, Angelina Jolie has taken time to lavish praise on Australian crews. Her $65 million WW2 feature Unbroken had its world premiere at Sydney's State Theatre on Monday night, and at the following day's press conference – held in a room overlooking the water at the Sydney Opera House – Jolie said she and her co-producers "were so happy to bring the film back here". She said unveiling the film in Australia was honouring a commitment she made to her crew, whom she credited with teaching her a few key Aussie phrases during the shoot in late 2013 and earlier this year. "We picked up a few things, like 'too easy', 'no worries'," she said. "No worries is a great thing to hear from your crew when you have 200 extras and a lot to do, sticking planes in the water and a very very stressful shoot, and you say, 'Can we do this?' 'No worries'. 'Thank you.' I love it." Unbroken opens in Australia on January 15, 2015.

Rallying the troops at Screen Forever

The annual Screen Producers' Australia conference Screen Forever has been the place for rallying cries this week. Film Victoria boss Jenni Tosi urged the industry to start selling itself to a federal government that isn't necessarily of the view that Australian screen content is intrinsically a Very Good Thing, and to a public that seems to have stopped going to see Australian movies even when they're well made by some of the finest in the business. "How is it this story of success and its significance to our future is not better known to our politicians, and more importantly to the Australian public?" she asked. She suggested that some of "the best and brightest" in the industry ought to work together on a campaign "to tell this story with a united voice to those who need to understand and believe in it".

Adams thumps the nationalist tub

Phillip Adams, meanwhile, used his keynote speech to (a) remind everyone how big a role he had played in helping create a local screen industry (as indisputable as it was immodest); (b) give his own paper, The Australian, a mild kicking over its "constant assaults" on the ABC; and (c) urge a return to a nationalist argument in defence of government support of our screen culture, rather than the economic line that has held sway in recent years. Along the way, Adams trotted out a fantastic (but presumably not fantastical) anecdote about a plan he hatched in the 1970s to send a single government-sponsored buyer to Los Angeles to shop for TV programs that would then be auctioned off back home to the local networks, with profits being used to fund Australian TV productions. The all-powerful then-head of the Motion Picture Distributors Association of America, Jack Valenti, was so incensed when the plan was leaked to him that he flew to Hawaii to shirtfront (to use our current PM's vernacular) Gough Whitlam. "If the Adams plan is implemented, you will never again see an American film or television show," Adams claims Valenti said. "We will slap a total embargo on you." While noting it was a ludicrous and impossible threat, Adams added that he told the story "to show how brutal things can get" when Hollywood feels its hegemony is under threat.

Morgan hopes to spur on film activism

Morgan Spurlock has lent his name to a campaign to help raise awareness of the threats posed to the Great Barrier Reef. The documentary maker best known for his Super Size Me will be one of four judges of the #Reefreels short film competition organised by activist organisation GetUp! "I can't wait to see the talent and content that comes out of this competition," Spurlock said. "We might find the next David Attenborough or James Cameron." The winning film, of up to three minutes, will collect a $10,000 cash prize and be screened at intermission during the main event at Tropfest on Sunday December 7. You have until November 30 to craft your reef-saving piece of agit-prop; details at getup.org.au

On twitter: @karlkwin