Screen Australia backs 18 features with development funds

Now that it is likely to be set up as a UK/Australian co-production, prolific UK producer Kevin Loader (In the Loop, Hyde Park on Hudson, Le Week-End) has become part of the team behind the comedy drama B Model, to be directed by actor Rachel Griffiths.

Griffiths has directed two shorts, Roundabout and Tulip and this will be her first feature – providing the money can be raised.

Australian producer Louise Smith was reluctant to provide details of the project precisely because it is yet to be financed. The current draft of the script is being written by Samantha Stauss, co-creator of the series Dance Academy.

B Model is included in a list of 18 features that Screen Australia has injected a total of US$500,000 worth of development money into in the last four months.

One of the films is the coming-of-age story Jasper Jones, which has Rachel Perkins (Bran Nue Dae) attached and is adapted Craig Silvey’s book of the same name.

Snowtown writer Shaun Grant is the writer of this film and also the thriller Berlin Syndrome, which has Cate Shortland (Somersault, Lore) on board. The protagonist is an Australian photojournalist and the setting is Berlin.

Also set abroad – this time in Vietnam – is One Crowded Hour which is to be directed by Kim Mordaunt, who had success on the festival circuit with The Rocket, which he shot in Laos. The film celebrates renowned warzone photojournalist Neil Davis.

The other experienced directors on the list are Serhat Caradee (Cedar Boys), Jonathan auf der Heide (Van Diemen’s Land) and Megan Simpson-Huberman (Dating The Enemy, Alex), who is attached to an adaptation of Susan Duncan’s autobiographical novel Salvation Creek.

Many of the projects don’t yet have directors attached.

Screen Australia noted the global outlook across the projects. Alongside inner-city Berlin, the settings include the Canadian ski slopes, Mexico City and medieval England.

The agency also noted that the list represents a variety of genres including family, musical, comedy, drama, thriller, sci-fi and action.

B Model
Genre Comedy, Drama
Producers Louise Smith, Kevin Loader, Rachel Griffiths
Writer/Director Rachel Griffiths

Berlin Syndrome
Genre Thriller
Producer Polly Staniford
Executive Producer Angie Fielder
Director Cate Shortland
Writer Shaun Grant

Synopsis A passionate holiday romance leads to an obsessive relationship when an Australian photojournalist wakes one morning in a Berlin apartment and is unable to leave.

The Bunyip Of Berkeley’s Creek
Genre Family
Producers Melanie Coombs, Mish Armstrong, Alicia Brown
Executive Producer Jonathan Page
Writer Sofya Gollan

Synopsis The Bunyip emerges from a waterhole not knowing who he is, what he is or how he came to be. “Who am I?” he asks the Platypus, Kangaroo and Emu. Only little Spinifex Hopping Mouse Poppy is brave enough to journey with him to find out. Based on the classic children’s book.

Emo (The Musical)
Genre Comedy, Musical
Producer Lee Matthews
Executive Producer Shaun Miller
Writer Neil Triffett

Synopsis Ethan, an Emo kid who hates almost everything, falls in love with Trinity, a good Christian girl with a passion for life and her Lord Jesus Christ.

The Enamorados
Genre Comedy, Drama
Producers Julie Ryan, Lisa Hoppe
Director Martha Goddard
Writer Lisa Hoppe

Synopsis Married for 40 years, conservative Mary and Ray Podger find themselves in Mexico on the biggest adventure of their lives, struggling to renegotiate the terms of their love in a distant land.

The End Of Everything
Genre Thriller
Producer Kristian Moliere
Writer Andy Cox

Synopsis When Lizzie’s best friend, Evie, disappears, Lizzie takes up her own pursuit of the truth pushing herself into the dark centre of Evie’s teenage world, uncovering secret after secret until she begins to wonder whether she really knew her friend at all.

Golden People
Genre Comedy, Drama
Producer Linda Micsko
Director Hannah Hilliard
Writer Glen Dolman

Synopsis 16-year-old competitive swimmer, Paris, attempts to break away from the all-consuming control of his winning-obsessed mother, Laura, in the lead up to the national championships.

Jasper Jones
Genre Coming of Ag
Producers Vincent Sheehan, David Jowsey
Executive Producers Liz Watts, Rebecca O’Brien
Director Rachel Perkins
Writer Shaun Grant

Synopsis Based on the best-selling novel by Craig Silvey.

Lucid
Genre Comedy, Science Fiction
Producer Raquelle David
Executive Producer Su Armstrong
Writer Philip Tarl Denson

Synopsis When an introverted dream programmer discovers he is trapped in a client’s dream, he must find a way out and save the woman he secretly loves.

My Country
Genre Drama
Producers Tim Maddocks, Liz Burton, Serhat Caradee
Executive Producer David Jowsey
Writer/Director Serhat Caradee

Synopsis A group of young Middle Eastern men kidnap the daughter of a wealthy Sydney family, intent on using her as a bargaining tool in a global political game.

One Crowded Hour
Genre Biopic
Producers Todd Fellman, Lance Kelleher
Director Kim Mordaunt
Writer Andy Cox

Palm Beach
Genre Dramatic Comedy
Producers Bryan Brown, Deb Balderstone
Writer Joanna Murray-Smith

Putney Grail
Genre Action Adventure
Producers David Taft, Michael Harvey
Writer Michael Harvey

Synopsis Four C14th knights are resurrected in C21st UK, on a quest to protect the Holy Grail from international criminals led by a medieval enchantress.

Salvation Creek
Genre Drama
Producer Heather Ogilvie
Director Megan Simpson-Huberman
Writer Ross Grayson Bell

Synopsis A high-flying magazine editor thinks she’s coping brilliantly with grief until the day she can’t get out of bed. Sometimes salvation turns out to be a place of unexpected beauty.

Season’s Pass
Genre Comedy
Producer Matthew Dabner
Writer Heath Davis

Synopsis The carefree lifestyle of a party-loving Aussie ski instructor is challenged when he arrives in Canada ready for the new snow season only to be confronted by the son he never knew he had.

The Seed
Genre Biopic
Producer Nicole O’Donohue
Writer Kate Mulvany

Synopsis Based on a real-life story, a young Australian woman accompanies her Vietnam veteran father on an overseas trip to meet her grandfather, only to discover a garden of long-buried familial secrets. Based on the stage play by Kate Mulvany.

Snot And Bob’s Holiday
Genre Crime
Producer Jodi Matterson
Writer John Doyle

Synopsis Through a series of comic adventures, two orphaned criminal brothers rescue their dream girl’s kidnapped child.

This Dark Wood
Genre Horror, Thriller
Producer Kristina Ceyton
Director Jonathan auf der Heide
Writer Tom Holloway

Synopsis Recovering from the loss of their child, a young couple move to remote Tasmania to discover that the Tasmanian Devil Facial Tumour Disease has jumped species and threatens the survival of the human race.