All articles by Sandy George – Page 25
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News
Adams relocates to Australia to produce studio-financed films
Former Participant Productions executive Chris Adams is planning to relocate from Los Angeles to Brisbane, Australia, and expand his business interests to encompass financing features developed by Melbourne-based actor, writer and filmmaker Steve Kearney. 'Steve is the creative genius and I'm the deal maker,' said Adams, who is American. Asked ...
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News
Elissa Down wins Australian Directors award for The Black Balloon
The director of The Black Balloon, Elissa Down, has won the highest feature film accolade for 2008 from her peers at the Australian Directors Guild (AWG). Click here for review.But the film's producer, Tristram Miall, collected the award on her behalf at a dinner last night (Saturday) in Sydney because ...
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News
Ashley Luke leaves Fortissimo for New South Wales FTO
Ashley Luke joins the New South Wales Film and Television Office (FTO) as director of market development on September 29 after seven years with sales agent Fortissimo.'I have been in Australia for four years and now know it pretty well and this move means I can solely concentrate on Australian ...
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News
Roadshow scoops most awards at Australia's Movie Convention
Roadshow, the only Australian-owned distributor with a direct supply line from the US studios, was the big winner last night (Thurs), the final evening of the Australian International Movie Convention (AIMC), which has been running on Queensland 's Gold Coast for the past five days. Roadshow won the most awards ...
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Features
Australia - Logic's animal cracker
When director Zack Snyder's animated fantasy adventure Guardians Of Ga'hoole opens worldwide in 2010, it will be Zareh Nalbandian's first credit as a feature producer - and Australia's first 3D feature.Nalbandian is co-founder and major shareholder of the privately owned Animal Logic at Sydney's Fox Studios. The company measures up ...
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News
Three Australians give their blessing to Ana Kokkinos film
Blessed, the new film by Australian director Ana Kokkinos (Head On), has secured a trio of fine Australian actresses in Frances O'Connor (Artificial Intelligence: AI, Mansfield Park), Miranda Otto (Lord Of The Rings) and Deborra-Lee Furness (Jindabyne), as well as Russian-born Victoria Haralabidou (Brides).The multi-narrative drama is about mothers and ...
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News
In Focus: Australia's New Holland Pictures
New Holland Pictures launched in 2004 with the ambitious - for Australia - aim of producing three films a year.Four years on, and the company that was set up as a joint venture between leading Dutch film company Idtv Film and Australian producers Mark and Cathy Overett is proving that ...
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News
Ginnane appointed president of Oz producers association
Distributor and producer Antony Ginnane has been voted president of the Screen Producers Association of Australia (SPAA) in what is believed to be the first three-way contest in the organisation's history. Ginnane defeated the incumbent, Trish Lake (Gettin' Square), and Michael Bourchier (Lucky Miles). His one-year term starts from September ...
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News
Screen Australia hands out funding to four projects
Australian director Simon Wincer, who made the iconic US miniseries Lonesome Dove, is saddling up for a new feature that will carry his trademark: plenty of horses. The Cup, an against-all-odds true story featuring Australia's most famous horse race, was one of four films that won investment from Screen Australia ...
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News
Paul Hogan keen to make Charlie & Boots for Instinct
Two of Australia's leading film comics, Paul Hogan from the 1986 worldwide hit Crocodile Dundee fame, and Shane Jacobson from the 2006 local Kenny are the likely leads in Charlie & Boots, which secured a promise of investment today from Screen Australia.Although not signed, producer David Redman said they are ...
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News
Disgrace adaptation takes Australian Writers Guild Award
Anna-Maria Monticelli has won an Australian Writers Guild Award for the script of her feature film adaptation of JM Coetzee's novel Disgrace, which will have its world premiere next month in a special presentation at the Toronto International Film Festival.In the original feature category, The Black Balloon earned its two ...
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News
NZ's Ruth Harley appointed as head of Screen Australia
Ruth Harley has stepped down after a decade as chief executive of the New Zealand Film Commission (NZFC) to take the same role at the new super agency in neighbouring Australia. She will be on deck at Screen Australia from November 15 but will attend a planning meeting of the ...
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News
NZ's Ruth Harley appointed ashead of Screen Australia
Ruth Harley has stepped down as chief executive of the New Zealand Film Commission (NZFC) to take the same role at the new super agency in the neighbouring and much bigger country of Australia. She will be on deck at Screen Australia from November 15, taking the reins from Lyn ...
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News
Melbourne's Emerging award goes to Jonathan auf der Heide
The Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) tonight presents the Emerging Australian Filmmaker Award to director Jonathan auf der Heide for his short film Hell's Gate, one week before he goes into production on a feature-length version.The low-budget privately-financed feature, like the short, is a dramatic thriller about the human instinct ...
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News
Madman Entertainment loves Bana's Beast
Madman Entertainment has bought Australian rights to Love The Beast, the feature-length documentary that actor Eric Bana has been directing for the past two years. It is about his life and his beloved car. 'The car owner in me is completely devastated but the director in me is completely thrilled,' ...
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News
Disney takes New Zealand rights to Under The Mountain
Walt Disney has signed on with sales agent NZ Film to distribute Black Sheep director Jonathan King's scary teen adventure Under The Mountain in New Zealand. Sam Neill has been cast in the film, an adaptation of a 1979 Maurice Gee novel about teenage twins who battle the dark forces ...
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News
Tourism Australia to help market Luhrmann's new film
Tourism Australia is to invest $47.4m (A$50m) to be part of and to help generate the marketing hype around Baz Luhrmann's sweeping period romance Australia, which is in cinemas from November 13. The government authority has signed a promotional partnership agreement with Twentieth Century Fox and will leap into the ...
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News
Oz filmmakers urged to seek different subject matter
Scripts must reflect big ideas that are unique and engaging, local distributors and potential overseas partners told the Australian and New Zealand filmmakers pitching projects as part of the Melbourne International Film Festival's financing market 37South. While hardly a new or surprising message, it is a crucial one at a ...
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News
Melbourne fest's financing market and fund to continue
The government of the Australian state of Victoria brought a smile to the faces of filmmakers attending the opening of the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) tonight, by pledging $2.3m (A$2.4m) to extend the life of the festival's investment fund and financing market. 'We were not certain that funding would ...
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News
Ledger to be honoured by Brisbane Film Festival
The late actor, Heath Ledger, was this morning named as the latest recipient of the Chauvel Award, given each year as part of the Brisbane International Film Festival (BIFF) to celebrate someone who has made a distinguished contribution to Australian cinema. Ledger was nominated for an Academy Award for his ...