All articles by Sandy George – Page 27
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Lightning picks up Aussie horror Gates Of Hell
US sales agent Lightning Entertainment has picked up world rights to horror film The Gates Of Hell just in time for Cannes. Australian writer/director Kelly Dolen met all but one of the private investors that put up the $1.1m (A$1.2m) to make the film while installing theatre systems in their ...
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Australia - Hopscotch jumps to next level
Independent Australian distributor Hopscotch is reinventing itself. The company's ambitious managing director Troy Lum wants to transform Hopscotch from a theatrically-focused distributor to a vertically integrated, content-driven entity.'When the digital era really hits, producers will reap the rewards,' says Lum. 'Distribution is changing because people consume content in different ways ...
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Queensland signs MoU with Korea's Gyeonggi province
A 10-year-old sister state relationship between the Australian state of Queensland and the Gyeonggi Province of South Korea has been extended into the film arena with this week's signing of a memorandum of understanding. The agreement is between the Gyeonggi Film Commission, the Gyeonggi Digital Contents Agency, and the Pacific ...
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Mason, Collee partner with Hopscotch in production venture
Australian distributor Hopscotch has enticed two of Sydney's most successful international filmmakers, producer Andrew Mason (the Matrix trilogy) and screenwriter John Collee (Master And Commander: The Far Side Of The World) to help attract investment and talent to pump into its new production division. The pair will work closely with ...
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UK's Warp, Australia's Madman pact for at least two low-budget films
Mark Herbert, managing director of Warp Films in the UK, said he wanted to get involved with Australian filmmakers when he visited in October last year; he has turned out to be a man of his word. Warp, which is based in Sheffield in Yorkshire, plans to work with ...
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Australian Writers Guild quits Australian Screen Council in protest
The dream of the Australian film and television production industry talking to government with one powerful voice on key issues is in tatters tonight with one of the four member organisations of the Australian Screen Council (ASC) resigning over what it says is financial mismanagement.The executive director of the Australian ...
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Row erupts in Australia over production offset
Two Australian film agencies are trading insults over the financing arrangements behind comedy drama Subdivision, which Japanese Story director Sue Brooks starts filming April 14. Both are investors.Once completed, Subdivision will be applying for 40% of its costs back under the new producer offset. It has always been assumed that ...
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Australia's FFC to clamp down on US studios taking tax rebate
US studios and other international players who plan to take films they have developed to Australia to shoot, then claim the new 40% producers rebate for Australian films rather than the 15% location offset designed for foreign films, are very unlikely to be successful under yet-to-be-released new guidelines.The Film Finance ...
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Vilcek offers funding for immigrant film-makers in US
The Vilcek Foundation has invited filmmakers who have had an impact in the US but were born outside that country, to apply for the $25,000 Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise.'After researching a multitude of arts categories, filmmaking seemed to be an incredibly flourishing field, and we thought it would be ...
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FFC backs 10 new Aussie films as it prepares to shut its doors
After more than 20 years as the Australian Government's key film investor, the Film Finance Corporation Australia (FFC) board yesterday agreed to invest in 10 new Australian features worth $56.7m (A$62m), the last batch of films before it closes its doors on June 30.'The FFC was cognizant that the new ...
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James Hewison tipped as new head of Madman theatrical
James Hewison, former long-term executive director of the Melbourne International Film Festival, is understood to be the new head of the theatrical division of the prominent independent distributor Madman Entertainment.Hewison announced in late January that he was stepping down from his role as chief executive of the Australian Film Institute ...
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Paramount partners Omnilab Media for The Bank Job
Omnilab Media has teamed with Paramount Pictures for the Australian and New Zealand distribution of The Bank Job, which will be in cinemas from July 31. The thriller opened at the top of the UK charts after it was released there on February 28 and has since taken more than ...
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Paul Elliott's Aussie horror The Red Car gets Aurora go-ahead
A brand new car brings only tragedy to its owners in the horror film The Red Car, one of four films chosen for Aurora, the flagship development and financing program of the New South Wales Film and Television Office.The Black Balloon, which won this year's Crystal Bear in the Generation ...
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Screen Australia appoints first CEO
Experienced public policy manager Lyn Maddock has been appointed interim chief executive of Australia's new film super-body, Screen Australia, for four months.Screen Australia replaces the Film Finance Corporation (FFC), Australian Film Commission (AFC) and Film Australia (FA), and will administer the 40% rebate now available for the production of Australian ...
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Sydney fest appoints Cameron; Liebmann joins Hoyts
Two significant but unrelated film appointments were announced in Sydney today: Fiona Cameron is the new general manager of the Sydney Film Festival and Matthew Liebmann is leaving SKYCITY Cinemas in New Zealand to be the commercial and new business director at Hoyts. Liebmann has also worked with SKYCITY co-owner ...
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Sydney aims to win back film shoots
In an effort to turn around the perception that Sydney is unfriendly to film-makers, the New South Wales (NSW) Premier has promised to make it easier to shoot on location by putting the pressure on local councils and government agencies.New legislative amendments would require authorities to approve film-making applications, unless ...
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Three leads line up for Bruce Beresford's Mao's Last Dancer
Director Bruce Beresford (Breaker Morant, Driving Miss Daisy) has chosen three actors from three different countries to play Li Cunxin in Mao's Last Dancer.Chi Cao, principal dancer at the Birmingham Royal Ballet since 2002 and winner of the gold medal in 1998 at the Varna ballet competitions, will play the ...
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NZ Film Commission boards Second Hand Wedding
The New Zealand Film Commission has taken international sales rights and invested in the post-production of the feel-good drama Second Hand Wedding. The film was directed by Paul Murphy from a script by Nick Ward (Stickmen, The Ferryman). It is about Jill (Geraldine Brophy), a school teacher who is so ...
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Icon Film Distribution buys Australian arthouse brand Dendy
Icon has acquired the 35 cinema screens in Australia and the distribution interests that underpin one of Australia's key arthouse film brands, Dendy.Becker Group Limited announced the sale today and said it was worth a 'cash consideration' of $19.4m (A$21m). The sale is expected to be completed by Mar 31. ...
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Greenaway scouting Australia for science-fiction feature
Legendary filmmaker Peter Greenaway will fly over Western Australia on Feb 23 scouting locations for a science-fiction feature film based on his most recent book The Historians Book 39: The Rise and Fall of Gestures Drama.'The book is really a history of cinema rewritten as fiction,' he told Screendaily.com. It ...