All articles by Sandy George – Page 56
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Exception takes on Alexandra's Project
Exception, formerly Wild Bunch, has been appointed the international sales agent for Berlin Competition entry Alexandra's Project, written and directed by Rolf de Heer.Helen Buday and Gary Sweet star in the film, which explores psycho-sexual politics in marriage. "The movie represents a challenging title with a touch of provocation which ...
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Pathe plays Hopscotch with the Australians
Australian distributor Hopscotch has teamed up with London-based production, distribution and sales outfit Pathe to co-develop Australian films. Those that get made are likely to be distributed by Hopscotch in Australia, and by Pathe in the UK and France. Pathe will also handle international sales."Everyone sits around and talks about ...
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Local market share slips (again) for Australian films
Australian films took only 4.9% or $24.7m (A$41.8m) of the total $498.9m (A$844.8) gross box office for 2002, compared to 7.8% in 2001 and 8% in 2000.However, according to the Australian Film Commission, the good news is that in only one other year on record did more films gross $590,000 ...
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Brown extends tenure at SPAA
Geoff Brown has been signed to a long-term contact as executive director of the Screen Producers Association of Australia (SPAA). He took on the job about 10 months ago when predecessor Joanne Yates departed after less than six months, but he has been associated with the organisation for much longer ...
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Australia's Palace lines up bumper year of releases
Australian distributor Palace Films has acquired three new foreign titles to add to its 2003 schedule and says the year is shaping up to be its biggest yet with as many as 16 theatrical releases planned, including a raft of local films.US black comedy Igby Goes Dow, starring Kieran Culkin, ...
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Records fall as Australia celebrates bumper box office
Box office revenues in Australia rose 4% in 2002 to hit US$495.4m (A$844.8 million) and achieve another record-breaking year. Given that annual falls have only been registered once in the past 15 years, the positive result was not a surprise.While the country's nearly 19m people are visiting cinemas more than ...
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Soft Money - Australia
AustraliaAustralia's new 12.5% tax offset is designed to encourage footloose productions to spend more of their budgets in Australia. Sandy George reportsIt was an e-mail that was never meant to be made public. It described a Los Angeles telephone call, now 18 months ago, from angry Warner Bros executive Bob ...
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Three films break box office records in Australia
Several box office records have been broken over the Christmas/New Year holiday period in Australia. The Two Towers notched up the biggest ever opening week and Bowling For Columbine the biggest opening week for a documentary. And, as the year closed, Crackerjack became the highest grossing Australian film for 2002.After ...
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ContentFilm takes world rights on low budget Oz pair
Ed Pressman and John Schmidt's ContentFilm has put up a substantial advance against world rights for the first two low-budget digifeatures being developed by new filmmakers under producers Andrew Mason and Lizzie Bryant of Sydney-based City Productions.Local support has come from the Ten Network via a television presale and, in ...
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Australian Competition Commission protects indie exhibitors
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has stepped in to protect cinema owners not part of the country's exhibition troika, The issue in question is the future of cinema advertising or, more specifically, of the only national provider of these services, Val Morgan. Village, Hoyts and Greater Union, which ...
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Andrew Mason appointed to FTO board
Producer Andrew Mason has been appointed to the board of the New South Wales Film and Television Office (FTO) for three years. Although best known as someone who shepherds offshore films such as The Matrix through Australia, he has also been building a local production business. Mason replaces Laurie Patton, ...
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Hughes departure from Australia's FFC confirmed as Dec 31
Two senior investment managers at the Film Finance Corporation (FFC), Terry Jennings and Chris Oliver, will be the "caretaker" chief executives once Catriona Hughes departs on December 31 as planned. The government financier is the most influential force in Australia's film industry. Hughes stayed on after her contract expired in ...
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Australia set to attract more international productions
Sydney is set to get another major film and TV studio, including the country's biggest single soundstage.A development application has been lodged with the local Sutherland Council for the construction of four film and two television studios within an existing industrial estate in the southern Sydney suburb of Kurnell. "This ...
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Spice Factory buys into Arclight
Sydney-based sales agent Arclight Films has confirmed that the UK-based production company Spice Factory has taken an equity stake in the six-month-old company which, until now, has been owned by Gary Hamilton and Victor Syrmis. This expands on the first-look deal Arclight already had for all Spice Factory's output."I am ...
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Rabbit-Proof Fence triumphs at last Down Under
Rabbit-Proof Fence has at last been voted best film in its country of origin. The producers - expatriate director Phillip Noyce, writer Christine Olsen and John Winter - earned the top accolade on Saturday at the AFI (Australian Film Institute) Awards, the longest-running local awards event.Ivan Sen was voted best ...
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New Zealand promotes itself as giant film studio
The Studio New Zealand brand partnership, which promotes the notion that the whole country can be a film studio, was launched today in Wellington. At the event, 11 of the country's local government authorities and regional film offices were presented with certificates confirming that they were meeting the terms of ...
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Phillip Noyce returns to Australia for Dirt Music
Expatriate Australian Phillip Noyce is planning to do more filmmaking in his home country. Two years after returning from Hollywood to make Rabbit-Proof Fence, Noyce has put together a team to adapt the novel Dirt Music by Tim Winton, with a possible starring role for Nicole Kidman. According to local ...
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New Zealand film commission eager to promote co-productions
The New Zealand Film Commission is trying to capitalise on the country's high profile due to Lord Of The Rings, by helping to develop international co-productions.John Gilbert, Academy Award nominee for his editing on The Fellowship Of The Ring and producer of a popular NZ sitcom, is in discussion with ...
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Fremaux makes fact-finding trip to Australia
Thierry Fremaux is currently on his first ever visit to Australia - and the first by a Cannes Film Festival artistic director - but instead of selecting films, he is spending his time learning about Australian cinema. "I am totally ignorant about Australian cinema, which is why I wanted to ...
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Roadshow snaps up Oz rights to Perfect film
Roadshow Films has acquired all Australian and New Zealand rights to the unfinished homegrown drama One Perfect Day, about a young musical prodigy torn from the pursuit of his classical music career after his sister dies from a drug overdose at a dance party. One Perfect Day is a rare ...