All articles by Sandy George – Page 57
-
News
Australia's Hopscotch signs for first local film
Fledgling Australian distributor Hopscotch has picked up Australian and New Zealand rights for its first local film. Peaches got a greenlight from the Film Finance Corporation (FFC) this week and is to be directed by Craig Monahan from a script by television writer Sue Smith. "Craig Monahan should have ...
-
News
Australia's indie producer incentive looks like getting through
Despite strong opposition from the commercial free-to-air television networks, it looks like programs produced by the independent sector will earn extra points towards the local content quota for the first time in Australian television history. This should assist the survival of production houses, many of which simultaneously develop both films ...
-
News
Australian production numbers move Upstream
Some US$74m (A$131m) was spent on Australian feature film production in the 12 months up to June 30 - a sixty percent year on year increase. 30 films were produced in the same period - four more than in the previous year.However, the latest figures are much the same as ...
-
News
Tracker adds to Aussie awards haul
The Tracker, produced by Julie Ryan and the film's writer/director Rolf de Heer, has again taken top honours on its home soil. A week after winning the best film prize at the Film Critics Circle Awards, it won best film at the annual IF Awards, which were broadcast live on ...
-
News
Euro delegation heads for New Zealand
A nine-person delegation of European producers is heading for New Zealand this month with the aim of developing co-productions. More may join them.The delegation is being financed through Investment New Zealand and is one of several new government-funded initiatives aimed at strengthening the country's screen industries on the back of ...
-
News
Hard Word finds its new Alibi in Beyond
Sydney-based Beyond Films will begin selling the Australian crime thrillerThe Hard Word at MIFED, replacing London-based Alibi Films as its international sales agent.Alibi originally signed on to represent the film internationally in mid-2000, over a year before shooting began, largely because of the interest of its then sales chief Hilary ...
-
News
The Tracker wins Australian critics prize
The Tracker has won best film prize at Australia's Film Critics Circle awards. Julie Ryan accepted the award, saying that Rolf de Heer, her co-producer on the film, was not just an inspiration to her but to the whole film community.Rolf de Heer had already been on stage to collect ...
-
News
A major setback for Australia's Film Finance Corp.
Film Finance Corporation (FFC) chair Geoff Levy today released a three-paragraph media statement that must be one of the most ill-considered and misleading the organisation has ever issued. It announced that the search had resumed for a new chief executive, arguably, the most important job in Australia's film industry. But ...
-
News
Fox takes Australian rights on Perfect Strangers
Twentieth Century Fox Distributors Australia has acquired Australian theatrical rights to Perfect Strangers, its first New Zealand film, with a sale price believed to be the biggest ever paid to sales agent the New Zealand Film Commission for that territory.While a local distribution deal has yet to be signed, the ...
-
News
Rabbit-Proof Fence scoops 10 AFI nominations
Period drama Rabbit-Proof Fence, directed by Phillip Noyce (pictured), has dominated the AFI (Australian Film Institute) Award nominations with ten nods,. But with only one less is first-time director Tony Ayres' Walking On Water, a highly contemporary story about the effect of a young man's death on his family and ...
-
News
Heather Rose dies, aged 36
Heather Rose, who got a standing ovation at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival for her performance as Julia in director Rolf de Heer's competition title Dance Me To My Song, died suddenly last week in South Australia a day after her 36th birthday.She was born with severe cerebral palsy, confined ...
-
News
Hoyts has a go at Swimming Upstream
Hoyts Distribution has acquired Australian rights to Swimming Upstream from Summit Entertainment. Although principally produced out of the US, the film was shot in Queensland last year and directed by expatriate Russell Mulcahy, and stars two of the country's most internationally acclaimed actors, Geoffrey Rush and Judy Davis. Hoyts acquisition ...
-
News
Australian critics applaud films with strong indigenous themes
The Australian Film Critics Circle has nominated Australian Rules, produced by Mark Lazarus, Rabbit-Proof Fence (Phillip Noyce, Christine Olsen), The Tracker (Rolf de Heer, Julie Ryan), and Walking On Water (Liz Watts) for best film in this year's awards.Noyce and de Heer have also been nominated for their role as ...
-
News
Rialto and Arclight team for Roger Dodger
Rialto Entertainment, the only New Zealand company that distributes films in Australia, and Australia's newest sales agent, Arclight Films, have co-acquired what they describe as one of the few buzz films from the Venice and Toronto Film Festivals, namely the New York comedy Roger Dodger.The story of a schoolboy's attempt ...
-
News
Norwegian sales agent backs two southern hemisphere projects
Norwegian sales agent BV International Pictures has penetrated yet another corner of the globe by signing for a film in Australia and another in New Zealand. The UK/New Zealand co-production Castle Of Lies starring James Caan and the Australian road movie/comedy Thunderstruck are both grounded in reality but there the ...
-
News
Beyond, MBP relationship sours
The partnership between German investor MBP (Medienbeteiligungs-und-Produktions Gesellschaft MBH & Co KG of Munich) and Australia's Beyond International, parent company of sales agent Beyond Films, seems to have soured. Beyond has asked the Supreme Court of New South Wales to make a judgement on whether MBP Medien AG is obliged ...
-
News
Hopper, Griffith will do it their way in Sinatra Down Under tale
Screen legend Dennis Hopper will play Frank Sinatra, Melanie Griffith his girlfriend and David Hemmings his lawyer in new film The Night We Called It A Day, which goes into production in Sydney on Oct 21 directed by Paul Goldman.The core of the story, however, belongs to Joel Edgerton. He ...
-
News
Melbourne film studio gets government go-ahead
A major new film studio complex in the Australian state of Victoria got the greenlight this week, after the state's government agreed to commit US$22m (A$40m) of public funding to the US$60m ($A110m) project.To be built in the state capital of Melbourne, Central City Studios (CCS) will have five new ...
-
News
Australia's Beyond blames losses on revaluation of film catalogue
Beyond International managing director Mikael Borglund has played down the company's US$12m (A$22m) loss for the year ending June 30, saying it was principally due to a $10.7m revaluation of non-performing films and television programs from the catalogue. Total writedowns were actually $12.6m with the addition of online investments and ...
-
News
Northbeach launches into Australian distribution market
Yet another player has joined the growing band of small Australian distributors specialising in independent and foreign films. Northbeach Film Distributors, owned by journalist and publisher David Pearce, is planning a limited release of Spanish director Ventura Pons' first English language film Food Of Love, a comedy drama starring five ...