All articles by Sandy George – Page 60
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News
NZ film body pulls plug on four films at Larry Parr's Kahukura Productions
The New Zealand Film Commission's (NZFC) Alan Sorrell has confirmed that it was "reluctantly concluded" today that the government agency is unable to find a way to complete four films caught in a financial melt-down at producer Larry Parr's Kahukura Productions. The films include director Grant Lahood's Kombi Nation, Adam ...
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First Australian pick-up for France's Flach Pyramide
French sales house Flach Pyramide International has made its first major investment in Australian filmmaking, taking international rights to writer/ director Kathryn Millard's debut feature Travelling Light Millard's acclaimed one-hour film Parklands - Cate Blanchett's big screen debut - sufficiently impressed the sales agency, which is known ...
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Hamilton and Syrmis greenlight Arclight
After spending weeks meeting with practically every producer in the country, Gary Hamilton and Victor Syrmis have at last announced what must be the worst kept secret in the Australian film industry: the pair are establishing a new Sydney-based sales agency and production company called Arclight Films. This means that ...
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Asian films are focus of two out of three new Oz FIPRESCI awards
Australia's three major east coast festivals - Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne - will each present a prize under the FIPRESCI banner from this year. The Film Critics Circle of Australia (FCCA) instigated the move and has begun recruiting the local component of the three three-person international juries.The Melbourne International Film ...
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Ian McShane joins in with Paper, Scissors, Stone
Ian McShane, last seen in Sexy Beast, has taken a lead role in the psychological thriller Paper, Scissors, Stone, which went into production today (May 6) in Canada. Carly Pope, Brendan Fehr, Adrian Paul, and Rena Owen had already been cast in the film about a girl whose fascination with ...
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Jack Matthews named CEO at Premium Movie Partnership
Jack Matthews has been named new chief executive at the Premium Movie Partnership (PMP), owner and operator of movie channel Showtime, Australia's most popular pay-TV channel and the biggest supporter of Australian features in the sector. The role means Matthews represents joint owners 20th Century Fox, Columbia TriStar, Paramount Pictures, ...
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Lum, Cox team for Australian Hopscotch
The reason behind Troy Lum's sudden departure from Dendy Films last week has become clear: he is starting his own Australian distribution and marketing company in partnership with veteran distributor Frank Cox. Cox will wind down his existing entity, NewVision, and transfer management of its library of 150 films to ...
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SAG rule could 'devastate' Australian films & limit offshore opportunities
Bob Carr, political leader of New South Wales, the Australian film industry's most significant state, today wrote to Screen Actors Guild (SAG) president Melissa Gilbert to urgently verify that Australian SAG members are able to work on Australian films without being paid SAG rates. Were this not the case, his ...
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Controversy boosts results for Baise-Moi down under
The controversy, and subsequent awareness, surrounding French film Baise-Moi has led to its limited release performing about three times the business expected by its Australian distributor, Potential. The film's gross of $49,419 (A$91,426) from just three screens over its first four days to April 28, gave a screen average of ...
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Troy Lum resigns as head of Australia's Dendy Films
Troy Lum has resigned as head of Australia's Dendy Films, a move that may give Richard Payten and Andrew Mackie ultimate responsibility for acquiring films for all three of the distribution entities within the Becker Group. A final decision, however, is unlikely until after Cannes.Manager director Richard Becker said he ...
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Naomi Watts joins Ned Kelly's Australian cast
Naomi Watts will be returning to Australia in June to star alongside Geoffrey Rush, Rachel Griffith and Heath Ledger in director Gregor Jordan's Ned Kelly, which went into production today (April 29).The news highlights the benefits now flowing to Australian films as a result of the recent international attention focussed ...
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The Water Giant re-locates from Canada to New Zealand
Eight weeks of principal photography has just begun at Lake Wakatipu near Queenstown in New Zealand on the $20m family adventure The Water Giant, formerly called Ogopogo. The original plan was to shoot on Canada's Lake Okanagan, but it was too developed to offer the wilderness backdrop required. A relocation ...
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Australia's Palace boards De Heer's Project
Palace Films has picked up all Australasian rights to Rolf de Heer's tenth feature Alexandra's Project and, in what is the largest ever financial commitment to an Australian film by the long-standing distributor, has also signed on as a major investor. Palace founder and manager director Antonio Zeccola will get ...
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Australia to re-asses Baise-Moi classification
French film Baise-Moi, which is due to be released in Australia by distributor Potential this Thursday (April 25), is being re-examined by the Classification Review Board at the request of the Federal Attorney-General Daryl Williams. The original certification restricted the film to viewers over 18 years of age (R18). The ...
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Queensland launches Gold Coast film festival
The Gold Coast City Council is one of the main drivers behind the launch this year of a film festival that it hopes will draw attention to the filmmaking capabilities of the region, and boost economic development. Over $54,000 (A$100,000) has already been raised from government sources.Queensland's Gold Coast, south ...
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Beyond, Chaos team for Australian home entertainment
A range of Australian cinema classics will be among at least 30 titles released on DVD and video in the next 12 months under a new deal between Beyond International and information technology group and home entertainment distributor Chaos. Upcoming titles licensed by Beyond will also be manufactured, marketed and ...
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Brown steps into vacated SPAA exec director job
Geoff Brown has been appointed executive director of the Screen Producers Association of Australia (SPAA) following the sudden resignation of Joanne Yates who joined only six months ago. Brown, already involved with the organisation as policy manager in an acting capacity while the incumbent was on maternity leave, is a ...
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Australia to get its first competitive film festival
Sydney Film Festival director Gayle Lake has confirmed that the festival will become a competitive event from 2003, the year it celebrates its 50th birthday, with filmmakers' first or second feature films being eligible. Australia does not currently have a competitive festival.A new directors program was introduced in 1999 and ...
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Icon adds Bend It Like Beckham to Oz release line-up
Icon Film Distribution Australia has acquired the rights to UK soccer hit Bend It Like Beckham, directed by Gurinder Chadha. The tentative release date is July in Australia and August in New Zealand. It is generally acknowledged that British films can work as well in the Australian marketplace as US ...
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Cinemas face cost of Disability Discrimination Act
While the international exhibition industry has always aspired to keep ahead of government regulations, especially those regarding access and facilities for the disabled, the Disability Discrimination Act of 1995 has given rise to a new and challenging set of issues that could prove costly to resolve.In what many will hope ...