All articles by Sandy George – Page 62
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Oz govt set to restore confidence in tax scheme
Australia's competitive appeal as a location for offshore productions, threatened last year when tax breaks were denied to investors in Red Planet and Moulin Rouge, is set to be restored following the Government's establishment of a new scheme regulating the "refundable tax offset".Australia's Government has held its ground on some ...
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CCS wins Oz's Melbourne studio contract
Central City Studios (CCS) have been declared "preferred tenderer" for the job of building and operating a studio and post-production complex in Melbourne. The move is a big step forward towards establishing Australia's third substantial studio complex in its second biggest city.While CCS managing director Tim Barnett says the core ...
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Film Critics of Australia announce nominations
Lantana, Moulin Rouge, Mullet and The Bank have a chance of being crowned best film in the 2002 Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards with the trophy going to one of the producers, namely Jan Chapman, Baz Luhrmann (and others), Vincent Sheehan or John Maynard respectively.But the directors of each ...
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China's Yon Fan honoured at Mardi Gras fest
Chinese director Yon Fan will be the guest of the 2002 Australian Mardi Gras Film Festival, (Sydney, Feb 13-24) as part of a special focus on contemporary gay Asian cinema that will see the screening of features from South Korea, Taiwan, Japan and Hong Kong. Fan's trilogy Bugis Street (1994), ...
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Alan Finney awarded Order of Australia medal
Alan Finney, vice president and managing director of Buena Vista International (Australia and New Zealand), was among the Australians honoured as part of the weekend's Australia Day celebrations. His Order of Australia Medal (OAM) is a signal of his status as the most experienced distributor in the country and one ...
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Oz FFC denies outgoing CEO was 'pushed'
The Australian Film Finance Corporation (FFC) has been forced into releasing a statement confirming that it is Catriona Hughes' own decision to leave her job when her second contract as chief executive expires this year. The move was prompted by the publication of several articles implying she is being forced ...
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Becker snaps up Australia's Globe Group
Australian film distributor Becker Entertainment has acquired Richard Payten and Andrew Mackie's highly regarded distribution, marketing and audience research entity, The Globe Group. Managing director Richard Becker said the move both strengthens Becker's film division and increases Globe's capacity to handle films, but insists that Globe will continue to ...
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Top Oz TV executive in surprise departure
David Leckie, widely considered to be the most powerful television executive in Australia, was replaced as chief executive of the Nine Network late yesterday (Jan 8). For many years the Nine Network has been the highest rating network but events in the past 12 months have lead to its supremacy ...
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New Zealand moves against parallel imports
The New Zealand Government yesterday announced it will introduce legislation to ban parallel import of video.The move will prevent films, videos and DVDs from being imported by retailers or persons other than the authorised distributor within nine months of its worldwide release. The policy will not affect private or domestic ...
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Icon buys Australian rights for Swimfan
Icon Film Distribution is believed to have bought Australian rights for the teen thriller Swimfan, from sales agent Cobalt. It is the second film and first offshore outing from local director John Polson, working under the umbrella of GreeneStreet Films and Michael Douglas's Furthur Films. Erika Christensen, Jesse Bradford and ...
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Ocean's Wally Norman gets FFC funding
The Film Finance Corporation (FFC) is to invest in The Honourable Wally Norman, allowing Ocean Pictures to fulfil its sales agent ambitions. The comedy will be represented internationally by both Ocean and the UK's Alibi Film Sales, under an agreement struck when the Australian company launched nearly two years ago.The ...
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Oz producers lobby for film promotion funds
Screen Producers Association of Australia (SPAA) president Nick Murray has called for the introduction of a scheme to inject up to $260,000 (A$500,000) into the p&a budgets of local films.The move, he said, would help Australian films to overcome the difficulties they have in securing prominent and sustained release. "US ...
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Lantana makes history at AFI awards
It was a one-horse race at the annual AFI (Australian Film Institute) Awards on November 16. Lantana made history by being the only film to win the seven top awards: best film for Jan Chapman, best director for Ray Lawrence, best actor and actress for Anthony LaPaglia and Kerry Armstrong, ...
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Oz features take a dive in number and value
Government sources provided 53% of the $42.7m (A$82m) spent on the 26 Australian films that went into production in the 12 months to June 30, 2001, according to the Australian Film Commission's (AFC) production survey released Nov 13. This is the lowest number of local features, the lowest amount spent, ...
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Oz election result assures film funding boost
The re-election of a Coalition Government in Australia on Saturday, Nov 10 means that the $48m (A$92.7m) in new assistance for the film industry, promised in September and spread over four years starting from June 2002, is assured. The extra funding encompasses nearly all the federal government agencies and was ...
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New Zealand joint venture produces winners
Snakeskin won six of the 16 feature film awards, including best film for producer Vanessa Sheldrick, at the New Zealand Film Awards on Saturday, while Stickmen won best director for Hamish Rothwell, best screenplay for Nick Ward, and best actor for Scott Wills. Both films are from the same stable, ...
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New South Wales launches Aurora workshops
The New South Wales Film and Television Office (FTO) is calling for "compelling and distinctive" feature film scripts to be the first beneficiaries of the inaugural Aurora feature film script development workshops. Applicants must intend making the film in the state of NSW and the scripts must have a writer, ...
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Rush & Davis team for Swimming Upstream
Two of Australia's most internationally acclaimed actors, Geoffrey Rush and Judy Davis, will be acting alongside each other as husband and wife when shooting starts next week in Queensland on the family drama Swimming Upstream.Australian-born Russell Mulcahy is the director and Howard and Karen Baldwin, and Australia's Andrew Mason, are ...
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Lantana scores big at Australian IF awards
Lantana confirmed its critical worth at Australia's annual IF Awards, taking home nearly every major award including best film for producer Jan Chapman, best director for Ray Lawrence, best script for Andrew Bovell and best actor for Anthony LaPaglia. The ensemble cast of Barbara Hershey, Kerry Armstrong, Leah Purcell, Rachael ...
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New Zealand film sales increase
The New Zealand Film Commission (NZFC) grossed more than $1.7m (NZ$4m) in sales in the 12 months to June 30, 2001, according to its annual report, which was tabled in Parliament today. Sales in the previous year were $465,000 (NZ$1.1m). The biggest contributor was director Glenn Standring's $887,000 (NZ$2.1m) horror ...