Four new Australian features - Two Fists One Heart,Razzle Dazzle - A Journey Into Dance, Footy Legends and Macbeth -are all are going into production thanks to investment decisions madetoday by Film Finance Corporation Australia (FFC).

The country's principal film backer is also puttingpost-production finance into The Magician, which has already been shotby writer/director Scott Ryan, who also produced the film alongside NashEdgerton and Chopper producer Michele Bennett. MovieHouse has takeninternational sales rights.

The FFC has also got behind three additional films. Theyare not yet fully financed but each has a very big local name behind thecamera, namely director Gillian Armstrong (Little Women, Charlotte Gray),producer Jan Chapman (Lantana, The Piano), and former FFC chiefexecutive Catriona Hughes. Details are below.

Two Fists One Heart is an Australian/Sicilianfamily drama set in the world of boxing and backed by Hanway Films with JeremyThomas as executive producer. Jan Sardi (Love's Brother), who haswriting credits on The Notebook and Shine, will direct his ownscript and David Elfick is producing. BVI has taken local rights.

Razzle Dazzle is the second film fromThunderstruck's director/producer team, Darren Ashton and Jodi Matterson. ElementX has taken sales rights on the film, which focuses on three stage mothers andtheir relationship with a dance school, each other and their children.

The other two films with a green light, Footy Legends,Khoa Do's second feature after his ultra low budget film The Finished People,and Geoffrey Wright's version of Shakespeare's Macbeth, got a vote ofconfidence from the FFC in late 2004 and have now finalised their deals. Theyare being represented internationally by Fortissimo and Arclight respectively.

FULLY FINANCED FILMS

Two Fists One Heart
Palm Beach Pictures Pty Ltd
Executive Producer: Jeremy Thomas
Producer: David Elfick
Director/writer:Jan Sardi
Sales and distribution: Buena Vista International (local), Hanway FilmsLimited (international)
Synopsis: The contemporary story of an Australian/Sicilian family andits conflicts, set around the world of boxing.

Razzle Dazzle - A Journey Into Dance
Wild Eddie Films
Executive Producers: Andrena Finlay, Simon Bosanquet, Jim Reeve, AlClark
Producer: Jodi Matterson
Director:Darren Ashton
Writers:Carolyn Wilson, Robin Ince
Sales and distribution: Wild HeartFilms Distribution (domestic), Element X (international)
Synopsis: Afly-on-the-wall mockumentary about the tears, tantrums and tiaras in the worldof competitive dance eisteddfods.

The Magician
I Will Films
Producers:Michele Bennett, Scott Ryan, Nash Edgerton
Director/writer:Scott Ryan
Sales and distribution: Hopscotch (domestic), MovieHouse (international)
Synopsis: Darkly comic fictionalised documentary about a Melbourne-basedhitman Ray, as seen through the eyes of his Italian ex-neighbour and friend,film student Ray.

Footy Legends
Suitcase Films Pty Ltd
Producer: Megan McMurchy
Director: Khoa Do
Writers: Khoa Do, Suzanne Do, Anh Do
Sales and distribution: Icon Film Distribution (domestic), FortissimoFilms (international)
Synopsis: Out of work, and with welfare authorities threatening to takeaway his little sister, Luc Vu, a young Vietnamese-Australian man, re-uniteshis old high school football team.

Macbeth
Mushroom Pictures Pty Ltd
Executive Producer: Michael Gudinski, Gary Hamilton, Greg Sitch, AntonioZeccola
Producer: Martin Fabinyi
Director:Geoffrey Wright
Writers:Adapted by Geoffrey Wright, VictoriaHill
Sales and distribution: Palace Films(domestic), Arclight Films (international)
Synopsis: A contemporary reworking of Shakespeare's play, transposed toa setting of urban criminals in a nominal Melbourne.

PART FINANCED FILMS

Suburban Mayhem
Suburban Mayhem Pty Ltd
Executive Producer: Jan Chapman
Producer: Leah Churchill-Brown
Director: Paul Goldman
Writer: Alice Bell
Synopsis: 19 year-old Katrina is a girl without a conscience in a worldwithout morals. A family is destroyed and a daughter get away with murder.

Wrong Girl
NH&H
Producers: Michael Jenkins, NicholasHammond, Catriona Hughes
Director: Michael Jenkins
Writer: Nicholas Hammond
Synopsis: Senior Crown ProsecutorMargaret O'Connor, a legal bright spark, and 18-year-old Jessie, a victim, arekey players in a court case based on several recent and notorious Lebanese gangrape cases

Death Defying Acts (UK/Australianco-production)
Zephyr Films Ltd and Macgowan Films Pty Ltd
Producers: Marian Macgowan, Marcis Nasatir, Chris Curling, Dan Lupovitz
Director: Gillian Armstrong
Writers: Tony Grisoni, Brian Ward
Synopsis: A story ofpassion, redemption and the power of magic,based on true events during revered magician Harry Houdini's triumphant1926 tour of Britain.