All articles by Sandy George – Page 24
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News
Australian government helps secure production of Happy Feet 2 in Sydney
Tax assistance secures production of Happy Feet 2 in Sydney through Dr.D, director George Miller's joint venture with Omnilab media. Happy Feet 2 is in production in Sydney, Omnilab Media confirmed today following a statement from the New South Wales (NSW) Government to that effect.The NSW Minister for State Development, ...
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Features
Production - The names to watch
Many of Australia's most promising directors do not get enough opportunity to practise their craft on the big screen unless they head for Hollywood, as Andrew Dominik (Chopper, The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford) and Rowan Woods (The Boys, Little Fish, Winged Creatures) have both recently ...
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Features
Production - Buzz projects - In from the outback
BALIBODir: Robert Connolly. Scr: Connolly, David WilliamsonNow in post-production, the buzz from this project centres around fine performances from Anthony LaPaglia and Oscar Isaac. The drama is about the disappearance of five Western journalists in East Timor in 1975. Producer John Maynard describes Balibo as both a political thriller - ...
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News
In Focus: Australia opens for film business (Part 2)
For the last few years the best Australian films have been personal and dark, limiting audience appeal, while those that have aspired to hit the mainstream have tended to miss the mark at the box office. But there is a palpable sense of excitement about a new crop of films ...
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News
Men's Group takes best feature at Australia's Inside Film Awards
Men's Group , a little-seen drama about a group of troubled men who meet regularly to talk through their problems, has won best feature at Australia's annual IF (Inside Film) Awards. The producer, John L. Simpson and director Michael Joy, also won the prize for best script, and Grant Dodwell ...
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News
Screen Australia to review what constitutes an experienced producer
Screen Australia has been forced to revisit its plans to strongly favour experienced producers when it hands out development finance. The move is a result of increasing industry dissatisfaction over the agency's definition of experience. As a result, the agency has decided to re-examine that part of its guidelines.Speaking exclusively ...
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News
SPAA's Ginnane points to opportunities for Australian industry
Antony Ginnane, president of the Screen Producers Association of Australia (SPAA) delivered an up-beat welcome address at SPAA's annual conference in Queensland, Australia.Despite describing the feature film industry as 'spectacularly unsuccessful' of late and 'the cultural equivalent of ethnic cleansing', Ginnane went on to describe the new producer offset as ...
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Tulpan wins highest accolade at Asia Pacific Screen Awards
Kazakhstan director Sergei Dvortsevoy's debut drama Tulpan continued its run of worldwide accolades by winning the best feature film award at the second Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) onQueensland'sGold Coast in Australia.Producer Karl Baumgartner, representing the big team of producers on the film, accepted the award.The film tells the charming ...
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News
Indian shoot for $1.9m Australian drama The Waiting City
Shooting begins in Calcutta this week on he Waiting City, a $1.9m drama directed by Claire McCarthy and produced by Jamie Hilton.Radha Mitchell (Melinda And Melinda), Joel Edgerton (Kinky Boots) and newcomer Isabel Lucas (Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen) are the Australian cast who begin filming on Tuesday. ...
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Features
Co-productions - The next episode
Significantly more Australian co-productions are set to be made as the producer offset's flexibility and generosity make the country a true international player."I see a massive wind of change coming," says producer Chris Brown, whose list of credits includes The Proposition. "Co-productions are the key to building a big-budget sector... ...
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Features
Co-productions - Taking a world view
SCREEN INTERNATIONAL: Just 11 official co-productions have gone into production in the last four years, eight with the UK. Why doesn't Australia make more co-productions and more with other countries'BALDERSTONE: Co-productions are a result of stories naturally relevant to two participating countries. Given our shared history and close relationship with ...
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News
In Focus: Australia opens for film business (Part 1)
Australian producers just had to sit on the ground at Cannes this year and a queue would form,' recalls leading Melbourne film lawyer Bruce Menzies.He is only half joking. Thanks to the introduction of one of the most generous financial incentives in the world, Australian film-makers now rank among the ...
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News
AFM buzz - Australia and New Zealand
A slew of Australian genre projects will be on offer to buyers at the AFM. One of several market debuts from Arclight is Jamie Blanks' thriller Long Weekend, a remake of the highly regarded 1977 film of the same name. Jim Caviezel and Claudia Karvan will star as a couple ...
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News
De Heer to head jury in Sydney, which sticks to mid-year spot
Australian auteur director Rolf de Heer has agreed to be president of the competition jury for the 2009 Sydney Film Festival (SFF).The competition rewards new directions in film and organisers use words such as audacious, courageous, cutting-edge and emotional to describe the kind of films sought. It was launched this ...
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News
Oz genre filmmakers check into The Clinic
Distributor Richard Sheffield and producer Jonathan Shteinman are the executive producers on thriller The Clinic, which goes into production on November 10 in the isolated regional town of Deniliquin in Australia. Producer Samuel Pinczewski and director James Rabbitts are the drivers behind the film, set in the middle of nowhere ...
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News
Whatson to head acquisitions at Australia's Palace Films
Nicolas Whatson has been promoted to the role of general manager at Palace Films, one of Australia's leading arthouse distributors, giving him ultimate responsibility for what is released in both Australia and New Zealand. Whatson has been part of the acquisition team at Cannes, Toronto and Sundance since 2004, and ...
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News
Black Balloon, Unfinished Sky lead Aussie awards pack
The Black Balloon, Unfinished Sky, The Square and The Jammed all have a chance of winning best film and also the best direction category at this year's 50th Australian Film Institute (AFI) Awards. It was announced today that family drama The Black Balloon, from debut director Elissa Down, was nominated ...
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News
Screen Australia issues its inaugural guidelines
The four-month-old government film agency Screen Australia today issued guidelines on how it is going to spend its $60.5m (A$100m) per year. As expected, very experienced producers will most benefit under the new regime and large amounts of money will be directed into a small number of projects and businesses, ...
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News
Asia Pacific Screen Awards unveil jury members
Filmmakers from India, China and Korea have joined jury president Bruce Beresford for the judging of next month's Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSAs). Included is one of India's most highly regarded filmmaking veterans, actor and director Aparna Sen (Mr And Mrs Iyer). The chief creative officer responsible for commissioning Bengali ...
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Pearce joins cast of Oz drama Animal Kingdom
Guy Pearce (Memento) will play a troubled police officer in Animal Kingdom, written and to be directed by short filmmaker and former Australian film magazine editor David Michod. Ben Mendelsohn, Joel Edgerton and Jackie Weaver are also on board the debut drama which goes into production for Australian distributor Madman ...