All articles by Sandy George – Page 25

  • News

    AFI Awards to celebrate 50th edition with audience vote

    2008-10-21T02:27:00Z

    The Adventures Of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert, The Castle, Gallipoli, Lantana and Muriel's Wedding have been voted Australia's favourite films in an online poll conducted to celebrate 50 years of Australian Film Institute (AFI) Awards. The films are listed alphabetically, not in order of their popularity; the biggest vote ...

  • News

    Icon buys UK rights to Fraser's Dean Spanley

    2008-10-13T10:08:00Z

    Icon Films has signed for the highly imaginative and whimsical period film after seeing it last month at the world premiere in Toronto. Kathleen Drumm, head of sales agent New Zealand Film, says an offer for US rights is on the table but won't elaborate.Drumm negotiated the deal with head ...

  • News

    Men's Group, Son Of A Lion and The Black Balloon vie for Australian awards

    2008-10-01T16:17:00Z

    The Black Balloon is the stand-out nominee in Australia's 10th Inside Film Awards with 10 nominations including best film, director and script. Director Elissa Down's story, based on her own family, was produced by Tristram Miall.The Black Balloon 's two rivals for best film are Men's Group, produced by director ...

  • News

    Sparrow, Monkeys lead nominees for Asia Pacific Screen Awards

    2008-10-01T07:04:00Z

    Five films - two co-productions and one each from Hong Kong, India and China - are in the running to be crowned best feature at the second Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSAs), being held in early November in Australia.The films are Tulpan (Kazakhstan/Russia/Switzerland/Poland/Germany), Uc maymun (Three Monkeys, Turkey/France/Italy), Men Jeuk ...

  • News

    Ayres' Scratch The Surface one of ten at SPAAmart

    2008-09-30T12:15:00Z

    Tony Ayres is attached to direct Scratch The Surface, which is inspired by the murder of two-year-old James Bulger, who was brutally murdered by the two youngsters that calmly lead him away from a UK shopping centre 15 years ago. The film is one of ten projects given the thumbs ...

  • News

    Hicks starts production on Boys Are Back In Town

    2008-09-30T11:55:00Z

    Scott Hicks has started shooting UK-Australia co-production The Boys Are Back In Town, which is billed as a love story between a single parent, played by Clive Owen, and his two sons. The producers Tim White (Two Hands) and Greg Brenman (Billy Elliott) have sold North American rights in advance, ...

  • News

    Adams relocates to Australia to produce studio-financed films

    2008-09-30T03:43:00Z

    Former Participant Productions executive Chris Adams is planning to relocate from Los Angeles to Brisbane, Australia, and expand his business interests to encompass financing features developed by Melbourne-based actor, writer and filmmaker Steve Kearney. 'Steve is the creative genius and I'm the deal maker,' said Adams, who is American. Asked ...

  • News

    Elissa Down wins Australian Directors award for The Black Balloon

    2008-09-28T16:46:00Z

    The director of The Black Balloon, Elissa Down, has won the highest feature film accolade for 2008 from her peers at the Australian Directors Guild (AWG). Click here for review.But the film's producer, Tristram Miall, collected the award on her behalf at a dinner last night (Saturday) in Sydney because ...

  • News

    Ashley Luke leaves Fortissimo for New South Wales FTO

    2008-09-08T06:00:00Z

    Ashley Luke joins the New South Wales Film and Television Office (FTO) as director of market development on September 29 after seven years with sales agent Fortissimo.'I have been in Australia for four years and now know it pretty well and this move means I can solely concentrate on Australian ...

  • News

    Roadshow scoops most awards at Australia's Movie Convention

    2008-09-05T02:27:00Z

    Roadshow, the only Australian-owned distributor with a direct supply line from the US studios, was the big winner last night (Thurs), the final evening of the Australian International Movie Convention (AIMC), which has been running on Queensland 's Gold Coast for the past five days. Roadshow won the most awards ...

  • Features

    Australia - Logic's animal cracker

    2008-09-05T00:00:00Z

    When director Zack Snyder's animated fantasy adventure Guardians Of Ga'hoole opens worldwide in 2010, it will be Zareh Nalbandian's first credit as a feature producer - and Australia's first 3D feature.Nalbandian is co-founder and major shareholder of the privately owned Animal Logic at Sydney's Fox Studios. The company measures up ...

  • News

    Three Australians give their blessing to Ana Kokkinos film

    2008-09-01T16:00:00Z

    Blessed, the new film by Australian director Ana Kokkinos (Head On), has secured a trio of fine Australian actresses in Frances O'Connor (Artificial Intelligence: AI, Mansfield Park), Miranda Otto (Lord Of The Rings) and Deborra-Lee Furness (Jindabyne), as well as Russian-born Victoria Haralabidou (Brides).The multi-narrative drama is about mothers and ...

  • News

    In Focus: Australia's New Holland Pictures

    2008-08-28T07:05:56Z

    New Holland Pictures launched in 2004 with the ambitious - for Australia - aim of producing three films a year.Four years on, and the company that was set up as a joint venture between leading Dutch film company Idtv Film and Australian producers Mark and Cathy Overett is proving that ...

  • News

    Ginnane appointed president of Oz producers association

    2008-08-22T10:43:00Z

    Distributor and producer Antony Ginnane has been voted president of the Screen Producers Association of Australia (SPAA) in what is believed to be the first three-way contest in the organisation's history. Ginnane defeated the incumbent, Trish Lake (Gettin' Square), and Michael Bourchier (Lucky Miles). His one-year term starts from September ...

  • News

    Screen Australia hands out funding to four projects

    2008-08-19T09:59:00Z

    Australian director Simon Wincer, who made the iconic US miniseries Lonesome Dove, is saddling up for a new feature that will carry his trademark: plenty of horses. The Cup, an against-all-odds true story featuring Australia's most famous horse race, was one of four films that won investment from Screen Australia ...

  • News

    Paul Hogan keen to make Charlie & Boots for Instinct

    2008-08-18T15:12:00Z

    Two of Australia's leading film comics, Paul Hogan from the 1986 worldwide hit Crocodile Dundee fame, and Shane Jacobson from the 2006 local Kenny are the likely leads in Charlie & Boots, which secured a promise of investment today from Screen Australia.Although not signed, producer David Redman said they are ...

  • News

    Disgrace adaptation takes Australian Writers Guild Award

    2008-08-17T12:45:00Z

    Anna-Maria Monticelli has won an Australian Writers Guild Award for the script of her feature film adaptation of JM Coetzee's novel Disgrace, which will have its world premiere next month in a special presentation at the Toronto International Film Festival.In the original feature category, The Black Balloon earned its two ...

  • News

    NZ's Ruth Harley appointed as head of Screen Australia

    2008-08-15T10:13:00Z

    Ruth Harley has stepped down after a decade as chief executive of the New Zealand Film Commission (NZFC) to take the same role at the new super agency in neighbouring Australia. She will be on deck at Screen Australia from November 15 but will attend a planning meeting of the ...

  • News

    NZ's Ruth Harley appointed ashead of Screen Australia

    2008-08-15T04:40:00Z

    Ruth Harley has stepped down as chief executive of the New Zealand Film Commission (NZFC) to take the same role at the new super agency in the neighbouring and much bigger country of Australia. She will be on deck at Screen Australia from November 15, taking the reins from Lyn ...

  • News

    Melbourne's Emerging award goes to Jonathan auf der Heide

    2008-08-08T13:00:00Z

    The Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) tonight presents the Emerging Australian Filmmaker Award to director Jonathan auf der Heide for his short film Hell's Gate, one week before he goes into production on a feature-length version.The low-budget privately-financed feature, like the short, is a dramatic thriller about the human instinct ...