All articles by Sandy George – Page 26
-
News
Ginnane appointed president of Oz producers association
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
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
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
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
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
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
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 ...
-
News
Madman Entertainment loves Bana's Beast
Madman Entertainment has bought Australian rights to Love The Beast, the feature-length documentary that actor Eric Bana has been directing for the past two years. It is about his life and his beloved car. 'The car owner in me is completely devastated but the director in me is completely thrilled,' ...
-
News
Disney takes New Zealand rights to Under The Mountain
Walt Disney has signed on with sales agent NZ Film to distribute Black Sheep director Jonathan King's scary teen adventure Under The Mountain in New Zealand. Sam Neill has been cast in the film, an adaptation of a 1979 Maurice Gee novel about teenage twins who battle the dark forces ...
-
News
Tourism Australia to help market Luhrmann's new film
Tourism Australia is to invest $47.4m (A$50m) to be part of and to help generate the marketing hype around Baz Luhrmann's sweeping period romance Australia, which is in cinemas from November 13. The government authority has signed a promotional partnership agreement with Twentieth Century Fox and will leap into the ...
-
News
Oz filmmakers urged to seek different subject matter
Scripts must reflect big ideas that are unique and engaging, local distributors and potential overseas partners told the Australian and New Zealand filmmakers pitching projects as part of the Melbourne International Film Festival's financing market 37South. While hardly a new or surprising message, it is a crucial one at a ...
-
News
Melbourne fest's financing market and fund to continue
The government of the Australian state of Victoria brought a smile to the faces of filmmakers attending the opening of the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) tonight, by pledging $2.3m (A$2.4m) to extend the life of the festival's investment fund and financing market. 'We were not certain that funding would ...
-
News
Ledger to be honoured by Brisbane Film Festival
The late actor, Heath Ledger, was this morning named as the latest recipient of the Chauvel Award, given each year as part of the Brisbane International Film Festival (BIFF) to celebrate someone who has made a distinguished contribution to Australian cinema. Ledger was nominated for an Academy Award for his ...
-
News
Richard Becker leaps back into Australian distribution
After selling off his family name last year, Richard Becker has re-emerged as an Australian distributor using the same name and with Female Agents as his first film.The new Becker Film Group acquired Jean-Paul Salome's drama -- about a five-woman commando unit that parachutes into occupied France in 1944 -- ...
-
News
Screenrights urges rights holders to claim Oz royalties
More than $1m has been earned in retransmission royalties from movies shown by Australian broadcasters up to the end of last month, but not all of the money has been paid to rights holders because they have not registered their titles. Simon Lake, chief executive of copyright collection society Screenrights, ...
-
News
Films chosen for Melbourne fest's first market screenings
Paul Cox's latest film, Salvation, is one of 10 finished films that will be shown to buyers later this month as part of 37South, the market attached to the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF).The films were chosen from a field of 20 and only one has a sales company attached ...
-
News
Oz producers Culley, Macgowan team on slate of local pics
Australian producer Marian Macgowan (Death Defying Acts) has taken on a new producing partner in Miranda Culley, who has been director Phillip Noyce's Sydney partner for the past seven years. The move enables Macgowan to both produce and develop features simultaneously, which is difficult as a lone producer.'The business model ...
-
News
New Zealand adjusts its 40% grant for local films
The New Zealand Government has dropped the expenditure threshold by $760,000 (NZ$1m) to $3m (NZ$4m) for New Zealand films and New Zealand co-productions wanting to claim back 40% of this expenditure under the new Screen Production Incentive Fund (SPIF). The initiative was announced in May and, since then, the government ...
-
News
Screen Australia announces seven board appointments
Chief executive of IBM Australia and New Zealand, Glen Boreham, is the first chair of the new super agency Screen Australia,while entertainment lawyer Ian Robertson is his deputy. Arts Minister Peter Garrett set the Australian film industry abuzz today by announcing the first board; the make-up should please everyone given ...
-
News
Melbourne film festival to open with Not Quite Hollywood
The 57th Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) will open on July 25 with the world premiere of Not Quite Hollywood, writer-director Mark Hartley's long-awaited tribute to the Australian films of the 1970s and 80s that were high on horror, nudity and car chases. This year's festival is a historic one ...