All articles by Sandy George – Page 27
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News
Asia Pacific Screen Awards establishes an academy
Encouraging dialogue, collaboration and business relationships between filmmakers is the underlying aim of the establishment of The Academy of the Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSAs). The next step in the development of the awards was announced in Brisbane today by Queensland Premier Anna Bligh.'The APSAs bring the best filmmakers from ...
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Odin's Eye sets up sales office in New York
Dave Pederson, a producer on the Oscar-nominated documentary Super Size Me, is to represent Australian sales agent Odin's Eye Entertainment (OEE) in New York. His title will be vice president of international sales, but as head of the new office he will also be sourcing product for the fledgling Sydney-based ...
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Features
New Zealand - Facilities - Delivering post
"Everybody thinks we went to New Zealand for its exotic locales," says Jon Landau, producer of James Cameron's 3D sci-fi epic Avatar. "We never left the studio. We did rent a warehouse off-site because we needed more space, but all our filming was studio-based."Landau wanted New Zealand's talent rather than ...
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Features
New Zealand - A-list Shines with Kiwi polish
It may be small but New Zealand is one of the world's most popular filming locations. James Cameron has finished shooting the action sci-fi Avatar for Twentieth Century Fox in the territory, while Guillermo Del Toro is set to spend the next four years in New Zealand shooting two Hobbit ...
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Sydney Film Festival to open with Happy-Go-Lucky
Mike Leigh's Happy-Go-Lucky is one of 12 films chosen by the Sydney Film Festival (SFF) to be in its inaugural official competition and will also be the opening night film on June 4. The competition also features three world premieres including Vincent Ward's New Zealand documentary Rain Of The Children, ...
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News
Fox picks up Australian rights for Children Of Huang Shi
Australia producer Jonathan Shteinman has extricated The Children Of Huang Shi from Icon's take-over of Dendy Films and done a deal that will see 20th Century Fox Film Distributors release the film in Australia.The film premiered in China in early April and Fox will release the film in Australia in ...
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Lightning picks up Aussie horror Gates Of Hell
US sales agent Lightning Entertainment has picked up world rights to horror film The Gates Of Hell just in time for Cannes. Australian writer/director Kelly Dolen met all but one of the private investors that put up the $1.1m (A$1.2m) to make the film while installing theatre systems in their ...
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Australia - Hopscotch jumps to next level
Independent Australian distributor Hopscotch is reinventing itself. The company's ambitious managing director Troy Lum wants to transform Hopscotch from a theatrically-focused distributor to a vertically integrated, content-driven entity.'When the digital era really hits, producers will reap the rewards,' says Lum. 'Distribution is changing because people consume content in different ways ...
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Queensland signs MoU with Korea's Gyeonggi province
A 10-year-old sister state relationship between the Australian state of Queensland and the Gyeonggi Province of South Korea has been extended into the film arena with this week's signing of a memorandum of understanding. The agreement is between the Gyeonggi Film Commission, the Gyeonggi Digital Contents Agency, and the Pacific ...
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News
Mason, Collee partner with Hopscotch in production venture
Australian distributor Hopscotch has enticed two of Sydney's most successful international filmmakers, producer Andrew Mason (the Matrix trilogy) and screenwriter John Collee (Master And Commander: The Far Side Of The World) to help attract investment and talent to pump into its new production division. The pair will work closely with ...
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UK's Warp, Australia's Madman pact for at least two low-budget films
Mark Herbert, managing director of Warp Films in the UK, said he wanted to get involved with Australian filmmakers when he visited in October last year; he has turned out to be a man of his word. Warp, which is based in Sheffield in Yorkshire, plans to work with ...
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News
Australian Writers Guild quits Australian Screen Council in protest
The dream of the Australian film and television production industry talking to government with one powerful voice on key issues is in tatters tonight with one of the four member organisations of the Australian Screen Council (ASC) resigning over what it says is financial mismanagement.The executive director of the Australian ...
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News
Row erupts in Australia over production offset
Two Australian film agencies are trading insults over the financing arrangements behind comedy drama Subdivision, which Japanese Story director Sue Brooks starts filming April 14. Both are investors.Once completed, Subdivision will be applying for 40% of its costs back under the new producer offset. It has always been assumed that ...
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News
Australia's FFC to clamp down on US studios taking tax rebate
US studios and other international players who plan to take films they have developed to Australia to shoot, then claim the new 40% producers rebate for Australian films rather than the 15% location offset designed for foreign films, are very unlikely to be successful under yet-to-be-released new guidelines.The Film Finance ...
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News
Vilcek offers funding for immigrant film-makers in US
The Vilcek Foundation has invited filmmakers who have had an impact in the US but were born outside that country, to apply for the $25,000 Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise.'After researching a multitude of arts categories, filmmaking seemed to be an incredibly flourishing field, and we thought it would be ...
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News
FFC backs 10 new Aussie films as it prepares to shut its doors
After more than 20 years as the Australian Government's key film investor, the Film Finance Corporation Australia (FFC) board yesterday agreed to invest in 10 new Australian features worth $56.7m (A$62m), the last batch of films before it closes its doors on June 30.'The FFC was cognizant that the new ...
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James Hewison tipped as new head of Madman theatrical
James Hewison, former long-term executive director of the Melbourne International Film Festival, is understood to be the new head of the theatrical division of the prominent independent distributor Madman Entertainment.Hewison announced in late January that he was stepping down from his role as chief executive of the Australian Film Institute ...
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Paramount partners Omnilab Media for The Bank Job
Omnilab Media has teamed with Paramount Pictures for the Australian and New Zealand distribution of The Bank Job, which will be in cinemas from July 31. The thriller opened at the top of the UK charts after it was released there on February 28 and has since taken more than ...
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News
Paul Elliott's Aussie horror The Red Car gets Aurora go-ahead
A brand new car brings only tragedy to its owners in the horror film The Red Car, one of four films chosen for Aurora, the flagship development and financing program of the New South Wales Film and Television Office.The Black Balloon, which won this year's Crystal Bear in the Generation ...
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Screen Australia appoints first CEO
Experienced public policy manager Lyn Maddock has been appointed interim chief executive of Australia's new film super-body, Screen Australia, for four months.Screen Australia replaces the Film Finance Corporation (FFC), Australian Film Commission (AFC) and Film Australia (FA), and will administer the 40% rebate now available for the production of Australian ...