All articles by Sandy George – Page 38
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Rialto picks up rights to Tsotsi, C.R.A.Z.Y.
Rialto Distribution has picked up C.R.A.Z.Y. and Tsotsi,two of the major prize winners at the Toronto International Film Festival, fordistribution in Australia and New Zealand.Both films are also official entries in the best foreign film categoryof the 2006 Academy Awards: C.R.A.Z.Y. for Canada and Tsotsi forSouth Africa.C.R.A.Z.Y. won the Toronto ...
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Arclight picks up Aussie war story
Arclight Films has boarded anuntitled war story about Australian soldiers in Papua New Guinea during World War II, which gives former Film FinanceCorporation Australia (FFC) head Catriona Hughes her first credit as producer.The film, which startsshooting on September 30, also marks the feature debut of director AlisterGrierson, whose short film ...
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Fiji makes Oscar bid with The Land Has Eyes
Fiji has made its first ever attempt to win an Academy Award by submitting TheLand Has Eyes for the best foreign-language film category. In order to qualify,Australian-based distributor Ronin Films opened the film at the only multiplexin the Fijian capital of Suva on September 8, where it took a respectable ...
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Little Fish hooks Oz audiences
Little Fish has had the biggest opening for an Australian filmthis year in its home territory.Director Rowan Woods' secondfilm grossed $502,000 (A$655,672) in the week to September 14, coming seventhin the film chart. Distributor Icon says thisresult is comparable to Lantanaand Japanese Story, which went onto gross $9.4m and $3.5m ...
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Exhibitors team up for Australia's biggest arthouse cinema
Australia is to get its biggest purpose-built arthouse cinemain late 2006, a nine-screen complex in the national capital of Canberra that will link the Dendy and Electric Shadowsbrands. It will also be the firstspecialist complex to feature small, intimate auditoriums - two 35-seaters -with food and beverage delivered directly to ...
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Roadshow loses appeal against Wolf Creek rating
Distributor Roadshow haslost its appeal against the R18+ rating handed down three weeks ago to localhorror picture Wolf Creek, which it releases in cinemas on November 3.It was a unanimous decision madeby the three-member panel of the Classification Review Board and the deputyconvenor of the board. Former memberof parliament Trevor ...
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Wrenn lights up Firesign but keeps Celluloid gig
Michael Wrenn, who heads Celluloid Dreams' Pacific office, has launcheda production outfit, Firesign, and won New Zealand Film Commission (NZFC)development money for the feature Electric.Wrenn is working with debut director Brendan Donovan and writer ChadTaylor, who is adapting the script from his own novel. The story, set in thechaos of ...
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Sklan moves from AFC to SBS Independent
The Australian Film Commission (AFC) has lost its head of development CaroleSklan to SBS Independent.Sklan will be the new commissioning editor of drama for the productionarm of the multicultural broadcaster, replacing Miranda Dear, who recentlymoved to fellow public broadcaster ABC. Sklan, who remains based in Melbourne, will commissionAustralian drama series ...
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McLean, Weinsteins reteam for crocodile horror
The creative team behind red hot Australian horror movie Wolf Creek, including writer/director Greg McLean, is preparing to shoot Rogue, a film about a giant crocodile stalking tourists in the Australian outback that will be majority financed by The Weinstein Co.A large staff is known to be well into pre-production ...
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Movie Network, Tropfest launch Oz low-budget film push
The push to turn Australia'sfilm industry into a low-budget Mecca continues with the news that the giantoutdoor short film competition Tropfest and pay TV channel the Movie Networkwill fund a $770,000 (A$1m) feature for each of the next three years.Tropfest attracts up to 700short film entries each year and several ...
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Wallace And Gromit enjoy upbeat Oz world premiere
Aardman/DreamWorks animation WallaceAnd Gromit: TheCurse Of The Were-Rabbit world premiered in Sydney on Sunday (Sep 4) - three weeks before the US and four weeks ahead of theUK. The film goes wide in Australia on Sep 15.The positive reaction of the severalhundred strong audience - the majority of them young ...
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Oscar nominated director cranks up Eagle vs Shark
Eaglevs Sharkfrom Academy Award nominated writer/director Taika Waititi is to be the firstfeature for Whenua Films, set up in 2004 by producer Ainsley Gardiner and CliffCurtis, one of New Zealand's best-known actors.Thefilm has been fully financed by the New Zealand Film Commission. The fundingoutfit's sales division is handling international sales. ...
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Australian hit ready for international breakout
TheAustralian drama Look Both Ways may become the country's long-awaited international breakout after taking $230,000(A$300,000) on home soil in its first week from only 17 screens.The film, which has its international premiere at Toronto, has beenthe number one film in every cinema in which it opened and was the seventh ...
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Foreign films dominate Australian production spending
Spending on foreign films made in Australia over the last year was more than double thatspent on local films and Australian/international co-productions for the thirdconsecutive year.The Australian Film Commission's comprehensive annualproduction survey revealed 22local projects worth £80m (A$106m), including three Australian/UKco-productions, spent £66m (A$87m) in Australia after beginning principalphotography during ...
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Oz censor sparks spat with exhibitors, distributors
About 20 senior exhibitorsand distributors held an impromptu meeting on the final night (Aug 18) of theAustralian International Movie Convention, to express their anger over thepublic way they were criticised on the first day of the event.Des Clark, directorof the Office of Film & Literature Classification, pulled no punches earlyin ...
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UIP, Fox take Oz Movie Convention prizes
UIP and Fox were the most high profile distributors at last night'sAustralian International Movie Convention's box achievement awards.UIP won six of the 18 awards which are given to films that grossed morethan $7.5m (A$10m) in the previous 12 months.Top of the list for UIP was Meet The Fockers but it ...
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Producers urged to focus on older cinemagoers
Prompted by new research,Nielsen EDI has suggested putting more of a focus on cinemagoers aged 55 yearsand over as a way of addressing Australia's current box office demise. General manager Simon Burton toldthe Australian International Movie Convention today that a key finding from thesurvey of 1,428 moviegoers was that the ...
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FFC Australia revamps board
The Film Finance Corporation Australia (FFC) has revamped its board,appointing investment banker Alastair Walton and the high-profile entertainmententrepreneur Paul Dainty.The terms of four of the eight-member board have expired in the past sixweeks and a further two people are likely to be appointed soon by theAustralian Government, although it may ...
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Roadshow takes on Oz distribution for Wolf Creek
Roadshow has acquireddirector Greg McLean's horror film Wolf Creek for an October 27 localrelease. Australia's biggestindependent distributor acquired the film from Miramax sister companyDimension, which bought a raft of territories from Arclight early this year. Producer David Lightfoot said the UKrelease through Optimum on September 16 will be the biggest ...
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Turtles takes Melbourne audience prize
Iranian drama Turtles CanFly was the most popular featurefilm at the 54th Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF), organisersannounced today. Its director Bahman Ghobadiwas a guest at Australia's most prestigious film festival, which wrapped lastweek.The homegrown drama LookBoth Ways, which was directed bySarah Watts and opens theatrically on Thursday, was voted ...