All articles by Sandy George – Page 57
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Rabbit-Proof Fence triumphs at last Down Under
Rabbit-Proof Fence has at last been voted best film in its country of origin. The producers - expatriate director Phillip Noyce, writer Christine Olsen and John Winter - earned the top accolade on Saturday at the AFI (Australian Film Institute) Awards, the longest-running local awards event.Ivan Sen was voted best ...
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New Zealand promotes itself as giant film studio
The Studio New Zealand brand partnership, which promotes the notion that the whole country can be a film studio, was launched today in Wellington. At the event, 11 of the country's local government authorities and regional film offices were presented with certificates confirming that they were meeting the terms of ...
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Phillip Noyce returns to Australia for Dirt Music
Expatriate Australian Phillip Noyce is planning to do more filmmaking in his home country. Two years after returning from Hollywood to make Rabbit-Proof Fence, Noyce has put together a team to adapt the novel Dirt Music by Tim Winton, with a possible starring role for Nicole Kidman. According to local ...
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New Zealand film commission eager to promote co-productions
The New Zealand Film Commission is trying to capitalise on the country's high profile due to Lord Of The Rings, by helping to develop international co-productions.John Gilbert, Academy Award nominee for his editing on The Fellowship Of The Ring and producer of a popular NZ sitcom, is in discussion with ...
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Fremaux makes fact-finding trip to Australia
Thierry Fremaux is currently on his first ever visit to Australia - and the first by a Cannes Film Festival artistic director - but instead of selecting films, he is spending his time learning about Australian cinema. "I am totally ignorant about Australian cinema, which is why I wanted to ...
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Roadshow snaps up Oz rights to Perfect film
Roadshow Films has acquired all Australian and New Zealand rights to the unfinished homegrown drama One Perfect Day, about a young musical prodigy torn from the pursuit of his classical music career after his sister dies from a drug overdose at a dance party. One Perfect Day is a rare ...
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Australia's Hopscotch signs for first local film
Fledgling Australian distributor Hopscotch has picked up Australian and New Zealand rights for its first local film. Peaches got a greenlight from the Film Finance Corporation (FFC) this week and is to be directed by Craig Monahan from a script by television writer Sue Smith. "Craig Monahan should have ...
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Australia's indie producer incentive looks like getting through
Despite strong opposition from the commercial free-to-air television networks, it looks like programs produced by the independent sector will earn extra points towards the local content quota for the first time in Australian television history. This should assist the survival of production houses, many of which simultaneously develop both films ...
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Australian production numbers move Upstream
Some US$74m (A$131m) was spent on Australian feature film production in the 12 months up to June 30 - a sixty percent year on year increase. 30 films were produced in the same period - four more than in the previous year.However, the latest figures are much the same as ...
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Tracker adds to Aussie awards haul
The Tracker, produced by Julie Ryan and the film's writer/director Rolf de Heer, has again taken top honours on its home soil. A week after winning the best film prize at the Film Critics Circle Awards, it won best film at the annual IF Awards, which were broadcast live on ...
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Euro delegation heads for New Zealand
A nine-person delegation of European producers is heading for New Zealand this month with the aim of developing co-productions. More may join them.The delegation is being financed through Investment New Zealand and is one of several new government-funded initiatives aimed at strengthening the country's screen industries on the back of ...
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Hard Word finds its new Alibi in Beyond
Sydney-based Beyond Films will begin selling the Australian crime thrillerThe Hard Word at MIFED, replacing London-based Alibi Films as its international sales agent.Alibi originally signed on to represent the film internationally in mid-2000, over a year before shooting began, largely because of the interest of its then sales chief Hilary ...
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The Tracker wins Australian critics prize
The Tracker has won best film prize at Australia's Film Critics Circle awards. Julie Ryan accepted the award, saying that Rolf de Heer, her co-producer on the film, was not just an inspiration to her but to the whole film community.Rolf de Heer had already been on stage to collect ...
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A major setback for Australia's Film Finance Corp.
Film Finance Corporation (FFC) chair Geoff Levy today released a three-paragraph media statement that must be one of the most ill-considered and misleading the organisation has ever issued. It announced that the search had resumed for a new chief executive, arguably, the most important job in Australia's film industry. But ...
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Fox takes Australian rights on Perfect Strangers
Twentieth Century Fox Distributors Australia has acquired Australian theatrical rights to Perfect Strangers, its first New Zealand film, with a sale price believed to be the biggest ever paid to sales agent the New Zealand Film Commission for that territory.While a local distribution deal has yet to be signed, the ...
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Rabbit-Proof Fence scoops 10 AFI nominations
Period drama Rabbit-Proof Fence, directed by Phillip Noyce (pictured), has dominated the AFI (Australian Film Institute) Award nominations with ten nods,. But with only one less is first-time director Tony Ayres' Walking On Water, a highly contemporary story about the effect of a young man's death on his family and ...
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Heather Rose dies, aged 36
Heather Rose, who got a standing ovation at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival for her performance as Julia in director Rolf de Heer's competition title Dance Me To My Song, died suddenly last week in South Australia a day after her 36th birthday.She was born with severe cerebral palsy, confined ...
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Hoyts has a go at Swimming Upstream
Hoyts Distribution has acquired Australian rights to Swimming Upstream from Summit Entertainment. Although principally produced out of the US, the film was shot in Queensland last year and directed by expatriate Russell Mulcahy, and stars two of the country's most internationally acclaimed actors, Geoffrey Rush and Judy Davis. Hoyts acquisition ...
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Australian critics applaud films with strong indigenous themes
The Australian Film Critics Circle has nominated Australian Rules, produced by Mark Lazarus, Rabbit-Proof Fence (Phillip Noyce, Christine Olsen), The Tracker (Rolf de Heer, Julie Ryan), and Walking On Water (Liz Watts) for best film in this year's awards.Noyce and de Heer have also been nominated for their role as ...
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Rialto and Arclight team for Roger Dodger
Rialto Entertainment, the only New Zealand company that distributes films in Australia, and Australia's newest sales agent, Arclight Films, have co-acquired what they describe as one of the few buzz films from the Venice and Toronto Film Festivals, namely the New York comedy Roger Dodger.The story of a schoolboy's attempt ...